Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/174

158 "As it became dusk we passed Kiyomigaseki. The waves breaking over the rocks looked as if they were clothing them in white robes—a very pretty sight!

["Wet garments" is a metaphorical expression for unmerited blame or punishment].

"Presently it became dark, and we put up for the night in a village in that neighbourhood which stood close by the sea. From somewhere near, there came a smoke of burning, the smell of which was very noisome. It was no doubt caused by something the fishermen were doing. It brought to my mind the words, 'the rank odours of my nightly lodging.'

"The wind was very boisterous all night long, and the waves seemed breaking in tumult over my pillow." The next passage relates to Fujisan. It appears from it that in the author's day the smoke from this mountain was intermittent. It has long ago quite ceased to rise.

The style of the Izayoi no Ki is very different from that of the Gempei Seisuiki or Heike Monogatari. It is comparatively free from Chinese elements, and reads more like a work of the Heian period. The author has evidently taken the Tosa Nikki for her model.

Abutsu also published a volume of critical essays on poetry, called Yo no Tsuru ("The Crane in the Night"), and other less important writings.

The Ben no Naiji Nikki, also by a woman, is a diary of incidents which occurred between 1246 and 1252.