Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/205

Rh from Indian mythology), as the four chief poets of his day were termed. Fortunately, most students of Japanese will say, the exercise of Kenkō's poetic talent has been diverted into other channels. The Tsure-dzure-gusa is not besprinkled with Tanka.

"When I was eight years of age, I asked my father, 'What sort of thing is a Buddha?' He replied, 'A Buddha is something which a man grows into.' 'How then does one become a Buddha?' said I. 'By the teachings of a Buddha.' 'But who taught the Buddha who gives us this teaching?' 'He becomes a Buddha by the teaching of another Buddha who was before him.' 'Then what sort of a Buddha was that first Buddha of all who began teaching?' My father was at an end of his answers, and replied, laughing, 'I suppose he must have flown down from the sky or sprung up from the ground.' He used to tell his friends this conversation, much to their amusement."

"However accomplished a man may be, without gallantry he is a very lonely being. Such a one reminds me of a costly wine-cup that has no bottom."

"That man is to be envied whose mind is fixed on futurity, and to whom the way of Buddha is familiar."

"What strikes men's eyes most of all in a woman is the beauty of her hair. Her quality and disposition may be gathered from the manner of her speech, even though a screen be interposed. There are occasions too when her very posture when seated leads a man's heart astray. Then, until his hopes are realised, he bears patiently what is not to be borne, regardless even of his life. It is