Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/223

Rh (?) (chants in nearly regular metre).
 * Now for the first time he ties the lace of his travelling garb:
 * His goal is distant many a long day's journey.

(speaks in prose). Now, this is I, Tomonari, guardian of the shrine of Aso, in the province of Higo, in Kiushiu. Never having seen the capital, I have now made up my mind, and am going up to the capital. Moreover, I wish to take this opportunity of viewing the bay of Takasago, in Harima.

(?) (chants in regular metre). To-day he has made up his mind, and has donned his travelling raiment for a journey to a distant goal—the capital. With waves that rise along the shore, and a genial wind of spring upon the ship-path, how many days pass without a trace of him we know not, until at length he has reached the longed-for bay of Takasago, on the coast of Harima.

(chant). The wind of spring that blows through the fir-tree of Takasago has gone down with the sun; the vesper bell is heard from the Temple of Onoye.

. The waves are hidden from us by the mist-enshrouded rocks.

. There is naught but the sound to mark the rise and fall of the tide.

. Whom can I take to be my friend? Except the fir-tree of Takasago, my ancient comrade, there is none to converse with me of the bygone days on which are ever gathering white snows [of forgetfulness]. I grow older and older, accustomed to hear nothing but the wind in the fir-tree either when I rise or go to sleep in my nest of an aged crane, where the night-long moon sheds its rays, and the spring sends down its hoar-frosts. So I make my own heart my companion, and thus give utterance to my thoughts.

. Let us sweep away the fir-needles that lie beneath the