Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/84

68 Tsurayuki begins by telling his readers that diaries being commonly written by men, this is an attempt to write a woman's diary; meaning, that it was in the Japanese language and written character, not in Chinese. He then records his departure from the Government House of Tosa, and his arrival at the port from which he was to sail. He was accompanied hither by large numbers of people who came to take leave of him. Most brought with them parting presents, usually of eatables or saké. The result was that in Tsurayuki's words, "Strange to say, here we were all fresh by the shore of the salt sea." He did not actually set sail till the 27th, the intervening six days being chiefly taken up in disposing of the presents, and in a visit to the newly appointed Prefect, with whom he spent a day and night in drinking and verse-making, after which he took a final leave. Tsurayuki's successor in office shook hands with him at the bottom of the steps leading up to the house, and they bade each other farewell with many cordial but tipsy expressions of good-will on both sides. On the following day, however, we find Tsurayuki in a different frame of mind. He tells us that during his stay in Tosa a girl had died who was born in Kiōto, and that amid all the bustle and confusion of leaving port, her friends could think of nothing but her. Some one, he says, composed this verse of poetry on the occasion: "With the joyful thought, 'Home to Kiōto,' there mingles the bitter reflection that there is one who never will return." We are informed by another writer that Tsurayuki here deplores the loss of his own daughter, a little girl of nine years of age.

But the jollifications had not yet come to an end. The new Prefect's brother made his appearance at a