Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/25

Rh at a contest in Yoshimasa's Silver Pavilion, one side chose the name "flowers of the Law," the other "sanderling;" and the judgment was that though the flight of the sanderling across the chill skies of winter and its plaintive voice induce reflections on the uncertainty of life, the expression "flowers of the Law" at once inclines the heart towards the all-merciful Buddha and fills the soul with pure yearning. The verdict, then, was in favour of the latter. One more illustration may be given. At another contest the names selected were "myriad-fenced" and "Miyoshi moor," the former having the signification "primal verse," since the earliest couplet on record in Japan contained the word "myriad- fenced," and the latter being an indirect allusion to the cherry-blossom for which Miyoshi is famous. The judgment was that an ancient couplet could not be supposed to retain its perfume, whereas the cherries of Yoshino were even then scenting the sunbeams.

Even this brief notice shows that the pastime signified a great deal more than the mere smelling of different kinds of incense. It may be regarded as supplementary to the couplet-composing compositions (uta-awase) mentioned in a previous chapter, the one being intended to test original literary ability, the other to determine literary knowledge. Every social usage that has grown to maturity in Japan shows traces of elaborate care bestowed on it by generation after