Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/282

 —These four lines are taken bodily from a stanza by the blind poet Semi-maru. They are introduced simply because their celebrity has associated them in the minds of educated people with Osaka in Omi—not the city of Osaka—to which the chorus next refers. Japanese poetry abounds in allusions of this kind, which often defy translation, and can never be appreciated by foreigners. It should be understood that the chorus at this stage describes the journey of the pilgrims, who pace the stage rhythmically meanwhile.  —Another instance of the extreme difficulty of rendering Japanese poetry into English. In the original "Itatori" and "woodman" are connected by a jeu-de-mot which disappears altogether in the translation.  —There is here another play upon words; quite untranslatable.  —Here again the force is lost. "Ata," the first part of the name "Ataka," signifies "enemy," and solely for the sake of qualifying that significance the allusion to flowers attacked by the wind is introduced.  —He is called Hogwan in the original, but for the convenience of English readers the name "Yoshitsune" is here used.  —A celebrated temple.  —The Buddhists regard a and um as the quintessential sounds. The first sound made by the new-born babe is a; the last articulation of the dying, um.  —The God of War, supposed to be the special tutelary deity of the Minamoto family. <section end="Note 15" /> <section begin="Note 16" />—One part of the chorus interprets here the thoughts of Yoshitsune; another part, those of Benkei. <section end="Note 16" /> <section begin="Note 17" />—Yoshitsune owed his misfortunes to slanders whispered in Yoritomo's ear by Kajiwara Kagetoki. <section end="Note 17" /> <section begin="Note 18" />—The first line of a couplet. <section end="Note 18" /> <section begin="Note 19" />—The last three lines are part of the Buddhist Yennen-mai (life-lengthening dance), which Benkei learned when an acolyte in the Hiyeizan monastery. <section end="Note 19" /> <section begin="Note 20" />—Mr. B. A.H. [sic] Chamberlain, in his "Classical Poetry of the Japanese," has given some admirable renderings of celebrated Kyōgen. <section end="Note 20" />