Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/37

Rh of the note; for it was not only written in an exquisite hand, but was folded with a careless dexterity which she greatly admired.”

The writing of love-poetry was not restricted to amorous young people, but was indulged in by all members of the court, from the Emperor down, as a form of literary exercise. In looking through the old anthologies we are apt to find verses like the following one, which is signed simply “A Former Prime Minister”, and entitled On Hidden Love. It should not be supposed, however, that it was only at the court that poetry was considered to be an indispensable accomplishment. Tsurayuki declared that poetry could comfort the hearts of fierce warriors. Indeed, we are likely to be struck when reading Japanese novels, by the composure of heroes in their death struggles who manage to find time to compose a valedictory verse about the falling of the cherry-blossoms, or by the verses of ordinary soldiers who gathered of a winter’s night to compose poetry together. But poetry in Japan is the property of all classes of society, and even today almost any Japanese can write a poem without difficulty, although, of course, it may not be of any literary merit. Tsurayuki asked in his preface, “What man does not compose poetry on hearing the song of the nightingale among the flowers?” and the same question was asked 800 years later by the haiku poet Onitsura (1661–1738):