Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/163

 10 s. vm. AUG. 17, loo:.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

133

eating flesh and going near women [compare the

., . - voyaa

ing in happiness and gain he is rewarded with treasure ; tmt in case they meet with sickness or damage he is slain by the infuriated companions, for lie must have infringed the tabu."

According to the ' Annals of Japan,' lib. vii. sub 110 A.D., when Prince Yamato- dake had his passage to Kadzusa suddenly endangered by a hurricane, one of his con- cubines drowned herself to appease the wrath of the sea-god. The ' Second Annals,' 797, lib. xxiv. records under October, 763, that a sea-captain was then put in gaol, because in the recent voyage back from Liau-tung under his conduct, he had caused four persons two women and a babe, all of foreign extraction, and an eccentric religious to be thrown overboard, suspecting them to have been the main cause of a terrible meteoric perturbation. It mentions also that in February, 717, the Japanese envoy, before journeying to China, cere- moniously propitiated the native deities (lib. vii.) ; and that in April, 751, the em- peror sent offerings specifically to the Ise Temple and other Shinto sanctuaries, with prayers for the safe arrival of the embassy shortly to be dispatched to China (lib. xviii.). In March, 758, two ships for conveying envoys to China one named Harima after a province, and the other Hayatori, or Swift Bird were raised to the junior rank of the lower fifth order, as if they were gods or men (id., lib. xx.) ; in August, 763, the Sado (also called after a province), a govern- ment transport, was awarded the same honour and a brocaded cap, an ex voto promised on the occasion of her meeting a tempest on the homeward route from Corea (lib. xxiv.). For many other examples of the heartfelt hardships and excessive dread of navigation in those ages, see Dickins, op. cit., p. 219, &c. ; Kume, op. cit., passim ; Ikeda, ' Heianchoshi,' 1907, pp. 133-35, 268.

(8) The Nipponmaru, constructed by order of Hideyoshi, 1591, is said to be the first instance of a ship named maru (Haga and Shimoda, ' Nihon Katei Hyakka Jii,' 1906, p. 1197). This statement, taken to- gether with the preceding paragraph, would impel us to infer the application of the suffix to vessels that had never experienced such vicissitudes as Saito speaks of : in short, from the outset of this usage, it was a term both endearing and honorific.

(9) During the years 1658-60 fashion made the samurais style their galleys for summer excursions on the river Sumida

Kawaichimaru (" Unique in the River "),. Oozekimaru (" Great Champion "), &c.. About twenty years later they were for- bidden, chiefly because they frequently furnished an asylum to outlaws (Saito,. ' Buko Nempyo,' 1849, torn, i., fol. 17a, &c.)- In closing this lengthy reply I would ask the reader not to conclude from the above notes that the Japanese never viewed vessels as of the feminine gender. That, in fact, they sometimes associated female character with ships is attested by their glossarium roticum, which comprises such nouns as Hikifune (" Drawing-Boat "), Shinzo (" New- Vessel "), &c., applied to certain varieties of fair Corinthians (see Furai, ' Rokuroktx Bushu,' 18th cent., sub ' Life of Ochiyo ').

KtJMAGTJSU MlNAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

SIB GEORGE MONOUX (10 S. viii. 10, 90). He apparently was not son (as stated ante,. p. 90), but great-grandson, of "John Monoux, of Stanford, co. Worcester, gent.,"" being only son of " Richard Monoux, of London, Salter " as stated in the first of the- three pedigrees referred to, all of which however, differ widely from each other. This- affiliation agrees with the statement in Stow's ' London ' that he was " born in London," and is confirmed (if, indeed, it is not proved) by the ultimate remainder of his estates being to the heirs male of "Richard Monoux, of Berkhampstead, Herts, Salter." In the above-quoted pedigree his cousin Thomas (only son of his uncle John) has- three children, viz. (1) George, who continues- the line ; (2) William, who died s.p. ; and (3) Anne, who married Thomas Carpenter. This agrees with the Lord Mayor's will of 1541, wherein he devises his estate to William Monoux, then aged eight years, second son of Thomas Monoux, late of Walthamstow,. with remainder to Anne, also a minor, sister of the said William. He himself died 9 Feb., 1543/4, certainly without any surviving issue, though he appears to have had a son George, who had a son William,, both of whom died s.p. in his lifetime. Two married daughters are frequently attributed to him, as well as two grandsons " John Denney, of How in Norfolk," and " George Dacres, of Hartford." As to one of these daughters (whose name is not given), said to have married " William Woodall, of Essex," she may possibly have existed at some date before 1541 ; but as to the other,, called Elizabeth, said to have married firstly Denny, and secondly Dacres, and to be ther