{"collection":"shi","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/shi/msj/msj05.htm","path":"shi/msj/msj05.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/shi/msj/msj05.htm","text":"The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914]\nKnown as the Prince of the Many\u00f4shiu poets. Was said to be descended either from the Mikado K\u014dsh\u014d (B.C. 475-393), or the Mikado Bidatsu (B.C. 572-83). He served under the Queen-regnant Jito\u2014A.D. 694-6\u2014and the Mikado Mommu (697-707). He travelled with Prince Nihitabe over a large part of Japan, and composed many poems\u2014A.D. 673-86. He died at Ihami.\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu\")\nBy Hit\u00f3maro\nWhen hand in hand, we two did wend\n Adown the paths of Life our way,\n And from the dike's ridge yonder, gazed\n On the dense elm-trees' green array,\n From out whose leafy canopy,\n Glimpsed here and there, our cottage eaves;\n Then were our tender thoughts of love,\n Frequent as are the fresh spring leaves\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon the tangled boughs.\nLeaning on thee; my very soul\n Rested in perfect trust on thee.\n Sad is the doom that none may shun,\n Mournful the fate that none may flee!\n Over the far-flung purple moor,\n 'Midst the white funeral banners borne,\n Slowly they take thee, thou who rose\n With the wild-fowl at break of dawn,\n And they must hide thee far away,\n As sunset-hills hide out the day.\n Thy little son, a memory\n Of thy dear self, weeps bitter tears,\n And seeks for comfort in my arms.\n I fondle him, to soothe his fears;\n But with a man's unskilful hand,\n Lacking the tender touch that cheers.\n Our chamber, now so desolate,\n Where once all close our pillows lay!\n The night is filled with loneliness,\n And sorrow darkens all the day.\n I know thou sleepest on the hill\n Of the cock-crowing, but in vain\n I climb its steep and stony heights,\n Nor one dim moment shall again\n On her, who living, I loved best\n These eyes of mine adoring rest!\n Homewards I turn, and in our lonely room,\n Without the alcove, in the silent gloom\n \u00a0\u00a0My gaze falls on thy pillow!\nEnvoy\nStill the fair moon illumes the Autumn night,\n As when last year we marvelled at its light,\n But between thee and me, a year's whole space,\n \u00a0\u00a0That one past year divideth!\nMy Prince, who rules in peaceful power,\n Child of the Sun-orb shining high,\n Hath ta\u2019en his horses and his men\n To where the stag and wild-fowl lie.\n On wild Kariji's grassy moor,\n He setteth forth to chase the deer.\n As the stag boweth\u2014knees to ground,\n So do I, bowing low, revere;\n As the quail creepeth through the grass,\n I tender service to my Lord,\n Lifting mine eyes as to the sky,\n Sun-bright and shining as a sword\u2014\n Eyes like a polished mirror bright,\n Loyal and true\u2014reflect the light.\n Is he not brave, my Prince! and fair\n As the Spring-blossoms, debonair!\nSee how the Hunter's Moon, full-orbed,\n \u00a0\u00a0Crosseth the heavens with shining light;\n We will draw down the moon with cords,\n \u00a0\u00a0To form his canopy to-night.\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu \"\u2014Lay 12)\nHe, Heaven-descended of the Shining One\n Who dwells divine, bright Goddess of the Sun!\n He hath forsaken circumstance and state\n Of royal cities, and, unhesitate,\n Hitsus\u00e9's hill-encircled wilds reviews,\n The pathless steeps, the forest ways pursues\u2014\n When morning dawns, with waking wild-birds\u2019 cry,\n When in the West the burning sun-fires die,\n Faring; till on the moor of Aki, white\n With fallen snow, the grasses tall and slight\n Of plumed susuki, brusheth he aside,\n To sleep on the grass-pillow, there to bide.\n And, far from pageantry and regal state\n On the past days to muse and meditate!\nNot yet, O Hill! high hill of Autumn scatter\n Red leaves and gold athwart the distant view.\n Let me gaze on, a little instant longer,\n Where she I love leans toward me through the blue!\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu \"\u2014Lay 27)\nBy Karu's road, where high the mallard fly,\n In her own home-place did my love abide,\n And all my soul with deep desire did sigh\n To see her and to linger by her side.\n But prying eyes too constant visits barred,\n And eyes too many made our meetings few.\n Yet did I trust\u2014tho\u2019 long the ways and hard,\n Endless as trailing creepers\u2014yet anew\n To meet my love. All hopeful did I trust,\n As to his tall ship trusteth seaman bold,\n While still our love was hid, as deep pool thrust\n \u2019Mid rocks whose hearts hold fire, tho\u2019 outward cold.\n* * * * *\nAlas! the sun is darkened in my sky!\n The moon that lit my heav\u2019n is hid from view.\n Graceful as sea-fronds that in green deeps lie,\n My love, like Autumn's pride of leaf and hue,\n Out of my world has vanished, as the dew!\nSuch are the tidings that the runner brings,\n White-wanded messenger whose words I hear\u2014\n They pierce me, as the arrows from the strings\n Of white-wood bows\u2014the words that sting and sear!\nNor answer find I, neither comfort gain.\n Yet, to assuage a thousandth part my woe,\n Karu-wards wending, full of grief and pain,\n I listen for her accents sweet and low,\n Her voice I list for\u2014but alone I hear\n The wild-fowl screaming as they take their flight\n Across Unebi, to the shining mere.\n No form with sleeves uplifted greets my sight\u2014\n The thronging folk upon the way I meet,\n Scanning their faces, but I never see\n A face like hers\u2014and so with weary feet\n I stumble on in hopeless misery.\n Onward I wend, and can but cry again\n The loved one's name, and wave my sleeve in vain!\nENVOY ON DEATH OF HIS WIFE\nFain would I seek among the winding hill paths,\n Where ruddy clouds of foliage hide the ways,\n Her whom I love, who wanders ever further;\n But all unknown. the pathway where she strays!","title":"The Master-Singers of Japan: II.","type":"page"}