Anthology of Japanese Literature by Donald Keene Read Free Book Online Page B

original only as "a man" the work in large part is clearly autobiographical. The arrangement of the chapters is, however, haphazard, and in the excerpts given in the present translations an attempt has been made to restore a chronological order.
    In former times there lived a young nobleman named Narihira. Upon receiving the ceremony of initiation into manhood, he set forth upon a ceremonial falconry excursion, to review his estates at the village of Kasuga, near the former capital of Nara.
    In that village there dwelt alone two young sisters possessed of a disturbing beauty. The young nobleman gazed at the two secretly from the shade of the enclosure around their house. It filled his heart with longing that in this rustic village he should have found so unexpectedly such lovely maidens. Removing the wide sleeve from the silk cloak he was wearing, Narihira inscribed a verse upon it and sent it to the girls. The cloak he was wearing bore a bold pattern of passionflowers.
Kasugano no
Young maiden-flowers
Waka-murasaXi no
Of Kasuga, you dye my cloak;
Surigoromo
And wildly like them grows
Shinobu no mid are
This passion in my heart,
Kagiri shirarezu
Abundantly, without end.
    The maidens must have thought this eminendy suited to the occasion, for it was composed in the same mood as the well-known
Michinoku no
For whom has my heart
Shinobumojizurt
Like the passionflower patterns
Tare yue ni
Of Michinoku
Midaresomenishi
Been thrown into disarray?
Ware naranaku ni
All on account of you.
    This is the kind of facile elegance in which the men of old excelled
    ( I )
    . .
    In former times there was a girl who, beloved of the Emperor Seiwa, served him in the court, and was allowed even to wear the Imperial purple. She was cousin to the Empress Dowager. Narihira was a very young man at this time. He too was serving in direct attendance upon the Emperor, and he fell in love and became intimate with this girl.
    Now Narihira was allowed free access to the palace where the ladies of the court dwelt, 1 and he would visit the chambcr of this girl and sit directly beside her. But she entreated him, "If you come to see me thus, His Majesty will hear of it, and we shall perish. Please do not come this way again."
    Narihira answered her:
Omou ni wa
In love with you
Shinoburu koto go
I have lost all sense of
Makenikeru
Hiding from men's eyes.
Au ni shi kaeba
If in exchange for meeting you,
Samo araba are
Is death so great a price to pay?
    When she returned to her own chamber after serving in the court, he would follow after her, without trying to hide his destination. The girl, much upset, returned to her native village.
    Once at home, she thought that he would no longer trouble her; but Narihira was delighted at this turn of events, thinking this a wonderful way of meeting far from the sight of men. His visits to the girl were frequent, causing much merriment among her ladies-in-waiting. When he returned to the court in the early morning from the girl's village, he would remove his shoes at the gate and place them among the footwear of those who had spent the night in the palace, taking care that the morning garden-sweepers did not observe him. Then he would go and wait attendance on the Emperor.
    As thus he passed his days in stratagems, becoming more and more deeply involved in this dangerous love, his health began to fail. He wondered what escape there might be for him, and prayed to the gods and the Buddha that he be delivered from this fatal love. But the passion only grew upon him, and all his prayers served" but to make him love her all the more.
    Unable to drive her from his thoughts, he summoned exorcists and mediums, and had them set up by the Kamo River the divine symbols for deliverance from this love. However much he gave himself over to the chanting of the exorcists and dancers, he was never for an instant free from thoughts of her, and his passion instead became stronger even than before.
Koi seji to
"Love not!" they