Chapter II

The one is taken who might be of use!
The one is taken who might be of use!
The one whose work is over does remain,
The mother, like a withered broom tree left,[66]
In whose mind comes and goes his likeness dear,
As things are wont in this uncertain world.
To man at any moment may come grief,
Like heartless storm that shatters blooming boughs
The voice of such a storm has called up clouds
That fly unsettled and have hid the moon
That else had lit the long night of her life.
Yea, verily how fleeting must the world
Appear to her before us now. Alas!
Yea, verily how fleeting must the world
Appear to her before us now. Alas!

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

Now, however much thou grievest, ’tis of no avail whatever;
Join then with us in the prayer for his good in future worlds.

[_Song_]

The moon has risen, and the river breeze
Blows cool. ’Tis late already, and the gong
Tolls out, and we should be upon our knees.[67]

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

But still the mother in her agony
No prayer can voice, but only weeping lie
Upon the ground that hides her darling joy.

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

Yea! ’tis sorrowful, though others have assembled in large numbers,
It is _thy_ prayer that his spirit surely would rejoice to hear.

[_Song_]

I place the gong[68] now in the mother’s hand.

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

True, ’tis for my child’s sake, as I am told,
And in my own hands now the gong I hold.

FERRYMAN [_Song_]

As grief is checked and voices cleared for prayer.

THE MOTHER

In unison we pray this moonlit night.

FERRYMAN

Our thoughts united, to the West[69] we turn.

THE MOTHER AND FERRYMAN

Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great,
Who still the same, for six-and-thirty times
A million million worlds of Paradise,[70]
For ever in the west dost permeate.
Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great.

THE MOTHER

Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great.

CHORUS

I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.

THE MOTHER

And to my prayer the river Sumida
Adds its loud voice the breeze.

CHORUS

I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.

THE MOTHER

If true thy name, Bird of the City Royal,
Add too thy voice, for this the city’s child.

CHILD[71] AND CHORUS

I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.

THE MOTHER [_Words_]

Oh, that was my child’s voice praying, he that said the prayer
just now.
His voice was it, I am certain, and within this mound it seemed.

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

As you say, we also heard it. And we now will cease our praying,
Thou his mother art, and solely, honourably deign to pray.

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

Even if nothing but his voice return,
I would that I could hear that voice again.

CHILD

I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.

CHORUS [_Song_]

The voice is heard, and like a shadow too
Within, can one a little form discern.

[_The Spirit of the Child appears_]

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

Is it my child?

CHILD

Ah! Mother! Is it you?

[_The Spirit disappears_]

CHORUS [_Song_]

The mutual clasp of hand in hand exchanged,
Once more he vanished as he first had come,
But in her thought increasingly the form
Of his reflection did repeat itself
As in a polished mirror, to and fro.
While gazing at the vision came the dawn
And dimly flushed the sky, till naught was left.
While what appeared to be the child is now
A mound grown thickly o’er with tangled weeds,
It has become naught but a rushy marsh,
A mark of what was once so very dear.
Ah, pitiful indeed is this our life
Ah, pitiful indeed is this our life!

END OF “THE SUMIDA RIVER”

FOOTNOTES:

[50] Page 78--_Azuma_ is a name for the east of Japan, really the region surrounding Tokio (literally the eastern capital).

[51] The old capital in the west, Kioto.

[52] Page 80--This is a particularly difficult passage. I had previously rendered the lines more freely than the rest of the translation, in an endeavour to construct a consecutive verse which might keep the attention of an English reader. In its present form the verse is perhaps nearer the original, but no entirely _literal_ translation is possible of a passage so full of the essentially Japanese “pillow” and “pivot” words. At the outset the Mother quotes a few words from an old poem.

[53] Page 80--The Japanese word _yuki_ means both “snow” and “going.”

[54] Page 81--Most of these three lines is added for the sake of rounding off the thought in English.

[55] Page 81--This is not the large commercial town of the same name.

[56] Page 82--The bond of the relationship between a parent and child. According to the Buddhistic belief, re-incarnation in the same relations of parent and child holds only for this world. (That between lovers is generally supposed to be of longer duration.)

[57] Page 82--Reference to an old Chinese fable of a bird who had four young, and was bitterly distressed when the time came for them to fly away.

[58] Page 82--_Sumi_ means the corner, or end of everything.

[59] Page 83--Local ferries sometimes hindered strangers from the city, but she intimates that the Sumida is a river of too great importance to expect such treatment on it.

[60] Page 83--“That word” is the word for “repute,” which has a root the same as “if true the name” in the famous poem which she quotes. The line depends on one of the Japanese “pivot words.”

[61] Page 83--Narihira is one of the well-known early poets of Japan, he died in 880. Chamberlain, in his _Classical Poetry of the Japanese_, quotes an opinion of Tsurayuki (who died in 946) on Narihira. He says: “Narihira’s stanzas are so pregnant with meaning that the words suffice not to express it. He is like a closed flower that hath lost its colour, but whose fragrance yet remaineth.” Narihira is noted among the classical poets for his conciseness and frequent obscurity.

[62] Page 84--She is vexed with him for not entering into the spirit of the place and realising the quotation she has just given.

[63] Page 84--These lines depend on pivot words, which by playing upon the root words in the Japanese, connect the ideas prettily.

[64] Page 87--And therefore it appeared to them hopeless to expect him to recover from the illness.

[65] Page 88--The _shadows_ of people are much more real in Japan than here. The shadow pictures that are continually thrown on the white paper screens separating the rooms must fill a large place in the memory of one who has lived in Japan; and, too, it is often only the _feet_ of a passing noiseless maiden that one can see through the openwork base of these screens while one lies on the quilts on the matted floors.

[66] Page 91--This arises as a play on the words _Hawa_, a mother, and _hawaki_, a broom tree, and also refers to a legend about a broom tree which appeared and disappeared.

[67] Page 92--Time, therefore, for midnight prayer.

[68] Page 92--The gong in the Buddhist shrines is struck by the one who prays.

[69] Page 92--The West is the direction of the Buddhist heavens.

[70] Page 93--The words are from the Buddhist scriptures, according to which there are thirty-six million million worlds, all presided over by emanations of the same Buddha.

[71] The voice of the Child’s Spirit is heard accompanied by the Chorus’s chant.

ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE _NŌ_.

There is no English book entirely on the _Nō_, but the following Works contain chapters on, and translations of, some of them.

ASTON, W. G. “A History of Japanese Literature.” Heinemann, London, 1899. See pp. 199-213.

BRINKLEY, F. “Japan: its History, Arts and Literature,” vol. iii. Jack, London, 1903. See pp. 28-48.

CHAMBERLAIN, B. H. “The Classical Poetry of the Japanese.” Boston, 1880. See pp. 137-185. Reprinted with additions and deletions as “Japanese Poetry.” London, 1911. See pp. 109-144.

DICKINS, F. V. “Primitive and Mediæval Japanese Texts translated into English.” Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1906. See pp. 391-412. Also volume of romanized texts of the same.

EDWARDS, O. “Japanese Plays and Playfellows.” London, 1901. See pp. 39-61.

SANSOM, G. B. “Translations from Lyrical Drama: ‘Nō.’” Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan, 1911, vol. xxxviii, part 3, pp. 125-176.

STOPES, M. C. “A Japanese Mediæval Drama.” Trans. Royal Soc. Literature, London, 1909, vol. xxix, part 3, pp. 153-178.

_By the same Author_

A Journal from Japan

By Dr. Marie C. Stopes

_The Diary of a year and a half’s travel into the wilds of Japan, as well as of sojourn in its capital_

The _Spectator_ says:

“A most interesting and illuminating work.”

The _Athenæum_ says:

“Remarkably naïve and fresh.”

The _Literary World_ says:

“Has a peculiar freshness and vivacity added to a clear style.”

The _Daily Telegraph_ says:

“Should take its place among the very best works on the Far East.”

The _Nation_ says:

“The lighter touches are fresh and distinctly amusing.”

* * * * *

Transcriber's Note

Illustrations have been moved next to the text to which they refer. Their locations may no longer correspond to the List of Illustrations.

The printed text contained both footnotes and endnotes. These have been combined, and all notes moved to the end of each chapter. A footnote on p. 39 ("The numbers refer to notes at the end of the volume.") explaining the printed system has been removed.

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

Advertisement page "~10s~" changed to "~10s.~"

p. 11 (note) "pp. 156-7" changed to "pp. 156-7."

Illustration (plan of stage) "at the ront" changed to "at the front"

p. 15 "_kakama_" changed to "_hakama_"

p. 30 "The world is at peace:/Soft blows" changed to "The world is at peace./Soft blow"

p. 30 "very firs/In that they meet." changed to "very firs,/In that they meet"

p. 31 (note) "p. 174" changed to "p. 174."

p. 57 "Tōtomi" changed to "Tōtōmi"

p. 81 "to Asuma" changed to "to Azuma"

p. 103 "Playfellows." changed to "Playfellows.”"

p. 104 "amusing.’" changed to "amusing."

The following possible errors have not been changed:

p. iv right

p. 31 contain the breeze

p. 41 spring-time sprout

pp. 55-56 The line "When in their warships were the Taira clan," was repeated

p. 65 face to face

p. 67 Mismatched quotation marks following “In our last

p. 68 to look upon

The following are used inconsistently:

daimios and Daimios

ideagraph and ideograph

Kurō and Kuro

lifelike and life-like

lifelong and life-long

ōtsuzumi and otsuzumi

reincarnation and re-incarnation

woodcut and wood-cut