Chapter IV: Shinkir=o

The term _Shinkir[=o]_ is used in the meaning of "mirage," and also as another name for H[=o]rai, the Elf-land of Far Eastern fable. Various beings in Japanese myth are credited with power to delude mortals by creating a mirage of H[=o]rai. In old pictures one may see a toad represented in the act of exhaling from its mouth a vapor that shapes the apparition of H[=o]rai.

But the creature especially wont to produce this illusion is the _Hamaguri_,--a Japanese mollusk much resembling a clam. Opening its shell, it sends into the air a purplish misty breath; and that mist takes form and defines, in tints of mother-of-pearl, the luminous vision of H[=o]rai and the palace of the Dragon-King.

Hamaguri no
Kuchi aku toki ya,
Shinkir[=o]!
Yo ni shirar['e] ken
Tatsu-no-miya-him['e]!

[_When the hamaguri opens its mouth--lo! Shinkir[=o]
appears!... Then all can clearly see the Maiden-Princess of
the Dragon-Palace._]

Shinkir[=o]--
Tatsu no miyako no
Hinagata[33] wo
Shio-hi no oki ni
Misuru hamaguri!

[_Lo! in the offing at ebb-tide, the hamaguri makes visible
the miniature image of Shinkir[=o]--the Dragon-Capital!_]

[Footnote 33: _Hinagata_ means especially "a model," "a miniature copy," "a drawn plan," etc.]