The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike Page 21

  Those in high places, up to the Emperor within the Jewel Curtain, were filled with disquiet, while the common people, down to the dweller in the hut of brushwood, could find no rest. Husband and wife were parted and far remote from the Palace, while parent and child knew not each other's abode. And all this was because of the many evil deeds of the Lay-priest Chancellor Kiyomori which he continually committed, in condemning people to death and banishing them, and dismissing them from office and appropriating their emoluments, without either regard for the Emperor on his Throne, or pity for the people beneath him. So certain is it that the good or evil deeds of the fathers will descend upon the heads of the children.

  But the former Empress continued to live on vainly for some years, till at length she fell ill and took to her bed. She had been awaiting her end for a long time, and now she took in her hand the cord of five colours that was fastened to the hand of the Buddha, and repeated the Nembutsu; "Namu Amida Nyorai, Lord who guidest us to the Paradise of the West, in remembrance of thy Great Vow, I beseech thee receive me into the Pure Land." And as she thus prayed, Dainagon-no-suke-no-Tsubone and Awa-no-Naiji, standing on each side of her couch, lifted up their voices in lamentation at their sad parting. And as the voice of her prayer grew weaker and weaker, a purple cloud of splendour grew visible in the west, and an unknown scent of wondrous incense filled the cell, while celestial strains of music were heard from above, and thus, about the middle of the second month of the second year of Ken-kyu, the former Empress Kenrei-mon-in breathed her last.

  The two ladies, who had never left her side since the day that she had been chosen as Imperial Consort, were plunged into the depths of despair at this parting from their mistress, and as their relations and connections had all disappeared, and there was none to help them, they had nothing left but the performance of the Buddhist services. And at last they too, like the Dragon girl* who attained enlightenment, and like the lady Vaidehi,† also departed this life to be reborn in bliss.

  Footnotes

  * The monastery park of Buddha at sâvatthi.

  * Black cap of ceremony.

  * Shirabyōshi "White Rhythm Makers." Dancers, the prototype of the modern Geisha.

  * Sk. Pantchanantarya, i.e. five rebellions. Matricide, parricide, killing aa Arhat, causing divisions among the priesthood, shedding the blood of a Buddha.

  * Orihime, or the star Vega who is supposed to meet her lover Hikoboshi on the festival of Tanabata, the seventh day of the seventh month. Cf Lafcadio Hearn, The Milky Way.

  † Paper-mulberry.

  ‡ Saiho Jodo. Paradise of Amida in the West, from which the Jodo-shu or Pure Land sect derives its name. Sk. Sukhavati.

  * It was made under the eaves on the east side of the Seiryoden, one of the halls of the Palace, at the south end; mortar was spread on the boards to obtain the effect of an earthfloor.

  * A saying of Confucius.

  * Tensho-daijin, the Sun Goddess, Ancestress of the Imperial Family.

  * A retired man who has nominally become a Buddhist monk. Lit. "One who has entered the (of Buddha).

  * Fudo Myo-o, Kosanse Myo-o, Gunchari Yasha Myo-o, Taiitoku Myo-o, Kongo Yasha Myo-o.

  * cf. Sansom's note on Tsurezure Gusa, p. 46. Explaining the custom the Tsurezure Gusa says: "In the case of a birth, in the Imperial Family the dropping of a 'koshiki' is not a fixed custom but is a charm used when the afterbirth is obstructed. When it is not obstructed this is not done. The custom came from the common people and has no authority. The 'koshiki' used are brought from the village of Ohara. In pictures treasured from ancient times one sees the dropping of these rice-vessels shown when a birth has taken place among the common people." The charm originates in the assonance of koshiki, rice-box, and koshi-ki, pain in the loins. The name of Ohara (also=great belly) is also significant.

  † The quarter of the women's apartments. Cf. Kita-no-kata.

  * The Japanese word "shii" means both "acorn" and "Fourth Rank."

  * A famous priest who became Tendai Zasshu. Died in the third year of Ei-kwan (985). Also called Ryogen.

  * Little branch.

  † i.e. How much more does a serious incident like this turn the mind to religion.

  * The nun of the Second Court Rank. Wife of Kiyomori.

  * A tan is said to be usually 60 ken (1 ken—6 feet) so it would be about 450 feet, which the commentator considers too far. In these ancient war chronicles a tan is reckoned as one jo or 10 feet, but this is too little. But to hit the rivet of a fan at 70 feet would not be easy and the shorter distance seems more likely.

  * Hell, Pretas, Beasts, Asuras, Men, and Heaven.

  * Or Naga maiden. Another example of a woman obtaining enlightenment, a thing that was regarded as difficult on account of the Five Hindrances, i.e. that woman cannot become either Brahma, Indra, Mara, a Tchakravartti, or a Buddha.

  † The queen Yaidehi, wife of Bimbisara, king of Magadha, and mother of Ajatsattru who imprisoned her. At her earnest desire to hear the doctrine, Buddha miraculously flew to her prison and preached to her.

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