Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 229

1841.'

Notices of Japan, No. VIII.

215

The following ethical stanza is likewise given in the original, because in it are some lines longer than in any of the other specimens; but whether this be ac cidental, or regulated by the nature of the subject, is not explained.

Kokorodani makotono,

Michi ni kanał naba, Inorazu totemo kamiya,

Mamoran.

Upright in heart be thou, and purc, So shall the blessing of God, Through eternity be upon thee; Clamorous prayers shall not avail, But truly a clear conscience,

That worships and fears in silence.

One of Titsingh's specimens, a short poem upon the murder of Yamasiro, a councillor of state, is both rather more poetical, and exemplifies the allusions to old stories or legends, and the play upon words, said to characterize Japanese poetry. This president, or rather his French translator, has added to his Dutch a Latin version, professedly literal, and no longer than the original; for which reason, it may be better to translate that (even if not literally, which the singular collocation of the words, dislocated beyond ordinary Latin dislocation, would, even more than the extreme compression, render difficult in English), than to copy the doubly and trebly translated translations; his work being published only in French and English, not in Dutch. It must be premised, that the constituent parts of the murdered man's name, being yama, a mountain,' and siro, a castle,' afford a happy opportunity for puns.

"That the young councillor is cut off at the castle on the hill by a new guard, exciting a tumult, I have just heard.

"Yamasiro's white robe being dyed with blood, all behold in him the reddening councillor.

"Along the eastern way, through the village Sanno, the rushing waters poured, burst the dyke of the swamp, and the mountain-castle fell.

"The precious trees planted in vases, the plum-trees and cherry-trees beautiful with their blossoms, who threw them into the fire? "Twas Sanno cut them down.' (This alludes to an old tale of one Sanno's still unbounded hospitality, when reduced to extreme indigence.)

"Cut down is the insane councillor. We might say, had such things ever before been heard of, this was the chastisement of Heaven."

These specimens may suffice; but as the compression and style of Japanese verse have certainly not been displayed in the Dutch translations, perhaps one stanza of the Latin, which professes to be line for line, may not be unacceptable.

Kiraretawa,

Bakadoshi yorito,

Kikuto haya;

Yamamo o shiro mo

Sawagu shinpan.

With the statement that ballads,

Præcidisse

Consiliarum minorem

Nuper audivi ;

In montis castello

Turbas excitantem novum custodem.

romances, and songs are said to constitute the greater number of Japanese poems, this subject may now be dismissed. Of the drama, all that could be found has already been given, in speaking of the theatrical representations at Ohosaka; and we turn from light literature to science.