English poem
Sama Wa Tennin
by Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904)
(Probably from the sixteenth century)
Sama wa tennin! Sore-sore, Tontorori!
Otome no sugata Kumo no kayoiji Chirato mita! Tontorori!
Otome no sugata Kumo no kayoiji Chirato mita! Tontorori!
My beloved an angel is! Sore-sore! Tontorori!
The maiden's form, In the passing of clouds, In a glimpse I saw! Tontorori!
The maiden's form, In the passage of clouds, In a glimpse I saw! Tontorori!
Lit., "a Tennin";--that is to say, an inhabitant of the Buddhist heaven. The Tennin are usually represented as beautiful maidens.
My next selection is from a love-song of uncertain date, belonging to the Kamakura period (1186-1332). This fragment is chiefly remarkable for its Buddhist allusions, and for its very regular form of stanza:--
Makoto yara, Kashima no minato ni Miroku no mifune ga Tsuite gozarimosu.
Yono! Sa iyoe, iyoe! Sa iyoe, iyoe!
Hobashira wa, Kogane no hobashira; Ho niwa Hokkekyo no Go no man-makimono.
Sa iyoe, iyoe! Sa iyoe, iyoe!
* * * * *
I know not if 't is true That to the port of Kashima The august ship of Miroku has come!
Yono! Sa iyoe, iyoe! Sa iyoe, iyoe!
Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya Bodhisattva) is the next great Buddha to come.
As for the mast, It is a mast of gold;-- The sail is the fifth august roll Of the Hokkekyo!
Sa iyoe, iyoe! Sa iyoe, iyoe
Japanese popular name for the Chinese version of the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra.--Many of the old Buddhist scriptures were written upon long scrolls, called makimono,--a name also given to pictures printed upon long rolls of silk or paper.
* * * * *
Otherwise interesting, with its queer refrain, is another song called "Agemaki,"--belonging to one of the curious class of lyrical dramas known as Saibara. This may be found fault with as somewhat "free"; but I cannot think it more open to objection than some of our much-admired Elizabethan songs which were probably produced at about the same time:--