Ballab

COMPOSED ON SEEING A DEAD BODY BY THE ROADSIDE WHEN CROSSING THE ASHIGARA PASS,*

Methinks from the hedge round the garden

His bride the fair hemp had ta'en,

And woven the fleecy raiment

That ne'er he threw off him again.

For toilsome the journey he journeyed
To serve his liege and his lord,t
Till the single belt that encircled him
Was changed to a thrice-wound cord;

And now, methinks, he was faring
Back home to the country-side,
With thoughts all full of his father,
Of his mother, and of his bride.

But here 'mid the eastern mountains,
Where the awful pass climbs their brow,

He halts in his onward journey

And builds him a dwelling low;

And here he lies stark in his garments,
Dishevelled his raven hair,

And ne'er can he tell me his birthplace,
Nor the name that he erst did bear.

(SAKIMARO.)

* One of the passes by which the traveller from Kiyauto may cross the Hakone range to reach the plain of Yedo.

tie., the Mikado. The feudal system did not grow up till many centuries later.

The Maiden of Unáhi.*

In Ashinóya village dwelt

The Maiden of Unáhi,

On whose beauty the next-door neighbours e'en
Might cast no wondering eye;

For they locked her up as a child of eight,
When her hair hung loosely still;
And now her tresses were gathered up,
To float no more at will.†

And the men all yearn'd that her sweet face
Might once more stand reveal'd,

Who was hid from gaze, as in silken maze
The chrysalis lies concealed.

And they formed a hedge around the house,
And, "I'll wed her!" they all did cry;
And the Champion of Chínu he was there,
And the Champion of Unáhi.

With jealous love these champions twain
The beauteous girl did woo;

• The letters nahi are sounded like our English word nigh, and therefore form but one syllable to the ear.

† Anciently (and this custom is still followed in some parts of Japan) the hair of female children was cut short at the neck and allowed to hang down loosely till the age of eight. At twelve or thirteen the hair was generally bound up, though this ceremony was also frequently postponed until marriage. At the present day, the methods of doing the hair of female children, of grown-up girls, and of married women vary con siderably.

Each had his hand on the hilt of his sword,
And a full-charged quiver, too,

Was slung o'er the back of each champion fierce,

And a bow of snow-white wood
Did rest in the sinewy hand of each;
And the twain defiant stood,

Crying, "An 'twere for her dear sake,
Nor fire nor flood I'd fear!"
The maiden heard each daring word,
But spake in her mother's ear:

"Alas! that I, poor country girl,
Should cause this jealous strife!
An I may not wed the man I love*
What profits me my life?

"In Hades' realm t I will await
The issue of the fray."

These secret thoughts, with many a sigh,
She whisper'd, and pass'd away.

To the champion of Chínu in a dream
Her face that night was shown ;
So he followed the maid to Hades' shade,
And his rival was left alone;

• Vis., as we gather from another poem by the same author, the Champion of Chínu.

The Japanese name for Hades is Yomi, allied to the word yoru, "night." Few particulars are to be gleaned from the old books. Motoworl, the great modern apostle of Shiñtau, writes of it as follows:“Hades is a land beneath the earth, whither, when they die, go all men, mean and noble, virtuous and wicked, without distinction."

Left alone, too late! too late!

He gapes at the vacant air,

He shouts, and he yells, and gnashes his teeth, And dances in wild despair.

"But no! I'll not yield!" he fiercely cries,
"I'm as good a man as he!"

And, girding his poniard, he follows after,
To search out his enemy.

The kinsmen then, on either side,
In solemn conclave met,

As a token for ever and evermore
Some monument for to set,

That the story might pass from mouth to mouth
While heav'n and earth shall stand:

So they laid the maiden in the midst,
And the champions on either hand.

And I, when I hear the mournful tale,
I melt into bitter tears,

As though these lovers I never saw

Had been mine own compeers.

(MUSHIMARO.)

The Grave of the Maiden of Unáhi.

I stand by the grave where they buried

The Maiden of Unáhi,

Whom of old the rival champions

Did woo so jealously.

The grave should hand down through the ages

Her story for evermore,

That men yet unborn might love her,

And think on the days of yore.

And so beside the causeway

They piled up the boulders high;

Nor e'er, till the clouds that o'ershadow us

Shall vanish from the sky,

May the pilgrim along the causeway

Forget to turn aside,

And mourn o'er the grave of the Maiden ;

And the village folk, beside,

Ne'er cease from their bitter weeping,

But cluster around her tomb;

And the ages repeat her story,

And bewail the Maiden's doom.

Till at last e'en I stand gazing

On the grave where she now lies low,

And muse with unspeakable sadness
On the old days long ago.

(SAKIMARO.)