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Page 18
Tamakushig�
Futatsu no sugata
Mis�nuru wa,
Awas�-kagami no
Kag� no wazurai.
[_If, when seated before her toilet-stand, she sees two faces
reflected in her mirror,--that might be caused by the
mirror doubling itself under the influence of the
Shadow-Sickness._[31]]
[Footnote 31: There is in this poem a multiplicity of suggestion
impossible to render in translation. While making her toilet, the
Japanese woman uses two mirrors (_awas�-kagami_)--one of which, a
hand-mirror, serves to show her the appearance of the back part of
her coiffure, by reflecting it into the larger stationary mirror. But
in this case of Rikomby[=o], the woman sees more than her face and
the back of her head in the larger mirror: she sees her own double.
The verses indicate that one of the mirrors may have caught the
Shadow-Sickness, and doubled itself. And there is a further suggestion
of the ghostly sympathy said to exist between a mirror and the soul of
its possessor.]
III. [=O]-GAMA
In the old Chinese and Japanese literature the toad is credited with
supernatural capacities,--such as the power to call down clouds, the
power to make rain, the power to exhale from its mouth a magical
mist which creates the most beautiful illusions. Some toads are good
spirits,--friends of holy men; and in Japanese art a famous Rishi
called "Gama-Sennin" (Toad Rishi) is usually represented with a white
toad resting upon his shoulder, or squatting beside him. Some toads
are evil goblins, and create phantasms for the purpose of luring men
to destruction. A typical story about a creature of this class will be
found in my "Kott[=o]," entitled "The Story of Chug[=o]r[=o]."
M� wa kagami,
Kuchi wa tarai no
Hodo ni aku:
Gama mo k�sh[=o] no
Mono to kos[=o] shir�.
[_The eye of it, widely open, like a (round) mirror; the mouth
of it opening like a wash-basin--by these things you may know
that the Toad is a goblin-thing (or, that the Toad is a toilet
article)._[32]]
[Footnote 32: There are two Japanese words, _kesh[=o]_, which in
_kana_ are written alike and pronounced alike, though represented
by very different Chinese characters. As written in _kana_, the
term _kesh[=o]-no-mono_ may signify either "toilet articles" or "a
monstrous being," "a goblin."]
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� ken
Tatsu-no-miya-him�!
[_When the hamaguri opens its mouth--lo! Shinkir[=o]
appears!... Then all can clearly see the Maiden-Princess of
the Dragon-Palace._]
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