|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 7
But the most curious Izumo custom relating to the festival was the
_N�mu-nagashi_, or "Sleep-wash-away" ceremony. Before day-break the
young folks used to go to some stream, carrying with them bunches
composed of _n�muri_-leaves and bean-leaves mixed together. On
reaching the stream, they would fling their bunches of leaves into the
current, and sing a little song:--
N�mu wa, nagar� yo!
Mam� no ha wa, tomar�!
These verses might be rendered in two ways; because the word _n�mu_
can be taken in the meaning either of _n�muri_ (sleep), or of
_nemuri-gi_ or _n�munoki_, the "sleep-plant" (mimosa),--while the
syllables _mam�_, as written in _kana_, can signify either "bean," or
"activity," or "strength," "vigor," "health," etc. But the ceremony
was symbolical, and the intended meaning of the song was:--
Drowsiness, drift away!
Leaves of vigor, remain!
After this, all the young folk would jump into the water, to bathe or
swim, in token of their resolve to shed all laziness for the coming
year, and to maintain a vigorous spirit of endeavor.
* * * * *
Yet it was probably in Y�do (now T[=o]ky[=o]) that the Tanabata
festival assumed its most picturesque aspects. During the two days
that the celebration lasted,--the sixth and seventh of the seventh
month,--the city used to present the appearance of one vast bamboo
grove; fresh bamboos, with poems attached to them, being erected upon
the roofs of the houses. Peasants were in those days able to do a
great business in bamboos, which were brought into town by hundreds of
wagonloads for holiday use. Another feature of the Y�do festival was
the children's procession, in which bamboos, with poems attached to
them, were carried about the city. To each such bamboo there was also
fastened a red plaque on which were painted, in Chinese characters,
the names of the Tanabata stars.
But almost everywhere, under the Tokugawa r�gime, the Tanabata
festival used to be a merry holiday for the young people of all
classes,--a holiday beginning with lantern displays before sunrise,
and lasting well into the following night. Boys and girls on that day
were dressed in their best, and paid visits of ceremony to friends and
neighbors.
* * * * *
--The moon of the seventh month used to be called _Tanabata-tsuki_, or
"The Moon of Tanabata." And it was also called _Fumi-tsuki_, or "The
Literary Moon," because during the seventh month poems were everywhere
composed in praise of the Celestial Lovers.
* * * * *
I think that my readers ought to be interested in the following
selection of ancient Japanese poems, treating of the Tanabata legend.
All are from the _Many[=o]sh[=u]_. The _Many[=o]sh[=u]_, or "Gathering
of a Myriad Leaves," is a vast collection of poems composed before the
middle of the eighth century. It was compiled by Imperial order, and
completed early in the ninth century. The number of the poems which
it contains is upwards of four thousand; some being "long poems"
(_naga-uta_), but the great majority _tanka_, or compositions limited
to thirty-one syllables; and the authors were courtiers or high
officials. The first eleven _tanka_ hereafter translated were composed
by Yamagami no Okura, Governor of the province of Chikuzen more than
eleven hundred years ago. His fame as a poet is well deserved; for
not a little of his work will bear comparison with some of the finer
epigrams of the Greek Anthology. The following verses, upon the death
of his little son Furubi, will serve as an example:--
Wakaker�ba
Nichi-yuki shiraji:
Mahi wa s�mu,
Shitab� no tsukahi
Ohit�-tohoras�.
--[_As he is so young, he cannot know the way.... To the
messenger of the Underworld I will give a bribe, and entreat
him, saying: "Do thou kindly take the little one upon thy back
along the road."_]
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|