Vol. XXVIII.]
Vol. II. Sect. LXXXIX.
219
was called by the name of Mihe. When he departed thence and reached the Moor of Nobo,[1] he, regretting[2] [his native] land,[3] sang, saying:
“As for Yamato, the most secluded of lands—Yamato, retired behind Mount Awogaki encompassing it with its folds, is delightful.”[4]
- ↑ Nobo-nu in the province of Ise. The name seems to signify “the moor of mounting.”
- ↑ The Chinese character here used signifies simply “thinking of;” but in such a context its common Japanese interpretation is “loving” or “regretting,” and so Motowori means us to understand it when he reads shinuhashite.
- ↑ Viz., Yamato.
- ↑ This Song and the two following form but one in the pages of the “Chronicles,” where they appear with several verbal differences, and are attributed, not to the Prince, but to his father the Emperor. Moribe decides that in the latter particular the text of these “Records” gives the preferable account, but that the “Chronicles” are right in making the three Songs one continuous poem. The expression “this Song is a Land-Regretting Song” strongly supports this view; for, though we might also render in the Plural “these Songs are, etc.,” such a translation would be less natural, as in similar cases the numeral is used, thus “these two Songs are, etc.” The expression “this is an Incomplete Song” points as decidedly to some mutilation of the original document, from which the compiler of the “Records” copied this passage. Taking then the three Songs as one, the entire drift is that of a pæan on Yamato, the poet’s native land, which he could not hope ever to see again:—Commencing by praising its still seclusion as it lies there behind its barrier of protecting mountains, he goes on to mention the rural pleasures enjoyed by those who, wandering over the hill-sides, deck their hair with garlands of leaves and flowers. For himself indeed these delights are no more; “but,” says he, “do you, ye children full of health and happiness! pursue your innocent enjoyment!” In conclusion he lovingly apostrophises the clouds which, rising up from the south-west, are, as it were, messengers from home.—The word mahoroba, rendered “secluded,” is a great crux to the commentators, and Motowori’s “Examination of the Synonyms of Japan,” pp. 17–18, and Moribe’s “Idzu no Koto Waki,” Vol. III, p. 31, should be consulted by the student desirous of forming his own opinion on the point. Another apparent difficulty is the word gomoreru, whose position in the sentence Motowori seems to have misunderstood. By following Moribe, and taking it as compounded with the word Awogaki-yama into Awogaki-yama-gomoreru the difficulty vanishes, and we are likewise relieved from the necessity of supposing anything so highly improbable as that the Verb komoreru, when not compounded,
