The Present ÅŒmon.

On the present Ō-mon (great gateway) are inscribed the following characters from the pen of Mr. Fukuchi Genichir� (a well-known playwright) better known under his nom de plume of “Ōchi Koji�:—

春夢正濃滿街櫻雲。 秋信先通兩行燈影

“Shum-mu masa ni komayaka nari, mangai no �-un. Shū-shin saki ni tsūzu ry�k� no t�-yei,� or freely translated into English:—

“A dream of Spring-tide when the streets are full of the cherry blossoms. Tidings of the autumn when the streets are lined on either side with lighted lanterns.�

This poem is a eulogy composed of four sentences each containing four Chinese characters, the style being an imitation of that of the blank verses which were in vogue in the Tsin dynasty. The depth of meaning conveyed by these sixteen ideographs is almost incredible to the uninitiated, and to explain the full sense of the composition in English is well-nigh impossible. The words which are rendered “A dream of Springtide when the streets are full of the cherry blossoms� refer to the custom of planting cherry-trees right down the centre of the Naka-no-ch� from the main gateway (Ō-mon) to Suid�-jiri. The cherry trees are in full bloom about the first week in the third month (according to the old calendar—now April) and when one then glances down the avenue at night, after the place is lighted up with thousands of brilliantly coloured lanterns and flashing electric lamps, the whole quarter appears as if smothered in flowers. The commingling blossoms, seemingly transmuted into dense masses of soft and fleecy cloud, braid the trees in a wealth of vernal beauty, and the gay dresses both of the unfortunate women, and those of the passers-by, ever kaleidoscopic in effect and vividly oriental in colour, all go to make up a scene at once strange, fascinating, and well-nigh dream-like in character. The women in the Yoshiwara are likened in a certain poem to “cherries of the night which blossom luxuriantly,� and their power of fascination is expressed by another poem which says “Cherry blossoms of the night at length become those of the morning and again those of the night�: and yet another poem runs—“Naka-no-ch�, where the night-cherries (courtesans) blossom luxuriantly.� There is a double entendre in the sentence, for the words not only refer to the intermingling cherry blossoms in the Naka-no-ch� but imply that joy and pleasure is to be found in “A dream of spring, in a town inhabited by beautiful and voluptuous women to whom their lovers cleave as the commingling blossoms of the cherries blend together.� The poem also implies an indirect allusion to an episode in the life of one of the Chinese Emperors, who was distinguished for his Solomon-like proclivities in his admiration for the fair sex, and the harem of ravishingly beautiful damsels he kept at Fuzan.[16] The words “Tidings of the autumn when the streets are lined on either side with lighted lanterns� refer to the custom of hanging out t�r� (lanterns) in front of every tea-house in the Naka-no-ch� during one month from the 1st day to the last day of the 7th month (old calendar.) These t�r� were first hung out as an offering to the soul of one Tamagiku, a popular courtesan in olden days. When one enters the great gate at the time of this festival it is a very pretty sight to see the rows of lanterns after they are lighted up. Some of these lanterns bear pictures by celebrated painters and are therefore quite works of art, and the effect of the display is heightened at times by artificial flowers being placed between them. It is said that the approach of Autumn is heralded by the cry of the wild geese, but that it is also foretold by the display of lanterns in the Naka-no-ch� during the festival of the dead. The sight of these lanterns moreover remind the sightseers of the words of an old poem which runs—“Alas! it is the night when the dead Tamagiku comes to visit the t�r�.�