FOOTNOTES:
[89] A temporary residence expressly built for the Saigû to undergo purification.
[90] A peculiar gate erected in front of the sacred places.
[91] Shinto priests.
[92] Name of a river of the province of Ise, which the travellers had to cross.
[93] A dress made of the bark of the Wistaria was worn by those who were in deep mourning for near relatives.
[94] This was an office held by a Court lady, whose duty it was to act as a medium of communication in the transmitting of messages between the Emperor and State officials.
[95] It is said that the tomb of the authoress of this work is to be found at this spot.
[96] In the Tendai sect of Buddhists there are sixty volumes of the theological writings which are considered most authoritative for their doctrine.
[97] A passage of a Chinese history. The story is, that a Prince of a certain Chinese kingdom contrived to have assassinated an Emperor, his enemy. When he sent off the assassin this event took place. The allusion here seems to imply the allegation that Genji intended high treason.
[98] She was the favorite of the first Emperor of the Hung dynasty in China, and the rival of the Empress. When the Emperor died, the Empress, a clever and disdainful woman, revenged herself by cutting off her feet, and her arms, and making away with her son.
[99] This seems to have been the name of an aged attendant.
[100] Among Japanese children it often happens that the milk teeth become black and decayed, which often gives a charm to their expression.
[101] It was the custom to show a white horse on the seventh day of the new year to the Empress, the superstition being that this was a protestation against evil spirits.
[102] A game consisting in opening Chinese poetry books and covering the rhymes, making others guess them.
[103] Name of a ballad.
[104] In Chinese history it is recorded that in giving an injunction to his son, Duke Choau, a great statesman of the eleventh century b.c., used these words: "I am the son of King Yuen, the brother of King Mu, and the uncle of King Ching; but I am so ready in receiving men in any way distinguished, that I am often interrupted three times at my dinner, or in my bath." It would seem that Genji, in the pride of his feeling, unconsciously made the above quotation in reference to himself.