FOOTNOTES
[227] The text is that of the Yôkyoku Tsûge. The old name, furuna, was Ahiohi (grow old together).
[228] A stage direction, it seems to mean, entry in order of actors and songmen (utahigata).
[229] Prose recitation.
[230] Description of the Journey, by a member of the chorus? The syntax of this passage and of similar passages that follow is irregular, there is much ellipsis and some inversion. Most probably too the text—if there ever was a settled text—is more or less corrupt. Though the syntax and phrasing is of a rather fragmentary and disjointed character the meaning is not usually hard to get at, if somewhat vague.
[231] This passage, like some others, must be understood metaphorically as well as literally—here, in reference to the age of the tree and that of the speaker. The sashi of shitesashi seems to indicate a coming forward or interruption by the protagonist. Rongi-ji is a sort of dialogal chorus, and kuse, a statement of the precept or argument of the utahi, made by one of the chorus.
[232] Chorus again.
[233] From this point the verse is irregular.
[234] Poetized prose.