[13] Ishiyama Temple is some five miles to the east of Kioto. To reach there one must rise over the ascent of Osaka, and the barrier of Seki at the foot of Mount Seki, where travellers were stopped and examined. The temple commands a fine view of Lake Biwa, still more distant.
[14] This group of poems have as their base the play upon words of two meanings, or place-names whose meanings make the necessary suggestive idea. Omi is the name of the province in which are Ishiyama and Lake Biwa. Here the word is used as the homophon of meeting. Mount Nagara is near the Ishiyama Temple. Nagara is the homophon of "while being (on the mountain)."
[15] Law of Buddha.
[16] The waning moon is called the morning moon because it can be seen after dawn.
[17] Wild geese visit Japan in Autumn and fly away northwards in the early spring. They are never alone, and their cries calling to each other make the solitary woman feel loneliness more keenly.
[18] It is the Japanese way to say night opens instead of day dawns. The word little means nothing but a feeling of endearment.
[19] The Japanese lady in her dwelling where the light was softened by her window-panes of white silk, or her sudaré, dwelt always in a sort of twilight probably very becoming to beauty.
[20] Mayumi—Evonymœus europus. In Autumn the leaves of the tree become purple or red, and they are so pretty that people call them "mountain brocade."
[21] According to an ancient fable, En-no-Shokaku, a great magician who could command even gods, once summoned gods of many mountains to make a stone bridge at Kumé on Mount Katuragi in the Province of Yamato. The goddess of Mount Katuragi was very shy, and, working only at night, never showed herself before others. The magician grew angry with her, and punished her by unveiling her. That was the cause of the failure in the work. (The inmost soul hides itself and works in the dark. If you try to bring it into clear consciousness, you will fail in your work.)
[22] The Godless month—the Tenth month; so called because in that month all the gods left their abodes and went to the High Plain of Heaven to hold counsel together.