“It is pitiable to see a barren woman celebrating the Hina festival.�
This is in allusion to the fact that the doll-festival (Hina-matsuri) was originally inaugurated for the purpose of celebrating the birth of children and of manifesting a desire to have a succession of lineal descendants to perpetuate the family name. Hina means young birds newly hatched from the eggs, and in feudal times child-bearing was considered of such great importance that barrenness was a sad disgrace and formed a legitimate ground for divorcing a wife. A courtesan, in consequence of her unnatural life, and the physical strain to which she was subjected, was supposed to be incapable of conceiving, and hence Ransetsu’s lament that a woman of Katsuyama’s goodness and beauty should be condemned to celebrate a festival which amounted to a mere mockery of her unfortunate position.
Though a courtesan, Katsuyama was a sincere and worthy woman, an earnest and devout Buddhist, possessed of refined tastes which made her a lover of the beautiful, an adept in floral arrangement, and an accomplished writer. She also seems to have been gifted with an inventive genius, for she devised an unique style of hair-dressing which was so simple and unaffected that it speedily found favour with every class of women, not excepting the ladies of the daimy�s’ courts, the latter adopting this coiffure almost universally. It is still known as the “Katsuyama magé.� A very pretty story is told which illustrates the kindness of heart that characterized Katsuyama. There was a certain bugyo, named Kaisho, who was on intimate terms with the fair damsel and who was so infatuated with her goodness and beauty that he spent considerable sums of money in the purchase of rare and costly articles for the purpose of affording her pleasure. On one occasion he sent her a silver cage, fitted with a golden perch, containing a beautiful Corean bird, known as a hiyo-dori (brown-eared bul-bul). When he sent her this present he remarked that it was impossible to buy such a bird with money, and that he had only obtained possession of the pretty warbler owing to his position and influence as bugyo. Katsuyama was delighted to receive the kind gift of her friend, but after she had exhibited it to the inmates of her house she took the cage into her own room and addressed the feathery inmate in the following words:—
“Sweet little birdie, there may be those who envy your position living in a cage decorated with gold and silver and being petted by people, but I, my birdie know that the thoughts which fill your mind are quite opposite to those others attribute to you. I have lived for many years in the Yoshiwara like a bird in a cage and can sympathize with your situation. I too have lived in a golden cage and am arrayed in gorgeous robes, but I know that a person deprived of freedom is like Ōshokun[57] for whom jewels and flowers had no attraction and who felt as if living in Kikaigoshima (Devils’ Island). Judging by my own feelings I can imagine the sorrow of you, birdie, for be you ever so well treated and carefully tended you will flutter against the bars of your cage and long to fly away and be at liberty under the blue sky of Heaven just as I long to return to my dear native place.�
So saying, Katsuyama took the beautiful bird from its cage and allowed it to fly away. If this had happened in the time of Kenk� H�shi (the priestly author of the celebrated Tsurezure-Gusa) he would assuredly have praised her kindly deed in the same manner as he did a similar act of Ky�yū in his well-known book of jottings.
Segawa.
The second Segawa of the Matsuba-ya of Yedo-ch� ni-ch�-me (Yoshiwara) was redeemed by the master of E-ichi-ya (an establishment in the vicinity of Ry�goku-bashi), and the third Segawa by a blind musician named Toriyama. The second Segawa lived on affectionate terms with her redeemer, but by and by she fell sick and lay helpless for a long time in spite of everything which her doctor could do. Some person having suggested that if she were named after an animal she would recover, Segawa changed her name to Kisa, (archaic term for “elephant�) and tradition says that after this she was gradually restored to health under the treatment of a certain Doctor Kitayama Gian. While Segawa was still in the Yoshiwara she sent a letter, written in a beautiful hand, to her intimate friend Hinadzuru (of the “Ch�jiya�) on the occasion of the latter leaving the Yoshiwara in consequence of having been redeemed by a guest. The letter was a model of Japanese feminine writing, and ran as follows:—
“It is with feelings of the utmost satisfaction and delight that I hear you are to-day going to quit the “house of fire� (Kwataku �宅) of this Yoshiwara for ever, and that you are going away to live in a cool and more congenial city. I cannot find words adequate to the task of expressing my envy of the promising future which awaits you at your new residence. Moreover, according to the principles of divination, your nature has affinity with wood while that of your husband has affinity with earth. This is an excellent combination of the active and passive principles of nature, for the earth nourishes and protects the wood (tree) as long as it lives. This is indeed a good omen and augurs well for your future prosperity and happiness, and I therefore again congratulate you on the felicitous and promising union you have made.�