[22] Râhula.
Even while praying together in front of the tablets ancestral,
Lovers find chance to murmur prayers never meant for the
dead![23]
And as for interrupters:—
Hateful the wind or rain that ruins the bloom of flowers:
Even more hateful far who obstructs the way of love.
Yet the help of the Gods is earnestly besought:—
I make my hyaku-dō, traveling Love's dark pathway.
Ever praying to meet the owner of my heart.[24]
Ekō suru toté
Hotoké no maé yé
Futari mukaité,
Konabé daté.
Lit.: "Repeat prayers saying, dead-of-presence-in twain facing,—small-pan cooking!" Hotoké means a dead person as well as a Buddha. (See my Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: "The Household Shrine")-Konabé-daté is an idiomatic expression signifying a lovers' tête-à-tête. It is derived from the phrase, Chin-chin kamo nabé("cooking a wild duck in a pan"),—the idea suggested being that of the pleasure experienced by an amorous couple in eating out of the same dish. Chin-chin, an onomatope, expresses the sound of the gravy boiling.
[24] To perform the rite called "o-hyaku-dō" means to make one hundred visits to a temple, saying a prayer each time. The expression "dark way of Love" (koi no yami or yamiji) is a Buddhist phrase; love, being due to mayoi, or illusion, is a state of spiritual darkness. The term "owner of my heart" is an attempted rendering of the Japanese word nushi, signifying "master," "owner,"—often, also, "landlord,"—and, in love-matters, the lord or master of the affection inspired.