San-zen sékai ni
Otoko wa arédo,
Nushi ni mi-kayeru
Hito wa nai.
"San-zen sekai," the three thousand worlds, is a common Buddhist expression. Literally translated, the above song runs: "Three-thousand-worlds-in men are, but lover-to-exchange person is not."
[28] The familiar Buddhist simile is used more significantly here than the Western reader might suppose from the above rendering. These are supposed to be the words either of a professional singing-girl or of a jorō. Her calling is derisively termed a doro-midzu kagyō ("foul-water occupation"); and her citation of the famous Buddhist comparison in self-defense is particularly, and pathetically, happy.
Chi-no-Iké-Jigoku mo,
Tsurugi-no-Yama mo,
Futari-dzuré nara
Itoi 'a sénu.
The Hell of the Blood-Lake is a hell for women; and the Mountain of Swords is usually depicted in Buddhist prints as a place of infernal punishment for men in especial.
Not yet indeed is my body garbed in the ink-black habit;
—But as for this heart bereaved, already it is a nun.[30]
My hair, indeed, is uncut; but my heart has become a religious;
A nun it shall always be till the hour I meet him again.
But even the priest or nun is not always exempt from the power of mayoi:—