Makoto yara,
Kashima no minato ni
Miroku no mifuné ga
Tsuité gozarimōsu.
Yono!
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
Hobashira wa,
Kogané no hobashira;
Ho niwa Hokkékyō no
Go no man-makimono.
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
I know not if 't is true
That to the port of Kashima
The august ship of Miroku[95] has come!
Yono!
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
[95] ] Miroku Bosatsu (Maitrêya Bodhisattva) is the next great Buddha to come.
As for the mast,
It is a mast of gold;—
The sail is the fifth august roll
Of the Hokkékyō[96]
Sā iyoë, iyoë!
Sā iyoë, iyoë
[96] ] Japanese popular name for the Chinese version of the Saddhârma Pundarîka Sûtra.—Many of the old Buddhist scriptures were written upon long scrolls, called makimono,—a name also given to pictures printed upon long rolls of silk or paper.
Otherwise interesting, with its queer refrain, is another song called "Agémaki,"—belonging to one of the curious class of lyrical dramas known as Saibara. This may be found fault with as somewhat "free"; but I cannot think it more open to objection than some of our much-admired Elizabethan songs which were probably produced at about the same time:—
AGÉMAKI
(Probably from the sixteenth century)