Japanese Plays and Playfellows

by Osman Edwards

Consolation.

In mine ears linger

Words said at parting;

Sleeping alone, I

Hope for a dream.

Rather quaint is the following lament over conjugal incompatibility. But the wife knows that she must submit, on pain of divorce; and the word kigane, which I have rendered “trouble,” is used of little inevitable domestic worries. The terms “fire-nature” and “water-nature” are taken from Chinese philosophy.

Incompatibility.

Thou, cold as water,

I, hot as fire;