[147] The part played by the mirror in the devotions of the Japanese is carried back by them to a tale in their mythology which relates the disappearance into a cavern of the Sun-goddess Amaterasu, and the manner in which she was enticed forth by being led to believe that her reflection in a mirror that was shown to her was another deity more lovely than herself.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
VIEW FROM MOUNT KAGO
Composed by the Mikado Zhiyomei
Countless are the mountain-chains
Tow'ring o'er Cipango's plains;
But fairest is Mount Kago's peak,
Whose heav'nward soaring heights I seek,
And gaze on all my realms beneath—
Gaze on the land where vapors wreath
O'er many a cot; gaze on the sea,
Where cry the sea-gulls merrily.
Yes! 'tis a very pleasant land,
Fill'd with joys on either hand,
Sweeter than aught beneath the sky,
Dear islands of the dragon-fly![148]