[12] Page 41—Ikuta, the name of the hamlet, has the same sound, though it is written differently, as the Chinese character for numerous.
[13] Page 42—The Chinese character for the name Ono reads “little field”; then there is the suggestion that there is little in the way of green sprouts yet.
[14] Page 42—The word “prize” is left out in the original out of politeness.
[15] The three parts of this song are chanted in different tones.
[16] Page 43—Quotation from an old poem. The stanza speaks of the attractiveness of village maidens gathering young leaves.
[17] Page 43—Quotation from an old poem. The owner of the field is hoping that the time will soon come for plucking the shoots. He is impatient, and sends the watchman to see if it is not yet time. This idea leads up to “Likewise dost haste” in one of the following lines.
[18] Page 43—A part of another old stanza.
[19] Page 44—Still another quotation from an old poem, introduced for the word furu. “To fall” and “old” are both furu in Japanese, and “older leaves” in one of the following lines is furu ha.
[20] Page 44—i. e. Purple. As is common in Japanese poetry, the word purple is not actually used, but is called “the related colour.” As a colour the Japanese word Murasaki is purple, and it is also applied to a herb with deep purple-coloured flowers. This plant’s colour is so intensely purple that all the herbs growing near it are supposed to show the same colour. From such an idea purple colour is known in poetry as Yukari no iro (the related colour). In the present lines part of an old stanza is introduced for the sake of recalling the word murasaki, and this in turn leads on to yukari no na in the first line of the Chorus.
[21] Page 44—According to an old tale a lover, crossing a pontoon bridge, fell between the boats and was drowned. The Chorus supposes the heroine to be thinking, “Like this man I too died because of love, and the ‘Bridge of Love’ is a name which is related (see note [11]) to my own destiny.”