Note 138 — Chapter VI · THE BUTTERFLIES
Arthur Waley translation
The box of autumn leaves. See above, p. 145.
139 See vol. ii, p. 292.
140 Yamabuki no Saki, a place in Ōmi, referred to in the Gossamer Diary. See vol. ii, p. 28.
141 A place in Yamashiro, also famous for its kerria flowers.
142 Hōrai, fairyland, the Immortal Island.
143 The mode of the second, beginning on alto A. Being so high it was very difficult to play. It symbolized Spring.
144 The tune which marked the return from the unusual ‘Spring’ tuning to the ordinary mode.
145 ‘With a thread of green from the willow-tree—Ohé! The nightingale has stitched himself a hat—Ohé! A hat of plum-blossom, they say—Ohé!’
146 Lest the enemy should see it.
147 He thinks that Tamakatsura is Genji’s daughter, and therefore his own niece. Union with a brother’s child was ill-viewed. There are numerous puns, which it would be tedious to explain.
148 The Japanese, as is well known, squat cross-legged on the ground. But the use of chairs had spread with Buddhism from Central Asia.
149 One of the magical birds in Amida Buddha’s Paradise.
150 Tamakatsura’s quarters.
151 The married life of Confucius, like that of Socrates, was very unhappy.
152 From a poem written by Po Chü-i in 821, describing the pleasure of returning to his own house after a spell of duty in the Palace: ‘I sit at the window and listen to the wind rustling among the bamboo; I walk on the terrace and watch the moon rising between the trees.’
153 See note on p. 235.
154 See above p. 159. Ateki of course knew the secret of Tamakatsura’s birth.