Note 175 — Chapter VIII · A BED OF CARNATIONS
Arthur Waley translation
Akikonomu, for example, had become Empress.
176 I.e. the Fujiwaras, the clan to which the writer herself belonged.
177 ‘In my house the awnings are at the doors and curtains are hanging about the bed. Come, my Prince! you shall have my daughter for your bride, and at the wedding-feast you shall have the fish you like best, be it awabi, oyster or what you will.’
178 In some story now lost.
179 Literally: ‘Thinking of a man, and yearning.’
180 A reference to Tō no Chūjō’s poem, vol. i, p. 59.
181 The rustic creature unearthed by Kōbai in his search for Tamakatsura.
182 Of these there are several, the shortest of which runs (in Sanskrit) Namas samanta-vajrānām ham. ‘Praise be to all the Thunderbolt-bearers. Ay verily.’ Its impressiveness was partly due to the fact that very few Japanese knew what it meant.
183 The princess from Akashi.
184 Tō no Chūjō’s mother, Kumoi’s grandmother.
185 On leave from the Palace; she was one of the Emperor’s consorts.
186 Sugoroku, a kind of backgammon.
187 Japanese windows are made of translucent paper, not of glass.
188 The Lady of Ōmi’s poem contained three irrelevant place-names. This one contains four, and is intentionally senseless, for Chūnagon had not been able to make out what Ōmi’s rigmarole was about.