Note 23 — LAFCADIO HEARN (continued 3)

Ekō suru toté Hotoké no maé yé Futari mukaité, Konabé daté.

Lit.: "Repeat prayers saying, dead-of-presence-in twain facing,—small-pan cooking!" Hotoké means a dead person as well as a Buddha. (See my Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: "The Household Shrine")-Konabé-daté is an idiomatic expression signifying a lovers' tête-à-tête. It is derived from the phrase, Chin-chin kamo nabé("cooking a wild duck in a pan"),—the idea suggested being that of the pleasure experienced by an amorous couple in eating out of the same dish. Chin-chin, an onomatope, expresses the sound of the gravy boiling.