684 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, xyiii. 



of the Japanese poets. Perhaps they ought more correctly to 

 be called poetical mottoes. They play a great part in the 

 intellectual life of the Japanese. Their authors are highly 

 esteemed, and even in the homes of the poorer classes the walls 

 are often ornamented with strijDS of silk or paper on which 

 poems are written in large, bold, pencil characters. Among the 

 books I brought home with me are many which contain 

 collections of the writings of private poets and poetesses, or 

 selections from the most famous of the productions of Japanese 

 literature in this dej^artment. A roll of drawings which turned 

 up very often represents the sorrowful fate of a famous poetess. 

 First of all she is depicted as a representative Japanese beauty, 

 blooming with youth and grace, then she is reiDresented in 

 different stages of decay, then as dead, then as a half-decayed 



RIO-SAN S SEAL. 



corpse torn asunder by ravens, and finally as a heap of bones. 

 The series ends with a cherry-tree in splendid bloom, into which 

 the heroine, after her body had passed through all the stages of 

 annihilation, has been changed. The cherry-tree in blossom is 

 considered by the Japanese the ideal of beauty in the vegetable 

 kingdom, and during the flowering season of this tree excursions 

 are often undertaken to famous cherry-groves where hour after 

 hour is passed in tranquil admiration of the flower-splendour 

 of the tree. Unfortunately I was so late in getting the 

 explanation of the beautiful poetical idea that ran through 

 this series of pictures, some of which were executed with 

 execrable truth to nature, that I missed the opportunity of 

 purchasing it. 



I was obliged to leave Kioto too early in order to be present 



