8 The Japanese Floral Calendar. 



"Matsu ga ne no 

 Matsu koto tohomi, etc." 



"Like the pine-trees, I must stand and pine." 



The following poem is from the translation of Tosa 

 Nikki by the late Mrs. M. C. Harris: 



"Since I have viewed the pines that grow 



On Suminoye's shore, 

 I've come my own estate to know, 

 How I have e'en surpassed in years 



These pine-trees old and hoar." 



In the "Hundred Poems," which furnish the chief 

 amusement for the New Year season, we find the following, 

 translated by Professor MacCauley : 



"SOLITUDE IN OLD AGE. 



"Whom then are there now, 



In my age so far advanced, 

 I can hold as friends? 



Even Takasago's pines 

 Are no friends of former days." 



All Japanese boys and girls, early in life, memorize the 

 Hundred Poems by a Hundred Writers, and can glibly 

 repeat them. 



Here is a song generally used on the occasion of a 

 wedding, in the decorations of which the pine plays an 

 important part: 



"The oceans four that gird our strand 

 Are calm, and quiet is our land ; 

 No branches bend, no breezes blow. 

 These new-set pines in bliss will grow." 



We close with a very famous poem, which we give in 

 both Japanese and English, as follows: 



"Kado-matsu zva 

 Mcido no tabi no 



