Old Japanese Songs 191 



Then quickly she went beyond the temple-gate to a moat 

 some four or five cbd 1 distant ; and having filled her sleeves 

 with small stones, into the deep water she cast her forlorn 

 body. 



Yanrei ! 



And now I shall terminate this brief excursion 

 into unfamiliar song-fields by the citation of two 

 Buddhist pieces. The first is from the famous 

 work Gempei Seisuiki (" Account of the Pros- 

 perity and Decline of the Houses of Gen and 

 Hei "), probably composed during the latter part 

 of the twelfth, or at the beginning of the thir- 

 teenth century. It is written in the measure 

 called Imqyo, that is to say, in short lines alter- 

 nately of seven and of five syllables (7, 5 ; 7, 5 ; 

 7, 5, ad libitum) . The other philosophical com- 

 position is from a collection of songs called 

 Ryutacbi-busbi (" Ryutachi Airs"), belonging 

 to the sixteenth century : 



I 



(Measure, ImayS) 



Sama mo kokoro mo 

 Kawaru kana ! 

 Otsuru namida wa 



* A cbo is about one fifteenth of a mile. 



