96 Shadowings 



In view of the many complaints of Japanese 

 poets about the noisiness of semi, the reader may 

 be surprised to learn that out of semi-skins there 

 used to be made in both China and Japan per 

 haps upon homoeopathic principles a medicine 

 for the cure of ear-ache! 



One poem, nevertheless, proves that semi- 

 music has its admirers: 



Omoshiroi zo ya, 

 Waga-ko no kog wa 

 Takai mori-ki no 



Se"mi no koe ! l 



Sweet to the ear is the voice of one's own child as the 

 voice of a se'mi perched on a tall forest tree. 



But such admiration is rare. More frequently 

 the semi is represented as crying for its nightly 

 repast of dew: 



1 There is another version of this poem : 



Omoshiroi zo ya, 

 Waga-ko no naku wa 

 Sembu-segaki no 



Kyo yori mo 1 



"More sweetly sounds the crying of one's own child 

 than even the chanting of the sQtra in the service for the 

 dead." The Buddhist service alluded to is held to be par 

 ticularly beautiful. 



