Old Japanese Songs 191 



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

 some four or fwecbo 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 Imayo, 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 

 RyutacU-busU (" Ryutachi Airs")> belonging 

 to the sixteenth century : 



I 



(Measure, Imaj>5) 



Sama mo kokoro mo 

 Kawaru kana ! 

 Otsuru namida wa 



1 A ebb is about one fifteenth of a mile. 



