The Hell of the Blood-Lake is a hell for women; and the Mountain of Swords is usually depicted in Buddhist prints as a place of infernal punishment for men in especial.]
_Not yet indeed is my body garbed in the ink-black habit;_ _--But as for this heart bereaved, already it is a nun._[30]
_My hair, indeed, is uncut; but my heart has become a religious;_ _A nun it shall always be till the hour I meet him again._
But even the priest or nun is not always exempt from the power of _mayoi_:--
_I am wearing the sable garb,--and yet, through illusion of longing,_ _Ever I lose my way,--knowing not whither or where!_
So far, my examples have been principally chosen from the more serious class of _dodoitsu._ But in _dodoitsu_ of a lighter class the Buddhist allusions are perhaps even more frequent. The following group of five will serve for specimens of hundreds:--
[Footnote 30: In the original much more pretty and much more simple:--
Sumi no koromo ni Mi wa yatsusanedo, Kokoro hitotsu wa Ama-hōshi.
"Ink-black-_koromo_ [priest's or nun's outer robe] in, body not clad, but heart-one nun." _Hitotsu,_ "one," also means "solitary," "forlorn," "bereaved." _Ama hōshi,_ lit.: "nun-priest."]
_Never can be recalled the word too quickly spoken:_ _Therefore with Emma's face the lover receives the prayer._[31]
_Thrice did I hear that prayer with Buddha's face; but hereafter_ _My face shall be Emma's face because of too many prayers._
_Now they are merry together; but under their boat is_ Jigoku.[32] _Blow quickly, thou river-wind,--blow a typhoon for my sake!_
_Vainly, to make him stay, I said that the crows were night crows;_[33]-- _The bell of the dawn peals doom,--the bell that cannot lie._
[Footnote 31: The implication is that he has hastily promised more than he wishes to perform. Emma, or Yemma (Sansc. Yama), is the Lord of Hell and Judge of Souls; and, as depicted in Buddhist sculpture and painting, is more than fearful to look upon. There is an evident reference in this song to the Buddhist proverb: _Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao_ ("Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma").]
[Footnote 32: "Jigoku" is the Buddhist name for various hells (Sansc. _narakas)._ The allusion here is to the proverb, _Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku:_ "Under [_the thickness of] a_ single boat-plank is hell,"--referring to the perils of the sea. This song is a satire on jealousy; and the boat spoken of is probably a roofed pleasure-boat, such as excursions are made into the sound of music.]