(The play ends thus abruptly, leaving us in doubt as to whether or not the Priest's admonition prevailed, and she escaped into Nirvana.)
[8] Page 39--This piece in the current original is called _Motome-zuka_, which means, the "Sought Tomb." In older versions it was previously called _Otome-zuka_, meaning the "Maiden's Tomb," by which name the story was also known in the _Yamato Monogatari_ ("Tales of Japan"), written nearly a thousand years ago. _Otome_ and _motome_ sounding so similar in Japanese, and, as the two men came _seeking_ the tomb, the name was changed in the text of the Japanese No, but as the older name both has priority and is more euphonious I revert to the older title.
This piece is one of the eleven most important _utais_, and the _Shite's_ part is a particularly difficult one to chant.
[9] The long lines are translations of the "words" in the play. As these words are not ordinary prose it seems better not to put them into English prose from which they are so remote. (See p. 33.)
[10] Page 40--The original reads:--_Ikuta on Ono no asakazeni nao saekaeru tamoto kana_. Here the meaning is very confused, the word for sleeves (_tamoto_) following in the Japanese mind from _kaeru_ (which means to turn) in _saekaeru_ (it is cold).
[11] Page 40--This brings a picture to mind of the contrast between city and country life. An old institution among the well-to-do people of the capital is to make a pleasure picnic for the gathering of the young green shoots in very early spring. It was a general custom to eat the "seven greens" on the seventh day of January each year, and the poor people in the country hamlets make it one of their slender sources of revenue, to gather these green shoots early in January, for the city market.
[12] Page 41--_Ikuta_, the name of the hamlet, has the same _sound_, though it is written differently, as the Chinese character for numerous.
[13] Page 42--The Chinese character for the name _Ono_ reads "little field"; then there is the suggestion that there is little in the way of green sprouts yet.
[14] Page 42--The word "prize" is left out in the original out of politeness.
[15] The three parts of this song are chanted in different tones.
[16] Page 43--Quotation from an old poem. The stanza speaks of the attractiveness of village maidens gathering young leaves.