1Tenth month. The Shintō gods become inaccessible during this month; but the Buddhas are, apparently, still available.
2Lady Kōkiden.
3China.
4As opposed to a Sedan-chair. A carriage drawn by oxen is meant; this was a great luxury.
5Used at the birth-ceremonies of a Princess.
6Ika—Fiftieth Day; but also ‘Why do you not come?’
7The taxes paid by 2,000 households.
8These men accompanied a Minister of State on pilgrimages to the great Shintō shrines, danced in front of the shrine and afterwards took part in horse-races round it.
9The higher officers wore cloaks of deeper hue, i.e. dipped more often in the dye and therefore more costly.
10See above, p.114.
11For the extravagances of this statesman, seeNō Plays of Japan, p. 293.
12‘As to the tide-gauge at Naniwa that now lies bare, so to our love the flood tide shall at last return.’
13Pun on Naniwa, name of town andnani wa‘How comes it?’ Here and in the preceding poem there is also a play onmiozukushi= tide-gauge, andmi wo tsukushi= with all one’s heart and soul.’
14A Shintō shrine, offensive to Buddha.
15Aoi’s son Yūgiri was his only acknowledged child.
16Akikonomu was now nineteen; the boy-Emperor Ryōzen, seven.