Of Old Japan
this man were punished and killed, what should I do? This is a very good place to live in. It must have been settled before I was born that I should leave my trace [i.e. descendants] in this Province—go back and tell the King so.' So the messenger could not refuse her, and went back to tell the King about it.
"The King said: 'It is hopeless. Though I punish the man I cannot bring back the Princess; nor is it meet to bring them back to the Royal City. As long as that man of Takeshiba lives I cannot give Musashi Province to him, but I will entrust it to the Princess.'
"In this way it happened that a palace was built there in the same style as the Royal Palace and the Princess was placed there. When she died they made it into a temple called Takeshíba-dera.[1] The descendants of the Princess received the family name of Musashi. After that the guards of the watch-fire were women."[2]
We went through a waste of reeds of various kinds, forcing our way through the tall grass. There is the river Asuda along the border of Musashi and Sagami, where at the ferry Arihara Narihira had composed his famous poem.[3] In the book of his poetical works the river is called the river Sumida.
- ↑ Dera or tera = temple.
- ↑ The original text may also be understood as follows: "After that the guards of the watch-fire were allowed to live with their wives in the palace."
- ↑ In the Isé-monogatari (a book of Narihira's poetical works) the Sumida River is said to be on the boundary between Musashi and Shimofusa. So the italicized words seem to be the authoress's mis-
