| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: were called goshi.]
In Akinosuke's garden there was a great and ancient cedar-tree, under
which he was wont to rest on sultry days. One very warm afternoon he was
sitting under this tree with two of his friends, fellow-goshi, chatting and
drinking wine, when he felt all of a sudden very drowsy,-- so drowsy that
he begged his friends to excuse him for taking a nap in their presence.
Then he lay down at the foot of the tree, and dreamed this dream:--
He thought that as he was lying there in his garden, he saw a procession,
like the train of some great daimyo descending a hill near by, and that he
got up to look at it. A very grand procession it proved to be,-- more
imposing than anything of the kind which he had ever seen before; and it
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: another honorific, at least so considered in Japan.
You clap your hands. (Enter tea-house maiden.)
You. Hai, elder sister, augustly exists there sugar?
The T. H. M. The honorable sugar, augustly is it?
You. So, augustly.
The T. H. M. He (indescribable expression of assent).
(Exit tea-house maiden to fetch the sugar.)
Now, the "augustlies" go almost without saying, but why is the sugar
honorable? Simply because it is eventually going to be offered to
you. But she would have spoken of it by precisely the same
respectful title, if she had been obliged to inform you that there
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: Hear, then, I said, my own dream; whether coming through the horn or the
ivory gate, I cannot tell. The dream is this: Let us suppose that wisdom
is such as we are now defining, and that she has absolute sway over us;
then each action will be done according to the arts or sciences, and no one
professing to be a pilot when he is not, or any physician or general, or
any one else pretending to know matters of which he is ignorant, will
deceive or elude us; our health will be improved; our safety at sea, and
also in battle, will be assured; our coats and shoes, and all other
instruments and implements will be skilfully made, because the workmen will
be good and true. Aye, and if you please, you may suppose that prophecy,
which is the knowledge of the future, will be under the control of wisdom,
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