The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-11-07
THE MIRROR IN JAPAN.


the equals. in their time and genera
ton, of anything ia the circle outside
OF Europe proper. Unique IS this culture
and this art were what we understand
| in the west by civilization has come TO
/ the wonderful Middle Land OF the Reed
Plains. as the ancient folkt2les called
| the Dai Nippon, or Great Japan. the land
| or the rising sun. IN only comparatively
modern times and under entirely nor
NAL conditions Of the introducuOn and
development of a new spirit.
strange. as it may seem to those who
known much of or about the despised
and backward Koreans. 1t IVES D. obabiy
the latter who first inmigrated TO ia
pan and there practiced the wohdel ful art
Of putting their good thoughts rpon pa
per. Certain il was that until some time
later than the third Christian century no
! Japanese knew how to use 4 brush for
writing. and IL probably was consider
ably later before the art OF writing, even
phoneticaily. came into use TO any ex-
tent. Accordingly most Of the ancient
| tales are purely traditive, but that. so
far from detracting from their value or
| interest decidedly adds 70 1t. Viewing
things from a different standpoint from
ours in every way, the Japanese lore is
essentially peculiar 10 the minds of the
| people; it sometimes resembles the Morse,
| Greek and German bat IN the main its
most striking features are ~ class and
kind 50 widely segregated from the tales
! OF other nations, excepting only the Chi
nese, that their individuality appears the
mote strongly.
one OF the most striking instances OF
this may be found IN the two mirror
stores OF now darkness once reigned SUI
pceme upon earth ana or how the sea
was Gained while of slightly different
order Is the description or the cause OF
day and night or, as a Japanese would
put ~ why the august and excellent
great heaven shining deity ana the au
gust moon night possessor do not con-
descend to illuminate together The first
story IS from the original, a trifle diff
ferent from Professor Chamberlain
translation. AS it is presented here. il is
endeavored TO preserve more closely the
! surely Japanese idiom Of the original Ia
BILE intact:
Now, as the great and grand goddess
OF the sun. Amaterasu. sat in her sa-
cred-hOnorable workrOpm. attending up
on the weaving of the Grand Garments
OF the Gods. her honorable and Glgnified
brother, Haya-Susana-o made hole in
the roof, and dropped through il a Heav-
emily Piebald Horse. which he had flayed
backward. At the aspect OF this the hon.
ofable heavenly maidCns weaving the
Heavenly Garments We're 20 much
alarmed that they died, and the Great
| terrified that closing behind her the door
of the Rocky Abode of Heaven, she fast
ene6 it fast and disappeared Then was
the whole High Plain of Heaven dark
ened and darkened was the Middle Land
of Reed Plains. in such wise that per-
/ petual night reigned. And the clamor OF
| the myriad evil spirits vas IKE unto
| the buZZing OF flies in the fifth moon,
/ and all manner Of calamires dld every
| whore arise
Therefore did the eight myriad Gods
/ assemble in a Divine Assembly on the
banks of the river Omenovasu and bid
| the God OmOikane devise a plan. And
| Her Grandeur Ame-nO- UZume, binding up
| her sleeve with the Heavenly Moss from
1 the Mount Ame-no-kagU, and braiding
/ the Heavenly MasalH In her hair and
~ Ira no ~
| bamboo grass from Mount Ame-no-kagu.
! did set a platform before the door of
! the Heavenly Abode, and stamp on II
] until il resounded. Then did the High
! Plain of Heaven tremble and the eight
myriad Gods did laugh in chorus. Then
/ the Great and Grand Goddess Amaterasu
| was filled with amazement, aiid setting
| ajar the door of the Rock Abode of Heav-
| en-. s9ake thus from the inside Me-
! thought that my retirement would dark
| en- the Plain of Heaven. and that dark
| ened would be the whole Middle Land
| of Reed Palms. How then. cometh it
| to pass that Ame-no-t izume thus frolics
| and that all the eight myriad gods do
| l2rSk?'
"Whereupon Ame-no-Uzume reoiied: If
! We do laugh and rejoice honOTably. X IS
| because there is here a greater Goddess,
/ more iiiustrious than thou And even as
| she spake. Their Grandeurs, Anne no-koy-
! ane and Futotaula brought out mirror
I and respectfully showed II unto the Great
and Grand Goddess Ainaterasu. who. ever
more bewiidered and amazed. slowly came
! forth out Of the door TO gaze UpOn the
| mirror whereat the Coo Ane-uo-Taji-
| karao, who had been awaiting in am
| bush, took her by the hand and drew
her out.
And so. even when the Great and
| Grand Goddess Amaterasu came forth
again, light was restored to both the High
Plain of Heaven and 10 the Middle Land
Of Reed Plains"
AS that fable is taken from the Kojiki
or Bible of Shintoism which was writ
ten about 711-12 by one YasumarO. a high
official of the court after Ne Rad de-
voted years to gathering up the various
stories which composed the book. the
tale easily antedates the Morse legend
of the looking glass, which Is Of much
later date. Nor does the Morse legend
| resemble the Japanese much. except in
having the same point that Of the as
| constituent caused BY the mirror
The other story. of how the sea was
Gained. also refers TO mirror, and il
even more typically japanese than the
other, though the story was not written
down until the year 935, when a descen-
dant Of the mikados, one TSurayuki,
wrote long diary of a trip ne made
from Tosa TO Kyote. He called the book
the Tosa Nikki. The story goes about
the sea.
Meanwhile a gale snrang uU. and in
spite Of all our efforts we fell TO leCward
gradually. and were in great danger Of
| being sent to the bottom, This honor
| 1Dlc Goa u Sunny DShls Stttu AtfE GGPNdllit
! is surely Ike unto other gods. What
( he desires is not any Of the fashionable
articles Of this time Cine him nusa as
| an Offering (Nusa is q collection or
fire and thin pieces Of silk carried BY
| worshippers TO the temples for offerings.)
The captains advice was taken. and
nusa were rendered the god but IS the
wind instead Of ccasing. only blew hard
or and the danger from storm and seas
became more imminent, the captain again
/ said; Because the august heart OF the goo
! does rot move Tor the nusa. neither ooes
| the august ship move. Offer him some
! thing in which he win have greater pleas
ure' Needing this advice. / OethOught
me what best l might offer. VI eyes
/ I have p pair; then let me give the au-
/ gust god my honorable mirror. o. which
! I have only one ThereUpon ! flung the
/ mirror into the sea. and 10 my very ex-
I ceediI~ regret But no sooner han I
/ done so than The sea became as smooth
: as the mirror itself, and again al was
/ we'll"
That is almost as fantastic as the very
old Chinese story OF the three chow CT
food dogs who, after being twice kicked
! off the table By their owner. SIN slept
/ or IL and were found one night blowing
/ on the wcrmcd wood 10 cool Il where
I they he'd rested before tdeir muster en-
( tered.
But most interesting OF Al ls the jap
] anese poem. which one student CLAIMS
| is the only absolutely original proouet
I OF the Japanese mind Many OF the po-
/ ems are fire and hing strung. lyrics wnIcii
! arc IT, marked likeness 10 the ancient
| Greek dramas and choruses. OF these
4 NO No TTtaI" one of the most Deauu-