Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/444
In prison
I sought to drive back the clouds, with these hands sweep clear the evil stars,
But the ground beneath me faltered, I plunged to Edo Prison.
Idiot frogs fret at the bottom of their well;
The brilliance of the great moon falters on the horizon.[1]
I await the death sentence; from home no news.
In my dreams, the ring of swords; I slash at sea monsters.
When the wind and rain of many years have cloaked my stone in moss,
Who will remember this mad man of Japan?
Rai Mikisaburō (1825–1859)
Translated by Burton Watson
The Biography of Snowflake
Rai Sanyō wrote this biography of Snowflake (Oyuki), a character famed in Osaka song and story, at the request of a friend who had come into the possession of a collection of her poems. Snowflake died about 1803.
Snowflake was a lady swashbuckler of Osaka. It was in Osaka that General Hideyoshi built his fortress, and it remains a city of spirited and prodigal people who love to affect a rough and ready manner. Many citizens of Osaka have made names for themselves as cavaliers, but Snowflake was the only woman among them. She was the daughter of the mistress of a wealthy merchant, but from an early age was brought up by the Miyoshi family, who were also rich tradesmen. The Miyoshi family adopted a son whom they wished to marry to Snowflake, but she despised the boy as a puny weakling, and would have none of it. At this time she took a vow never to marry. When her foster father died, she inherited the estate.
- ↑ The frogs refer to the shortsighted statesmen of the Shogunate; the moon to the powerless Emperor in Kyoto.