variety, the white-flowering kind having a better
reputation and being prized as a rarity. The large fleshy crimson
flowers have this curious habit: they detach themselves bodily from
the stem, when they begin to fade; and they fall with an audible thud.
To old Japanese fancy the falling of these heavy red flowers was like
the falling of human heads under the sword; and the dull sound of
their dropping was said to be like the thud made by a severed head
striking the ground. Nevertheless the tsubaki seems to have been
a favorite in Japanese gardens because of the beauty of its glossy
foliage; and its flowers were used for the decoration of alcoves. But
in samurai homes it was a rule never to place tsubaki-flowers in an
alcove _during war-time_.

The reader will notice that in the following _ky[=o]ka_--which, as
grotesques, seem to me the best in the collection--the goblin-tsubaki
is called _furu-tsubaki_, "old tsubaki." The young tree was not
supposed to have goblin-propensities,--these being developed only
after many years. Other uncanny trees--such as the willow and the
_['e]noki_--were likewise said to become dangerous only as they became
old; and a similar belief prevailed on the subject of uncanny animals,
such as the cat--innocent in kittenhood, but devilish in age.

Yo-arashi ni
Chishiho itadaku
Furu tsubaki,
Hota-hota ochiru
Hana no nama-kubi.

[_When by the night-storm is shaken the blood-crowned and
ancient tsubaki-tree, then one by one fall the gory heads of
the flowers, (with the sound of) hota-hota!_[61]]

[Footnote 61: The word _furu_ in the third line is made to do double
duty,--as the adjective, _furu[i]_, "ancient"; and as the verb _furu_,
"to shake." The old term _nama-kuhi_ (lit., "raw head") means a human
head, freshly-severed, from which the blood is still oozing.]

Kusa mo ki mo
N['e]mur['e]ru koro no
Sayo kaz['e] ni,
M['e]hana no ugoku
Furu-tsubaki kana!

[_When even the grass and the trees are sleeping under the
faint wind of the night,--then do the eyes and the noses of
the old tsubaki-tree (or "the buds and the flowers of the old
tsubaki-tree") move!_[62]]

[Footnote 62: Two Japanese words are written, in _kana_, as
"m['e]"--one meaning "a bud;" the other "eye." The syllables "hana" in
like fashion, may signify either "flower" or "nose." As a grotesque,
this little poem is decidedly successful.]

Tomoshibi no
Kag['e]