chor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts are said to have
been in the habit of uprooting and making off with the anchors
of vessels imprudently moored in their particular domain,--the
neighborhood of Shimonos['e]ki.

Erimoto y['e]
Mizu kak['e]raruru
Kokochi seri,
"Hishaku kas['e]" ch[=o]
Fun['e] no kowan['e] ni.

[_As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with cold
water,--so we felt while listening_ _to the voice of the
ship-ghost, saying:--"Lend me a dipper!"_[39]]

[Footnote 39: _Hishaku_, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to
transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.]

Y[=u]rei ni
Kasu-hishaku yori
Ichi-hayaku
Onor['e] ga koshi mo
Nuk['e]ru sench[=o].

[_The loins of the captain himself were knocked out very much
more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that was to be
given to the ghost._[40]]

[Footnote 40: The common expression _Koshi ga nuk['e]ru_ (to have
one's loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by reason of
fear. The suggestion is that while the captain was trying to knock
out the bottom of a dipper, before giving it to the ghost, he fell
senseless from fright.]

Benk['e][:i] no
Zuzu no kuriki ni
Tomomori no
Sugata mo ukamu--
Fun['e] no y[=u]r['e][:i].

[_By the virtue of Benk['e][:i]'s rosary, even_ _the
ship-following ghost--even the apparition of Tomomori--is
saved._]

Y[=u]r['e][:i] wa
Ki naru Izumi no
Hito nagara,
A[:o]-umibara ni
Nadot['e] itsuran?

[_Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow Springs,
how should a ghost appear on the Blue Sea-Plain?_[41]]

[Footnote 41: The Underworld of the Dead--_Yomi_ or K[=o]sen--is
called "The Yellow Springs;" these names being written with two
Chinese characters respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A
very ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old Shint[=o]
rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."]

Sono sugata,
Ikari wo [=o]t['e],
Tsuki-mato[:u]
Fun['e] no h['e]saki ya
Tomomori no r['e][:i]!

[_That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back, and following
after the ship--now at the bow and now at the stern--ah, the
ghost of Tomomori._[42]]

[Footnote 42: There is an untranslatable play upon words in the last
two lines. The above rendering includes two possible readings.]

Tsumi fukaki
Umi ni shidzumishi,
Y[=u]r['e][:i] no
"Ukaman" to