his all. A _Sakasa-bashira_ knew how to make all the affairs
of a household go wrong,--how to foment domestic quarrels,--how to
contrive misfortune for each of the family and the servants,--how
to render existence almost insupportable until such time as the
carpenter's blunder should be discovered and remedied.

Saka-bashira
Tat['e]shi wa tazo ya?
Kokoro ni mo
Fushi aru hito no
Shiwaza naruran.

[_Who set the house-pillar upside-down? Surely that must have
been the work of a man with a knot in his heart._]

Hidayama we
Kiri-kit['e] tat['e]shi
Saka-bashira--
Nanno takumi[51] no
Shiwaza naruran?

[_That house-pillar hewn in the mountains of Hida, and thence
brought here and erected upside-down--what carpenter's work
can it be? (or, "for what evil design can this deed have been
done?")_]

[Footnote 51: The word _takumi_, as written in _kana_, may signify
either "carpenter" or "intrigue," "evil plot," "wicked device." Thus
two readings are possible. According to one reading, the post was
fixed upside-down through inadvertence; according to the other, it was
so fixed with malice prepense.]

U[:e] shita wo
Chiga[:e]t['e] tat['e]shi
Hashira ni wa
Sakasama-goto no
Ur['e][:i] aranan.

[_As for that house-pillar mistakenly planted upside-down, it
will certainly cause adversity and sorrow._[52]]

[Footnote 52: Lit., "upside-down-matter-sorrow." _Sakasama-goto_,
"up-side-down affair," is a common expression for calamity,
contrariety, adversity, vexation.]

Kab['e] ni mimi
Arit['e], kik['e] to ka?
Sakashima ni
Tateshi hashira ni
Yanari suru oto!

[_O Ears that be in the wall![53] listen, will ye? to the
groaning and the creaking of the house-post that was planted
upside-down!_]

[Footnote 53: Alluding to the proverb, _Kab['e] ni mimi ari_ ("There
are ears in the wall"), which signifies: "Be careful how you talk
about other people, even in private."]

Uri-iy['e] no
Aruji we to[:e]ba,
Oto arit['e]:
War['e] m['e] ga kuchi wo
Aku saka-bashira.

[_When I inquired for the master of the house that was
for sale, there came to me only a strange sound by way of
reply,--the sound of the upside-down house-post opening its
eyes and mouth![54] (i.e. its cracks)._]

[Footnote 54: There is a pun in the fourth line which suggests more
than even a free translation can express. _War['e]_ me