Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea, carrying a ship’s anchor 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” tot[’e] ya! 
  Fun[’e] ni sugar[’e]ru.

    [Crying, “Now perchance I shall be saved!” The ghost
    that sank into the deep Sea of Sin clings to the passing
    ship![43]]