VIII.  H[’E][:I]K[’E]GAN[`I]

Readers can find in my “Kott[=o]” a paper about the H[’e][:i]k[’e]-Crabs, which have on their upper shells various wrinklings that resemble the outlines of an angry face.  At Shimono-s[’e]ki dried specimens of these curious creatures are offered for sale....  The H[’e][:i]k[’e]-Crabs are said to be the transformed angry spirits of the H[’e][:i]k[’e] warriors who perished at Dan-no-ura.

    Shiwo-hi ni wa
  S[’e][:i]zoro[:e] shit[’e],
    H[’e][:i]k[’e]gani
  Ukiyo no sama we
  Yoko ni niramitsu.

    [Marshaled (on the beach) at the ebb of the tide, the
    H[’e][:i]k[’e]-crabs obliquely glare at the apparition of this
    miserable world.[47]]

[Footnote 47:  Hi, the third syllable of the first line of the poem, does duty for hi, signifying “ebb,” and for hikata, “dry beach.” S[’e][:i]zoro[:e] is a noun signifying “battle-array”—­in the sense of the Roman term acies;—­and s[’e][:i]zoro[’e] shit[’e] means “drawn up in battle-array.”]

    Saikai ni
  Shizumi-nur[’e]domo,
    H[’e][:i]k[’e]gani
  K[=o]ra no iro mo
  Yahari aka-hata.

    [Though (the H[’e][:i]k[’e]) long ago sank and perished in
    the Western Sea, the H[’e][:i]k[’e]-crabs still display upon
    their upper shells the color of the Red Standard.[48]]

[Footnote 48:  The ensign of the H[’e][:i]k[’e], or Ta[:i]ra clan was red; while that of their rivals, the Genji or Minamot[=o], was white.]

    Mak[’e]-ikusa
  Munen to mun[’e] ni
    Hasami ken;—­
  Kao mo makka ni
  Naru H[’e][:i]k[’e]gani.

    [Because of the pain of defeat, claws have grown on their
    breasts, I think;—­even the faces of the H[’e][:i]k[’e]-crabs
    have become crimson (with anger and shame).]

    Mikata mina
  Oshi-tsubusar[’e]shi
    H[’e][:i]k[’e]gani
  Ikon we mun[’e] ni
  Hasami mochik[’e]ri.

    [All the (H[’e][:i]k[’e]) party having been utterly crushed,
    claws have grown upon the breasts of the H[’e][:i]k[’e]-crabs
    because of the resentment in their hearts.[49]]

[Footnote 49:  The use of the word hasami in the fifth line is a very good example of keny[=o]gen.  There is a noun hasami, meaning the nippers of a crab, or a pair of scissors; and there is a verb hasami, meaning to harbor, to cherish, or to entertain. (Ikon wo hasamu means “to harbor resentment against.”) Reading the word only in connection with those which follow it, we have the phrase hasami mochik[’e]ri, “got claws;” but, reading it with the words preceding, we have the expression ikon wo mun[’e] ni hasami, “resentment in their breasts nourishing.”]

IX.  YANARI