yet having become involved in an evil destiny, your good fortune is now at an end? Be pleased to turn first to the east, and bid adieu to the shrine of the Great God of Ise. Then turn to the west, and call upon the name of Buddha, solemnly committing yourself to the charge of those who will come to meet you from the Paradise of the Western Land. This world is the region of sorrow, a remote spot small as a grain of millet. But beneath the waves there is a fair city called the Pure Land of Perfect Happiness. Thither it is that I am taking you.' With such words she soothed him. The child then tied his top-knot to the Imperial robe of the colour of a mountain-dove, and tearfully joined together his lovely little hands. First he turned to the east, and bade adieu to the shrine of the Great God of Ise and the shrine of Hachiman. Next he turned to the west, and called upon the name of Buddha. When he had done so, Niidono made bold to take him in her arms, and soothing him with the words, 'There is a city away below the waves,' sank down to the bottom one thousand fathoms deep. Alas, the pity of it!—the changeful winds of spring swiftly scattered the flowery august form. Alas, the pain of it!—the rude billows of severance buried the jewel person. His palace had been called Chōsei, to denote that it was established as his long abode; and the gate inscribed Furō, that is, the portal through which old age enters not. But ere ten years had passed he had become drift of the deep sea. In the case of such a virtuous monarch it would be wholly idle to talk of reward and retribution. It is the dragon of the region above the clouds descending and becoming a fish."
A comparison of the above with the corresponding
