SHIP’S SHRINE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 423, 3 August 1928, Page 14

SHIP’S SHRINE

i GODDESS WATCHES OVER THE JAPANESE ROMANCE OF OLD HERO Below decks on the Japanese warship Yakumo, a little ornamental shrine lighted by a coloured lantern glows above a shell-torn piece of deck plating a memento of the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The shrine is in honour of the guardian goddess of the ship, the beautiful Inadahime, whose ever-watchful eye saved the vessel from disaster when struck by a Russian shell in 1904. Before her the coloured lantern shines forever, a token of adoration. The goddess has a great affection for the ship, because of the romance of her youth. Ya and Komo, the two characters in the name, are real people in a poem written in ancient years by the God Susanoonomikoto, one of the famous heroes of Japan. He it was who slew with mighty strokes the tremendous eight-headed dragon, which had eaten all the sisters of Inadahime. By his valour the god won the lady for his bride. Inside the fearsome beast, the god found, as he struck the dragon down, the famous sword, Mura Kumono Turugi, or the Sword of the Black Cloud, which is now the most resplendent treasure in the Imperial Court of Japan. Thus the Japanese are luckier than the English; they have their exealibur in their possession still. All this was explained by a lieutenant of the ship, whose name means “The Eight Clouds of Heaven.” The flagship Idzumo, named after a district in Japan, also has her shrine to the eldest son of the Yakumo’s god and goddess. Idzumo means the “Cloud which is Springing Forth.” READS MILTON The literary lieutenant who knew the myths of ancient Japan explained that at his Tokyo college he had read Milton, Shakespeare, Keats, Tennyson and Longfellow. “The short poems of Tennyson like ‘Enoch Arden’ are taught in middle schools to pupils of between 12 and 17 years,” he said. "And so is Washington Irvine’s ‘Sketch Book.’ I have a very great love for that book myself.” Lofcadio Hearn, the author, who entered into the life of the people, married a Japanese and died there, commanded a big respect among the people, said the lieutenant. His Christian name, given him by the people meant “The Black Storm,” and his surname “The Great Fountain.” “What are the books in which you read of Japan?” he asked, and the pressman said after a moment’s thought “Kimono,” by Paris. “Ah, that is a very bad hook, I think,” said he. “There are many misconceptions and misunderstandings of the people of Japan in it. It suggests an impurity in Japanese women, which is not so. The geisha girl, is she not found all over the world?” The lieutenant thought that the books of Japan, by Pierre Loti and Walter Weston, were out-of-date and no longer accurate. Having travelled round the world the lieutenant is something of a philosopher. “I find that wherever one goes mankind is the same,” he says. “It is only the customs which differ.” POETS’ CORNER WHEN SHE SPEAKS (Written for THE SUN.) Lovelier are her words Than the exquisite notes That speak the souls of flutes. The songs of birds At duslc, when the first-born star Sivims in the willow tree. Are not more dear to me Than her songs are. When she speaks, all sound begins To tremble, and melt In music rarer than the lilt Of violins. Her voice is more delicate Than the croon of wind in the coppice; All the world’s songs are poppies Under \her feet. A. R. D. FAIRBURN. New Lynn. TWO GUITARS (Written for THE SUN.) Two guitars are sobbing to the moon. The air is heavy with the languor of the South, The orange blossom droops like a pale bride aswoon . (I wish 1 could forget the sweetness of her mouth. I wish I could forget the days when laughter ran Like a golden thread through the fabric of our fears. Her sweet, low laughter, as she leaned o’er her fan, Was like a shaft of light when a dark sky clears. Like a poor caged tiger, she is crouching in her hall. And 1 have heard it whispered that the end comes soon; l am wearing out my heart in the shadow of her (vail.) Two guitars are sobbing to the moon. MARGARET MACPHERSON. Kaitaia. BOOKS FOR THE BLIND 148 VOLUMES FOR AUCKLAND Press Association. WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Wellington City Council this evening decided that the 148 volumes of literature for the blind, at present stored at Newtown Library, should be donated to the Jubilee Institute for the Blind at Auckland, where they will be circulated to readers throughout the Dominion.

BOOKS IN DEMAND AT THE AUCKLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY FICTION “SOLDIER OF WATERLOO,” by O. O’Riordan. “A LOST LADY,” by Willa Cather. ‘‘THE WATSONS,” by Jane Austen. “THERESE,” by M. Mauriac. “FATE AND THE MARIONETTE,” by H. Rion. “THE NINTH VIBRATION,” by L. A. Becke. “KAI LUNG ENROLLS HIS MAT” by E. Bramali. “BREAD,” by F. Norris. “TWOPENCE COLOURED,” by P. Hamilton. “BUT GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES," by Anita Loos. NON-FICTION “THE COMING OF CHRIST.” by John Masefield. “LAW, LIFE AND LETTERS,” by Earl of Birkenhead. “THE ROMANTICK LADY,” by V. Burnett. “MEMORIES OF CATHERINE THE GREAT.” . “CARLYE AT HIS ZENITH” by D. A. Wilson. “TRIFLES AND TRAVELS,” by Arthur Keyser. “LIFE AND LAUGHTER ’MIDST THE CANNIBALS,” by C. Collinson. “KING EDWARD V 11.," by Sir Sidne\ Lee. “SOME MODERN AUTHORS,” by S. P. B. Mats. “THE PRAYER BOOK CRISIS,” by Sir Joynson-Hicks.