By Kenkō. Find the book.
Admire the condition of a lover!
— #3
Somehow there is always a charm about even the most impromptu and careless sayings of the men of bygone days.
— #14
In all things one looks back with regret to the past. Modern fashions appear to be growing from bad to worse. It is the ancient shapes that are most pleasing in the beautiful utensils made by workers in wood. As for the style of letters, even a scrap of waste paper from olden times is admirable.
Everyday speech, too, is growing regrettably bad. Whereas they used to say ‘Lift up the carriage’ and ‘Turn up the lamps’, now they have changed the way they pronounce it. Old people say that it is a great pity that for the assembly of servants of the Household Department they now say ‘Get up and light the lamps’, and at the recital of the Golden Light Sutra, instead of saying ‘Hall of the Imperial Lecture’ they say ‘Lecture Hall’.
— #22
In the province of Inaba there was a girl, the daughter of a certain lay priest of noble family, whose hand was asked in marriage by many that heard of her beauty. However this girl ate nothing but chestnuts, never touching rice or other grain, and her parents therefore refused, saying that such an unusual thing ought not to be seen by others.
— #40
The elder brother of Prince Kin’yo was the bishop Ryogaku, a mighty choleric man. Near his house in the temple grounds there was a large celtis-tree (enoki), so that he was known as the Celtis Tree Bishop. Disliking this, he had the tree cut down, but as the roots remained, people now called him the Tree Stump Bishop. At last, highly incensed, he had the stump dup up and thrown away, leaving a large hole behind. Whereat they now named him the Hold-in-the Ground Bishop.
— #45
As soon as we hear a person’s name we form in our minds a picture of his appearance; but when we come to see him, he is never the man whose face we had imagined.
— #71
The fact is, to believe seriously in popular tales would be silly, to contradict them would be idle; and one had better on the whole appear to think them true, while entirely disbelieving and yet not casting doubt or ridicule upon them.
— #73
When in the presence of a new acquaintance, to carry on a conversation in fragments, laughing and exchanging meaning looks with a companion who knows the phrases and names of things you commonly use, makes the stranger feel as if he understood nothing–this is ignorant behaviour, and a sure sign of ill-breeding.
— #78
One should never make a show of having a deep knowledge of any subject. Well-bred people do not talk in a superior way even about things they have a good knowledge of. It is people who come from the country who offer opinions unasked, as though versed in all manner of accomplishments. Of course there are some among them who have a really enviable knowledge, but it is their air of self-conceit which is so stupid.
It is a fine thing when a man who thoroughly understands a subject is unwilling to open his mouth, and only speaks when he is questioned.
— #79
Even for a short space you should not imitate folly. If you run down the road in imitation of a madman, you are a madman. If you kill a man in imitation of an evildoer, you are an evildoer. To follow the example of the thousand league steed is to be of its kind. To copy the sage Shun is to be of his company. Even a false imitation of wisdom must be reckoned as wisdom.
— #85
A person learning archery takes in his hand both arrows. The teacher says: 'Beginners ought not to hold two arrows. They rely on their second arrow and are careless about the first. You ought each time to think, without any idea of missing and hitting, “This is the shot which counts.” ’
One may think, ‘Surely, with two arrows only, a man will not be careless in the teacher’s presence.’ But, though a man does not know when his own care relaxes, the teacher does know, and the counsel extends to all things.
People who are studying think at night, ‘There is tomorrow.’ Tomorrow they think, ‘There is tonight’, and so they go on always meaning to work diligently. Nay, ore–does not the attention relax even in moment of time? Why is it so hard to do a thing Now, at the moment when one thinks of it.
— #92
It is when a difficult kick has been made, and the next appears easy, that one is sure to miss, they say.
— #109
Things which are unpleasant to see and disagreeable to hear are: an old man mixing with young people and trying to be funny; a person of no importance talking as if he were very intimate with people of reputation; and a man of poor circumstances fond of feasting, making a great shine to entertain guests.
— #113
There are seven sorts of people whom it is bad to have as friends:
First, mean of high rank and power. Second, young people. Third, strong people who are never ill. Fourth, people fond of wine. Fifth, fierce and bold military men. Sixth, people whose speech is false. Seventh, greedy people.
Good friends are three.
Friends who make gifts. Doctors. Friends who are wise.
— #118
Of a man’s abilities first comes knowledge of the teachings of the sages, by a clear understanding of literature. Next is hand-writing, which should be studied, even though not as an object in itself, as an aid to learning.
Next should be learned the art of medicine. Without medicine, a man cannot care for his own body, nor help others, nor perform his duties to parents and his lord.
Next come archery and the riding of a horse, from among the six accomplishments, and they certainly must be given atention.
A knowlege of letters, arms and medicine cannot in truth be done without; and a man who will learn these cannot be said to be an idle person.
‘Food is man’s heaven’, and it must be accounted a great virtue in a man to know how to prepare well-tasting food.
Next is handicraft, which has a thousand uses.
Beyond these, too many accomplishments are a source of shame to high and low. Skill in poetry, talent for music are fine and admirable qualities; but though sovereign and subject may prize them, nowadays a condition of things has been reached where it would seem foolish to [expect to] govern a state by their means. Though gold is superior, it cannot equal iron in the multitude of its uses.
— #122
If there is no advantage in changing a thing it is better not to change it.
— #127
The bodyguard of Hata no Shigemi said to the palace guard and lay-priest of Shimotsuke Singan, ‘You are destined to fall from your horse. You should take great care.’ Shingan did not believe it, but one day he fell from his horse and died.
People thought this saying of one so skilled in the art was miraculous. They asked what the sign was. He said ‘He had a very loose seat, and was fond of spirited horses. That is why I made the prediction. When have I been mistaken?’
— #145
To go without any special object to a person’s house is a bad thing. Even if we go on business, as soon as it is over, we should immediately leave. It is very wrong to stay a long time. Sitting there face to face, words are wasted, the body fatigued, the mind disturbed, time is spent to the hindrance of other things, all without profit to either party.
— #170
It is a pleasant thing when a person comes without business and leaves after a quiet talk. Joyful, too, to get a letter just asking how you are, after a long silence.
— #170
There are many things in this world that are hard to understand. It is hard to understand why people take pleasure in pressing wine on others the first thing on every occasion, and forcing them to drink against their will. The drinker’s face shows great distress; he knits his brows, and seeks a chance to throw away the wine, or to escape unobserved. But they catch him and hold him back, and recklessly make him drink; so that an elegant person suddenly becomes a madman, behaving foolishly, and a healthy person before our very eyes turns into a man with a grave illness, falls and lies unconscious. A stupid way to spend days of rejoicing! Until the morrow, with aching head, and eating nothing, a man lies groaning. As if cut off from life, he does not know what happened yesterday, he neglects important affairs, public and private, and the result is calamity. To treat people like this is to be lacking in kindnss as well as to offend against courtesy, while he who meets with such treatment cannot but feel hatred and regret. If such things did not happen among ourselves, and we were told that this was the custom in some foreign country, we should think it strange and incredible.
— #175
It is very good for one who is much averse to wine to drink a little when pressed.
— #175
A certain man decided to make his son a priest, and said to him ‘You must study, and learn the principles of the faith, and by preaching and so on make this your means of livelihood.’ The son did as he was told. First of all, in order to become a preacher, he learned to ride a horse. This was because he thought that it would be regrettable for a priest, who owned neither palanquin nor carriage, when he should be invited to take a service, and a horse sent to fetch him, to fall off because he had a loose seat. Then, because he might be pressed to take wine and food after some sacred rites, and his host would htink him dull if he were utterly without accomplishments, he learned to sing [the popular ditties called] haya-uta. Having at length begun to be proficient in these two arts, he felt anxious to do better still, and while he was devoting himself thereto, he grew to old age without having had time to expound the scriptures.
Nor is this priest the only one. This thing happens to all people. While they are yound they look many years ahead, and are always meaning to study, to exhaust all forms of accomplishments, to carry out great undertakings, and in every way to rise in the world. But all the while they take life easily, they continue in idleness, and pass their days and months troubling to do only the pressing tasks beneath their eyes; and so they grow old having accomplished nothing. They end by never growing skilful in anything, without having gained the position they had thought. Since the years cannot be brought back again, they go on declining, as a wheel runs downhill.
— #188
A wife is a thing a man ought not to have. I like to hear a man say, ‘I am still living alone’, and so on. To hear it said, ‘So-and-so is getting married’ or ‘He has taken such-and-such a wife, and they are now living together’, lowers him extremely in my estimation. For one thinks poorly of a man who marries a quite ordinary person because, forsooth, he has made up his mind she is a fine woman; while, if she is a handsome woman, and he care for and cherishes her as if she were his own image of Buddha, then one wonders how he can go so far. …
Living day in, day out with a woman, of whatever sort she may be, she must lost her attraction and become disliked. The woman, too, must grow indifferent. It is by keeping apart, and going to stay with her from time to time, that an intimacy is reached that even the passing of months and years will not destroy.
It is a pleasant change then to go and stay from time to time.
— #190
I think it a pity to hear a man say that things do not look their best at night. Indeed it is only at night that brilliance and colour are pleasing. By day let your appearance be simple and sober, but at night it is well to wear bright and gay garments. Good-looking people look even better at night by lamplight; and it is pleasant to hear the voices of people talking guardedly in the dark. Perfumes and music, too, are most pleasing at night-time.
— #191
It is a great mistake for a foolish man, who is quick and skilful only at the game of checkers, and sees that a wise man is poor at that game, to come to the conclusion that the other’s wisdom does not equal his own, or for any expert in one of the various accomplishments, seeing that others are ignorant thereof, to think himself their superior. If priests who read the scriptures and priests who practise meditation each, in their mutual judgements think the others not equal to themselves, then they are both wrong.
— #193
When criminals are flogged with rods, they have to be placed on a frame, and bound thereto. It is said that nowadays there is nobody who understand the shape of this instrument, or the proper method of attachment.
— #204
When they were levelling the ground for building the Kameyama palace, there was a great mound where innumerable large snakes were clustered together. They made a report to the emperor, saying these were the gods of this place. His Majesty asked what ought to be done, and they all said that as the snakes had occupied the ground since olden times, it was out of the question to dig them up and throw them away.
This minister alone said: ‘What evil can be worked by such creatures in imperial ground, when an imperial palace is to be built! The gods are not malevolent. They will not be offended. All we have to do it to dig them up and throw them all away.’
So they broke up the mound, and threw them into the Oi river, and there was no evil consequence whatever.
— #207
The autumn moon is of loveliness without end. Nobody is more pitiable than a man who cannot see the difference, and thinks the moon is the same at all times.
— #212
It is always better to be simple and uninteresting than to be interesting but affected.
— #231
It is a great mistake, when someone asks you a question, to give a perplexing answer because you think he surely must know, and it seems foolish to state the facts just a they are. He may know, and yet have asked in order to make sure; and besides, why should there not be some person who really does not know? It would be more sensible, and sound better, to tell him plainly what he asks.
It is a careless thing, when writing a letter to someone about something you know yourself but he has not yet heard, merely to say that so-and-so has done a foolish thing, for you will get a letter back asking what happened.
Since it occurs that some people miss hearing the most widespread tales, what is there wrong in writing and telling him so as not to leave him in doubt?
It is inexperienced people who do this sort of thing.
— #234
In Tamba there is a place called Izumo. They brought thither the worshop of the Great Shrine, and set up a beautiful building. A man by the name of Shida, who was in charge of the district, invited on eday in the autumn the venerable Shokai and many others. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘and let me offer you some rice cake in honour of Izuma’, and then led them thither. They all worshipped, and were filled with great faith. The stone dogs before the shrine stood, contrary to custom, facing backwards. Shokai was much impressed by this, crying, ‘O, how fine! Now there must be some very deep reason for this.’ He wept with admiration, and said, ‘Sirs, did you not notice this excellent thing? That was bad of you.’ They were all surprised, for in truth there was nothing of the sort elsewhere, and they said they would carry home the tale to the capital. The holy man, growing more and more enthusiastic, called an elderly priest, with an intelligent face, and said, ‘There must surely be some reason for the position of the dogs before your shrine. I wonder, Sir, if you could tell me what it is.’
‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘it is a trick some mischievous children have played.’ And approaching the dogs, he put them straight and went on his way.
The holy man’s tears of admiration were all for nothing.
— #236
It must make a man feel very small just to take himself a wife because she is approved by his parents and brothers.
— #240