3 The story of Ming Huang and Yang Kuei-fei; a long poem by Po Chū-i.
4 A Chinese princess given to a Tartar king in marriage and carried away into the north.
5 For tying up the rolls.
6 A 9th-century story about a fairy who was found in a bamboo-stem, set various fantastic ordeals to her lovers and finally disappeared in the Land Above the Sky. It is written in a rather disjointed style. Translated by Victor Dickins in Japanese Texts. See above, p. 15.
7 7 One of the suitors.
8 Also called Aimi. Successor of Kose no Kanaoka, who founded the Kose school in the 9th century.
9 883–946 a.d. Editor of the Kokinshū, the first official anthology of poetry.
10 Having set out from Japan to China he was wrecked on the coast of Persia, where he acquired a magic zithern and the knowledge of unearthly tunes, armed with which he won great fame as a musician in China and Japan. See Aston’s History of Japanese Literature, p. 76, and above, p. 16.
11 China.
12 Asukabe Tsunenori, flourished about 964 a.d.
13 Also called Ono no Dōfū, the most celebrated calligraphist of Japan.
14 A collection of short love-episodes, each centring round a poem or poems. See Aston’s History of Japanese Literature, p. 80.
15 Already lost in the 15th century.
16 Hero of the Tales of Ise.
17 I.e., upon promotion at Court. Courtiers were called ‘men above the clouds.’
18 Presumably the hero of the tale of Shō Sammi.
19 Narihira, hero of the Tales of Ise.
20 898–930, a great patron of literature, and himself an important poet and calligrapher.
21 Grandson of the great Kose no Kanaoka. Flourished about 960 a.d.
22 Japanese zithern.
23 Chinese zithern.