Chapter VIII: H'e:ik'egan`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."]