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Notes
In certain Buddhist texts the rarity of meeting a Buddha is compared to the difficulty of a blind sea-turtle's chances of bumping into a log to float on. The turtle emerges to the surface only once a century and tries to clutch the log, but it has a hole and eludes his grasp; this was a simile for the difficulty of obtaining good fortune.
The poem referred to is by Li Ho and is actually a description of Hsi-shih (Seishi) rather than a poem by her. The meaning of the original verses was that Seishi's fragrant locks rivaled the perfume of cloves or sandalwood; however, the dramatist here misunderstood the Chinese and interpreted it as meaning she had cut her locks and now would have to rest her head on a hard pillow of sandalwood. (See commentary by Tanaka Makoto in Yōkyoku Shū, 111, 205 [Nihon Koten Zensho series].)
There is a pivot-word embedded here: chitose no saka, the slope of a thousand years; and saka yuku tsue, the staff that brings steady prosperity.
An allusion to the poem, attributed to Semimaru himself, no. 1091 in the Gosenshū. The poem, about the Barrier of Ōsaka, originally had a meaning something like: "This is the Barrier where people come and go exchanging farewells; for friends and strangers alike this is Meeting Barrier."
Hakuga no Sammi was in fact the grandson of the Emperor Daigo; and lived from 919 to 980; but here he is demoted to the position of a rustic, in inverse proportion to Semimaru's rise in position from being a menial to being Daigo's son.
The batō dance is described thus in The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon (translation by Ivan Morris): "In the Dance of the Pulled Head the dancer's hair is in disorder and he has a fierce look in his eyes; but the music is delightful."
A poem by Ki no Tsurayuki, no. 118 in the Shūishū. The horse referred to was presented as tribute to the moon in a special ceremony
An expression used proverbially to indicate that genius can be recognized even in early youth. Here used to mean that a noble person reveals his character spontaneously.
Taking shelter beneath the same tree was an illustration of the concept that even casual contact in a previous existence might bring a karmic connection between people in their next incarnation. Because of some connection in a previous life Semimaru and Sakagami were born in this life as brother and sister.
The fragrance of orange (tachibana) blossoms was believed to summon up remembrance of people one once knew; here the memories are those shared by brother and sister.
Jōzō and Jōgen were siblings mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. Sōri and Sokuri were the son and daughter of a Brahman king of southern India. They were abandoned by their stepmother. After their death, their father found and recognized their skeletons on the island where they had been abandoned. The story is mentioned in the Taiheiki and the Gempei Seisuiki.
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