Chapter 4 SHINKIRō

The term Shinkirō is used in the meaning of "mirage," and also as another name for Hōrai, the Elf-land of Far Eastern fable. Various beings in Japanese myth are credited with power to delude mortals by creating a mirage of Hōrai. In old pictures one may see a toad represented in the act of exhaling from its mouth a vapor that shapes the apparition of Hōrai.

But the creature especially wont to produce this illusion is the Hamaguri,-a Japanese mollusk much resembling a clam. Opening its shell, it sends into the air a purplish misty breath; and that mist takes form and defines, in tints of mother-of-pearl, the luminous vision of Hōrai and the palace of the Dragon-King.

Hamaguri no

Kuchi aku toki ya,

Shinkirō!

Yo ni shiraré ken

Tatsu-no-miya-himé!

[When the hamaguri opens its mouth-lo! Shinkirō appears!... Then all can clearly see the Maiden-Princess of the Dragon-Palace.]

Shinkirō-

Tatsu no miyako no

Hinagata33 wo

Shio-hi no oki ni

Misuru hamaguri!

[Lo! in the offing at ebb-tide, the hamaguri makes visible the miniature image of Shinkirō-the Dragon-Capital!]