Imperial Poetry

Attended by his Grand Chamberlain and a suite of 200 nobles. His Majesty the Emperor Hirohito, bespectacled Son of Heaven, presided augustly last week at the official tabulation of 34,769 poems entered by Japanese throughout the world in the Imperial New Year's Poetry Competition. The set theme for contestants this year was: Rocks at the Ocean's Fringe. Last week, before the tabulation of poems could begin, a choir intoned five times the Sub lime Emperor's own treatment of the theme, lines which, needless to say, will not be judged. With his royal brush the Son of Heaven had painted ideographs meaning: I muse on the strength of the rocks Enduring the ceaseless beating of the waves On the rugged shores. There was no more, for poems in the best Japanese classic style of vers de societe are always short, frequently epigram matic. Such poems are intended not to mirror thought, but to stimulate it. Among the greatest Japanese epigrams are a sequence of three:

If the cuckoo will not sing Surely I its neck shall wring.

II

If the cuckoo will not sing, I shall teach the stubborn thing.

III

If the cuckoo to sing be not inclined, I will wait until he change his mind.

In polite Japanese conversation one or more of the three classic epigrams bobs up whenever there is need to deal with stubbornness of any kind. The epigrams were originally coined to describe three great Japanese generals, the first a violent and impetuous general; the second, persuasive and adroit; the third, cautious and patient--and all three successful in their campaigns.

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