A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

136 Japanese Miscellany
the Buddha. " This bird," my informant writes,
lives only in the neighborhood of Nikko, where
in the summer it may be heard continually crying
out, ' O thou Compassionate Mind — ! O thou
Compassionate Mind !'"... Almost equally
interesting is the common Buddhist name for the
hototogisu (Cticulus poliocephalus) , a species of
cuckoo much celebrated by Japanese poets. It is
called Mujo-dori, or " the Bird of Imperma-
nency." This name would not appear to be
derived from the bird's note, which is popularly
interpreted as " Horizon kaketaka ?" — meaning,
" Has the horizon yet been suspended ? " (The
" honzon " is the sacred picture displayed in
temples upon the eighth day of the fourth month,
— a little before the time at which the bird makes
its annual appearance.) It seems to me more
probable that the name was given in the signification,
" Bird of Death " ; — for the word mujo has
also the meaning of death as change; and this
meaning is strongly suggested by the strange fact
that the hototogisu is supposed to come from the
spirit-world. It is also called Tama-muha'e-dori,
or the " Ghost-welcoming Bird," because it is
said to meet and to greet the spirits of the dead
on their journey over the Mountain of Shid^ to