Ariko weeps as her boat drifts in the moonlight

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Ariko weeps as her boat drifts in the moonlight

 

 September 1886

Ariko no Naishi (A.D. 829-900), a lady in waiting in the Heian court, is despondent over an unrequited love.  As she prepares to jump from the boat and drown herself, she recites the following verse, “How hopeless it is; it would be better for me to sink beneath the waves; perhaps then I could see my man from Moon Capital.”

 

 

  

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Taiso Yoshitoshi

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