Love, it is often said, has nothing to do with reason.
The cause of ours must be some En in a previous birth.[1]

Even the knot of the rope tying our boats together
Knotted was long ago by some love in a former birth.

If the touching even of sleeves be through En of a former existence,
Very much deeper must be the En that unites us now![2]

Kwaho[3] this life must be,--this dwelling with one so tender;--
I am reaping now the reward of deeds in a former birth!

[1.

Iro wa shian no
Hoka to-wa iedo,
Kore mo saki-sho no
En de aro.

"En" is a Buddhist word signifying affinity,--relation of cause and effect from life to life.

2.

Sode suri-o no mo
Tasho no en yo,
Mashite futari ga
Fukai naka.

Allusion is here made to the old Buddhist proverb: Sode no furi-awase mo tasho no en,--"Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some affinity operating from former lives."

3. The Buddhist word "Kwaho" is commonly used instead of other synonyms for Karma (such as ingwa, innen, etc.), to signify the good, rather than the bad results of action in previous lives. But it is sometimes used in both meanings. Here there seems to be an allusion to the proverbial expression, Kwaho no yoi hito (lit.: a person of good Kwaho), meaning it fortunate individual.]

Many songs of this class refer to the customary vow which lovers make to belong to each other for more lives than one,--a vow perhaps originally inspired by the Buddhist aphorism,--

Oya-ko wa, is-se;
Fufu wa, ni-se;
Shuju wa, san-ze.

The relation of parent and child is for one life; that of wife and husband, for two lives; that of master and servant, for three lives." Although the tender relation is thus limited to the time of two lives, the vow--(as Japanese dramas testify, and as the letters of those who kill themselves for love bear witness)--is often passionately made for seven. The following selections show a considerable variety of tone,--ranging from the pathetic to the satirical,--in the treatment of this topic:

I have cut my hair for his sake; but the deeper relation between us
Cannot be cut in this, nor yet in another life.

[1.

Kami wa kitte mo
Ni-se made kaketa
Fukai enishi wa
Kiru mono ka?

Literally: "Hair have-cut although, two existences until, deep relation, cut-how-can-it-be?" By the mention of the hair-cutting we know the speaker is a woman. Her husband, or possibly betrothed lover, is dead; and, according to the Buddhist custom, she signifies her desire to remain faithful to his memory by the sacrifice of her hair. For detailed information on this subject see, in my Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, the chapter, "Of Women's Hair."]