User:Thehappygolucky/sandbox

Ujishūi Monogatari
Ujishui Monogatari has this story about Takemura explaining his art. One day in Sage Tenno's castle, a man took out a book and wrote "There is no bad character." No one could explain its meaning in the palace. The ruler told him to tell Takamura, who replied: "'If nothing bad happens, it will be fine (Mangkankankan),'"Read epe (mong) as epe. The emperor's conscience was so sharp that Takemura must have hired him because he was the only one who could read Otara. But Takemura maintained his innocence and said he was only explaining the meaning of the book. "Oh, can you explain the words?" asked the King. And he asked Takamura to recite (in his ear) twelve verses about the child (grandson): "'子子子子子子子子子子子子'."Takamura immediately responded: "neko no ko koneko, shishi no ko kojishi (猫の子子猫、獅子の子子獅子),"using the variant readings ne, ko, shi, ji for the character (子). This translates to "the cat's young kitten, the lion's young cub" or with annotations:"'the young of cat (猫), kitten (子猫) and the young of lion (獅子), cub (子獅子).'"The emperor was amused by Takamura's wit and withdrew the accusation.