The Japanese word "koke", which is now accepted as a standard name for bryophytes, has been used also to refer to lichens because the word "koke" originally means a small hairy plant growing on tree-trunk. The "koke" may further be used loosely to encompass minute algae and fungi as well as some moss-like ferns. It is rarely applied even to dwarf flowering plants. The Japanese "koke" is analogous to the English word "moss", except that the "koke" does not mean bog while the "moss" otherwise refers to boggy ground. Scenes and feelings evoked by "koke", which is considered presumably referring to bryophytes, sometimes possibly including lichens and aerial algae, in Japanese literature and arts have been analysed and discussed in this series of studies (II-VI). Details of the literature and arts quoting or using the "koke" include the prose poem, 31-syllabled poem ("tanka"), 17-syllabled poem ("haiku"), novel, tale, essay, song, ballad, drama, pictorical art, Japanese garden, etc. The scenes and feelings associated with the "koke", especially bryophytes, are claassified roughly into four groups. 1. Long lapse of time, old ages, antiquity, eternity, constancy, solemnity, etc. 2. Beauty, quiet, elegance, rural and mountain-romanticism, etc. "Koke-musu (moss-covered)" conditions of stones, tree-trunks, ground, caves, mountain paths and streams are associated with the scenes and feelings shown in the above groups 1 and 2. The national anthem of Japan "Kimigayo (His Majesty Reign)" quotes the moss growing over mighty rocks, which indicates long lapse of time and eternity. Bryophytes, especially Musci, a precious attribute of Japanese gardens, are useful to give a peculiar quiet beauty and ancient look to the gardens. 3. Seclusion, simplicity, poverty, loneliness, bonze's life, etc. Clean but simple and humble natures of mosses have created unique Japanese expressions: "koke-no-koromo (clothes of moss)", "koke-no-tamoto (sleeve of moss)" ; "koke-no-iori (moss-growing hermitage)", "koke-no-iwato (mossy cave)", etc. The former two phrases figuratively mean the robe of bonzes (Buddhist priests) or clothes of hermits, and also their secluded life; the latter two represent a humble hermitage and a wild cave for religious austerities respectively, and further lonely condition of solitude. 4. Desolation, mutability, retrospection; death, tomb, nether world, etc. Mossy stone walls, mossy houses or roofs and moss-covered tombstones are associated with desolation and mutability, and they recall past times to our minds. Mossy conditions also refer to death and the nether world. A Japanese phrase "koke-no-shita (under the moss)" means under the tomb or in the nether world. Another expression "soh-tai (cleaning mosses on the tomb)" indicates visiting a tomb or celebrating achievement of ancient leading persons by reading inscriptions on their tombstones. A rarely used phrase "koke-musu-kabane (moss-growing dead body)" means a body of the dead lying in the field, for example, it is applied to the body of a soldier killed in a field during warfare.
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