A few of these translations date back many years, one to my adolescence (it happens to be perfectly literal) so there is a certain amount of inconsistency in degree of Hteralness. Over the years the relationship to the Japanese poem was always a personal and creative one, and in some cases the mood of the moment led me to develop slightly certain implicits or suppress certain obvious explicits. Hardly ever are there many more syllables in the English poem than in the Japanese original, and in ninety out of a hundred examples the translation is as accurate and brief as I could manage. I have never tried to explain away the poem, to translate the elusive into the obvious, as has been, unfortunately, so often the case with translators from the Japanese in the past— always of course with the great exception of Arthur Waley.
I wish to acknowledge the aid of a Guggenheim Fellowship, which gave me leisure in 1948-49 to work on this book as well as others of my own. I am also greatly in debt to Katue Kitasono, himself a poet and artist and editor of the magazine Vou, who read the book in manuscript and made several valuable suggestions, and who also obtained for me the beautiful calligraphy by Ukai Uchiyama.
Like the Three Hundred Poems of T’ang and other Far Eastern anthologies, this “Hundred Poems” contains a few more for good measure and good luck.
KENNETH REXROTH
ONE HUNDRED JAPANESE POEMS
I
I passed by the beach
At Tago and saw
The snow falling, pure white,
High on the peak of Fuji.
Tago no ura yu
Uchi idete mireba
Mashiro ni zo
Fuji no takane ni
Yuki wa furikeru
YAMABE NO AKAHITO
II
When I went out
In the Spring meadows
To gather violets,
I enjoyed myself
So much that I stayed all night.
Haru no nu ni
Sumire tsumi ni to
Koshi ware zo
Nu wo natsukashimi
Hito yo nenikeru
AKAHITO
III
Tomorrow I was
Going to the Spring meadows
To pick the young greens.
It snowed all day yesterday
And snowed all day today.
Asu yoriwa
Haruna tsumanuto
Shimeshi nu ni
Kinō mo kyō mo
Yuki wa furi tsutsu
AKAHITO
IV
On Fujiyama
Under the midsummer moon
The snow melts, and falls
Again the same night.
Fuji no ne ni
Furi okeru yuki wa
Mina tzuki no
Mochi ni kenureba
Sono yo furi keri
AKAHITO
V
The mists rise over
The still pools at Asuka.
Memory does not
Pass away so easily.
Asuka gawa
Kawa yodo sarazu
Tatsu kiri no
Omoi sugu beki
Koi ni aranaku ni
AKAHITO
VI
I wish I were close
To you as the wet skirt of
A salt girl to her body.
I think of you always.
Suma no ama no
Shio yaki ginu no
Narenaba ka
Hito hi mo kimi wo
Wasurete omowamu
AKAHITO
VII
I should not have waited.
It would have been better
To have slept and dreamed,
Than to have watched night pass,
And this slow moon sink.
Yasura wa de
Ne na mashi mono wo
Sayo fukete
Katabuku made no
Tsuki wo mishi kana
LADY AKAZOME EMON
VIII
Though the purity
Of the moonlight has silenced
Both nightingale and
Cricket, the cuckoo alone
Sings all the white night.
Uguisu mo
Korogi mo ne wo
Uchitae te
Sayakeki yoru wo
Naku hototogisu
ANONYMOUS
IX
The purity of the moonlight,
Falling out of the immense sky,
Is so great that it freezes
The water touched by its rays.
Ō zora no
Tsuki no hikari shi
Kiyokereba
Kage mishi mizu zo
Mazu kōri keru
ANONYMOUS
X
The cicada sings
In the rotten willow.
Antares, the fire star,
Rolls in the west.
Kare yanagi
Semi shigure shite
Nishizora wa
Akaboshi hitotsu
Hikari sometaru
ANONYMOUS
XI
In a gust of wind the white dew
On the Autumn grass
Scatters like a broken necklace.
Shira tsuyu ni
Kaze no fukishiku
Aki no no wa
Tsuranuki tomenu
Tama zo chirikeru
BUNYA NO ASAYASU
XII
I think of the days
Before I met her
When I seemed to have
No troubles at all.
Ai mite no
Nochi no kokoro ni
Kurabureba
Mukashi wa mono wo
Omowazarikeri
FUJIWARA NO ATSUTADA
XIII
As I watch the moon
Shining on pain’s myriad paths,
I know I am not
Alone involved in Autumn.
Tsuki mireba
Chiji ni mono koso
Kanashi kere
Waga mi hitotsu no
Aki ni wa aranedo
ŌE NO CHISATO
XIV
Autumn has come
To the lonely cottage,
Buried in dense hop vines,
Which no one visits.
Yae mugura
Shigereru yado no
Sabishiki ni
Hito koso miene
Aki wa ki ni keri
THE MONK EIKEI
XV
If the winds of heaven
Would only blow shut the doors
Of the corridors
Of the clouds, I could
Keep these beautiful girls
For a little while.
Amatsu kaze
Kumo no kayoiji
Fuki toji yo
Otome no sugata
Shibashi todomenu
THE ABBOT HENJŌ
XVI
The pheasant of the mountain,
Tiring to the feet,
Spreads his tail feathers.
Through the long, long night
I sleep alone.
Ashibiki no
Yamadori no o no
Shidari o no
Naga nagashi yo wo
Hitori ka mo nemu
KAKINOMOTO NO HITOMARO
XVII
In the empty mountains
The leaves of the bamboo grass
Rustle in the wind.
I think of a girl
Who is not here.
Sasa no ha wa
Miyama mo saya ni
Sayagedomo
Ware wa imo omō
Wakare kinureba
HITOMARO
XVIII
In the Autumn mountains
The colored leaves are falling.
If I could hold them back,
I could still see her.
Aki yama ni
Otsuru momiji ba
Shimashiku wa
Na chiri midare so
Imo ga atari minu
HITOMARO
> XIX
Gossip grows like weeds
In a summer meadow.
My girl and I
Sleep arm in arm.
Hito goto wa
Natsu no no kusa to
Shigeku to mo
Imo to ware to shi
Tazusawarineba
HITOMARO
XX
This morning I will not
Comb my hair.
It has lain
Pillowed on the hand of my lover.
Asa ne gami
Ware wa kezuraji
Utsukushiki
Kimi ga ta makura
Fureteshi mono wo
HITOMARO
XXI
Your hair has turned white
While your heart stayed
Knotted against me.
I shall never
Loosen it now.
Kuro kami no
Shira kami made to
Musubiteshi
Kokoro hitotsu wo
Ima takame ya mo
HITOMARO
XXII
A strange old man
Stops me,
Looking out of my deep mirror.
Masu kagami
Soko naru kage ni
Mukai ite miru
Toki ni koso
Shiranu okina ni
Au kokochi sure
HITOMARO
XXIII
The colored leaves
Have hidden the paths
On the autumn mountain.
How can I find my girl,
Wandering on ways I do not know?
Aki yama no
Momiji wo shigemi
Mado inuru
Imo wo motomenu
Yama ji shirazu mo
HITOMARO
XXIV
When I left my girl
In her grave on Mount Hikite
And walked down the mountain path,
I felt as though I were dead.
Fusuma ji wo
Hikite no yama ni
Imo wo okite
Yama ji wo yukeba
Ikeri to mo nashi
HITOMARO
XXV
I sit at home
In our room
By our bed
Gazing at your pillow.
Ie ni kite
Waga ya wo mireba
Tama doko no
Hoka ni mukikeri
Imo ga ko makura
HITOMARO
XXVI
May those who are bom after me
Never travel such roads of love.
Ware yu nochi
Umaremu hito wa
Waga gotoku
Koi suru michi ni
Ai kosu na yume
HITOMARO
XXVII
My girl is waiting for me
And does not know
That my body will stay here
On the rocks of Mount Kamo.
Kamo yama no
Iwane shi makeru
Ware wo kamo
Shira ni to imo ga
Machitsutsu aramu
HITOMARO
XXVIII
On the shingle
Beaten by waves
He sleeps with his head
Amongst the rocks.
Oki tsunami
Ki yoru ariso wo
Shikitae no
Makura to makite
Naseru kimi kamo
HITOMARO
XXIX
I waited for my
Lover until I could hear
In the night the oars of the boat
Crossing the River of Heaven.
Waga seko ni
Urakoi oreba
Ama no gawa
Yobune kogi toyomu
Kaji no to kikoyu
HITOMARO?
XXX
Will he always love me?
I cannot read his heart.
This morning my thoughts
Are as disordered
As my black hair.
Nagakaramu
Kokoro mo shirazu
Kurokami no
Midarete kesa wa
Mono wo koso omoe
LADY HORIKAWA
XXXI
Is it your command
That we must pass through this life
Not meeting, even
For a space short as the nodes
Of the reeds of Naniwa?
Naniwa gata
Mijikaki ashi no
Fushi no ma mo
Awade kono yo wo
Sugushite yo to ya
LADY ISE
XXXII
Will I cease to be,
Or will I remember
Beyond the world,
Our last meeting together?
Arazaramu
Kono yo no hoka no
Omoide ni
Ima hito tabi no
Au koto mogana
LADY IZUMI SHIKIBU
XXXIII
I go out of the darkness
Onto a road of darkness
Lit only by the far off
Moon on the edge of the mountains.
Kuraki yori
Kuraki michi ni zo
Irinu beki
Haruka ni terase
Yama no hi no tsuki
IZUMI
XXXIV
The hanging raindrops
Have not dried from the needles
Of the fir forest
Before the evening mist
Of Autumn rises.
Murasame no
Tsuyu mo mada hinu
Maki no ha ni
Kiri tachi noboru
Aki no yugure
THE MONK JAKUREN
XXXV
Guardian of the gate
Of Suma, how many nights
Have you awakened
At the crying of the shore birds
Of the Isle of Awaji?
Awaji shima
Kayou chidori no
Naku koe ni
Iku yo nezamenu
Suma no sekimori
MINAMOTO NO KANEMASA
XXXVI
Although I hide it
My love shows in my face
So plainly that he asks me,
“Are you thinking of something?”
Shinoburedo
Iro ni ide ni keri
Waga koi wa
Mono ya omou to
Hito no tou made
TAIRA NO KANEMORI
XXXVII
The River Izumi
Floods the plain of Mika.
Did I ever meet her?
Why do I long for her?
Mika no hara
Wakite nagaruru
Izumi gawa
Itsu miki tote ka
Koishikaruramu
FUJIWARA NO GO-KANESUKE
XXXVIII
I dreamed I held
A sword against my flesh.
What does it mean?
It means I shall see you soon.
Tsurugi tachi
Mi ni tori sou to
Ime ni mitsu
Nani no satoshi zomo
Kimi ni awamu tame
LADY KASA
XXXIX
I love and fear him
Steadily as the surf
Roars on the coast at Ise.
Ise no umi no
Iso mo todoro ni
Yosuru nami
Kashikoki hito ni
Koi wataru kamo
LADY KASA
XL
The flowers whirl away
In the wind like snow.
The thing that falls away
Is myself.
Hana sasou
Arashi no niwa no
Yuki narade
Furi yuki mono wa
Waga mi narikeri
THE PRIME MINISTER KINTSUNE
XLI
I may live on until
I long for this time
In which I am so unhappy,
And remember it fondly.
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Nagaraeba
Mata kono goro ya
Shinobaremu
Ushi to mishi yo zo
Ima wa koishiki
FUJIWARA NO KIYOSUKE
XLII
When I went out in
The Spring fields to pick
The young greens for you
Snow fell on my sleeves.
Kimi ga tame
Haru no no ni idete
Waka na tsumu
Waga koromode ni
Yuki wa furi tsutsu
100 Poems from the Japanese Page 2