THE EMPEROR KŌKŌ
XLIII
As certain as color
Passes from the petal,
Irrevocable as flesh,
The gazing eye falls through the world.
Hana no iro wa
Utsuri ni keri na
Itazura ni
Waga mi yo ni furu
Nagame seshi ma ni
THE POETESS ONO NO KOMACHI
XLIV
Imperceptible
It withers in the world,
This flower-like human heart.
Iro miyede
Utsurō mono wa
Yo no naka no
Hito no kokoro no
Hana ni zo arikeru
KOMACHI
XLV
The cricket cries
In the frost.
On my narrow bed,
In a folded quilt,
I sleep alone.
Kirigirisu
Naku ya shimo yo no
Sumu shiro ni
Koromo katashiki
Hitori ka mo nemu
THE REGENT
FUJIWARA NO GO-KYŌGOKU
XLVI
From Yoshino
Mountain the autumn
Wind blows. Night wanes.
The village grows cold.
Fullers’ mallets sound.
Miyoshino no
Yama no aki kaze
Sayo fukete
Furusato samuku
Koromo utsunari
FUJIWARA NO MASATSUNE
XLVII
In the dawn, although I know
It will grow dark again,
How I hate the coming day.
Akenureba
Kururu mono to wa
Shiri nagara
Nao urameshiki
Asaborake kana
FUJIWARA NO MICHINOBU
XLVIII
Have you any idea
How long a night can last, spent
Lying alone and sobbing?
Nageki tsutsu
Hitori nuru yo no
Akuru ma wa
Ika ni hisashiki
Mono to ka wa shiru
THE MOTHER
OF THE COMMANDER MICHITSUNA
XLIX
The white chrysanthemum
Is disguised by the first frost.
If I wanted to pick one
I could find it only by chance.
Kokoro ate ni
Orabaya oramu
Hatsu shimo no
Oki madowaseru
Shira giku no hana
ŌSHIKOCHI NO MITSUNE
L
In the mountain village
The wind rustles the leaves.
Deep in the night, the deer
Cry out beyond the edge of dreams.
Yama zato no
Inaba no kaze ni
Nezame shite
Yo fukaku shika no
Koe wo kiku kana
MINAMOTO NO MOROTADA
LI
Your fine promises
Were like the dew of life
To a parched plant,
But now the autumn
Of another year goes by.
Chigiri okishi
Sasemo ga tsuyu wo
Inochi nite
Aware kotoshi no
Aki mo inumeri
FUJIWARA NO MOTOTOSHI
LII
I am unhappy.
I do not care what happens.
I must see you, even
If it means I shall
Be lost in Naniwa Bay.
Wabi mureba
Ima hata onaji
Naniwa naru
Mi wo tsukushite mo
Awamu to zo omou
PRINCE MOTOYOSHI
LIII
I can feel the loneliness
Grow in my mountain village
When the flowers and the eyes
Of men have both gone away.
Yama zato wa
Fuyu zo sabishisa
Masarikeru
Hito me mo kusa mo
Karenu to omoeba
MINAMOTO NO MUNEYUKI
LIV
Someone passes,
And while I wonder
If it is he,
The midnight moon
Is covered with clouds.
Meguri aite
Mishi ya sore to mo
Wakanu mani
Kumo kakurenishi
Yoha no tsuki kage
LADY MURASAKI SHIKIBU
LV
This is not the moon,
Nor is this the spring,
Of other springs,
And I alone
Am still the same.
Tsuki ya aranu
Haru ya mukashi no
Haru naranu
Waga mi hitotsu wa
Moto no mi ni shite
ARIWARA NO NARIHIRA
LVI
I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today.
Tsui ni yuku
Michi to wa kanete
Kikishi kado
Kinō kyō to wa
Omowazarishi wo
NARIHIRA
LVII
Even in the age
Of the strong swift gods,
I never heard
Of water like Tatsuta River
Dyed with blue and Chinese red.
Chihayaburu
Kami yo mo kikazu
Tatsuta gawa
Kara kurenai ni
Mizu kukuru to wa
NARIHIRA
LVIII
After the storm
On Mount Mimuro,
The colored leaves
Float like brocade
On the River Tatsuta.
Arashi fuku
Mimuro no yama no
Momiji ba wa
Tatsuta no kawa no
Nishiki narikeri
THE MONK NŌIN
LIX
As I approach
The mountain village
Through the spring twilight
I hear the sunset bell
Ring through drifting petals.
Yama zato no
Haru no yūgure
Kite mireha
Iriai no kane ni
Hana zo chirikeru
NŌIN
LX
When I am lonely
And go for a walk, I see
Everywhere the same
Autumnal dusk.
Sabishisa ni
Yado wo tachi ide
Nagamureba
Izuku mo onaji
Aki no yūgure
THE MONK RYŌZEN
LXI
You do not come, and I wait
On Matsuo beach,
In the calm of evening.
And like the blazing
Water, I too am burning.
Konu hito wo
Matsuo no ura no
Yūnagi ni
Yaku ya moshio no
Mi mo kogare tsutsu
FUJIWARA NO SADAIE
LXII
As the mists rise in the dawn
From Uji River, one by one,
The stakes of the nets appear,
Stretching far into the shallows.
Asa borake
Uji no kawa giri
Taedae ni
Araware wataru
Seze no ajiro gi
FUJIWARA NO SADAYORI
LXIII
You say, “I will come.”
And you do not come.
Now you say, “I will not come.”
So I shall expect you.
Have I leamed to understand you?
Komu to yū mo
Konu toki aru wo
Koji to yū wo
Komu to wa mataji
Koji to yū mono wo
LADY ŌTOMO NO SAKANOE
LXIV
Do not smile to yourself
Like a green mountain
With a cloud drifting across it.
People will know we are in love.
Aoyama wo
Yoko giru kumo no
Ichijiroku
Ware to emashite
Hito ni shirayu na
SAKANOE
LXV
A cuckoo calls.
When I look there is only
The waning moon
In the early dawn.
Hototogisu
Nakitsuru kata wo
Nagamureba
Tada ariake no
Tsuki zo nokokeru
FUJIWARA NO SANESADA
LXVI
If only the world
Would always remain this way,
Some fishermen
Drawing a little rowboat
Up the river bank.
Yo no naka wa
Tsune ni mogamo na
Nagisa kogu
Ama no obune no
Tsuna de kanashi mo
THE SHŌGUN
MINAMOTO NO SANETOMO
LXVII
Involuntary,
I may live on
In the passing world,
Never forgetting
This midnight moon.
Kokoro ni mo
Arade ukiyo ni
Nagaraeba
Koishikaru beki
Yowa no tsuki kana
THE EMPEROR SANJŌ
LXVIII
Deep in the mountain,
Trampling the red maple leaves,
I hear the stag cry out
In the sorrow of Autumn.
Oku yama ni
Momiji fumi wake
Naku shika no
Koe kiku toki zo
Aki wa kanashiki
THE PRIEST SARUMARU
LXIX
Though you can tell me
You heard a cock crow
In the middle of the night,
The guard at Ōsaka Gate
Will not believe you.
Yo wo komete
Tori no sora ne wa
Hakaru to mo
Yo ni Ōsaka no
Seki wa yurasaji
LADY SEI SHŌNAGON
LXX
All during a night
Of anxiety I wait.
At last the dawn comes
Through the cracks of the shutters,
Heartless as night.
Yo mo sugara
Mono omou koro wa
Ake yarade
Neya no hima sae
Tsure nakarikeri
THE MONK SHUN-E
LXXI
She said she would come
At once, and so I waited
Till the moon rose
In the October dawn.
Ima komu to
Iishi bakari ni
Naga tsuki no
Ari ake no tsuki
Wo machi izuru kana
THE MONK SOSEI
LXXII
For the sake of a night
Short as the nodes
Of the reeds of Naniwa
Must I live on,
My flesh wasted with longing?
e no
Ashi no kari ne no
Hito yo yue
Mi wo tsukushite ya
Koi wataru beki
THE STEWARDESS
OF THE EMPRESS KŌKA
LXXIII
That spring night I spent
Pillowed on your arm
Never really happened
Except in a dream.
Unfortunately I am
Talked about anyway.
Haru no yo no
Yume bakari naru
Ta makura ni
Kai naku tanamu
Na koso oshikere
LADY SUO
LXXIV
Yes, I am in love.
They were talking about me
Before daylight,
Although I began to love
Without knowing it.
Koi su tefu
Waga na wa madaki
Tachi ni keri
Hito shirezu koso
Omoi someshi ga
MIBU NO TADAMI
LXXV
As I row over the plain
Of the sea and gaze
Into the distance, the waves
Merge with the bright sky.
Wata no hara
Kagi idete mireba
Hisa kata no
Kumoi ni magō
Okitsu shira nami
FUJIWARA NO TADAMICHI
LXXVI
Since I left her,
Frigid as the setting moon,
There is nothing I loathe
As much as the light
Of dawn on the clouds.
Ari ake no
Tsure naku mieshi
Wakare yori
Aka tsuki bakari
Uki mono wa nashi
MIBU NO TADAMINE
LXXVII
In the eternal
Light of the spring day
The flowers fall away
Like the unquiet heart.
Hisa kata no
Hikari nodokeki
Haru no hi ni
Shizu kokoro naku
Hana no chiruramu
KI NO TOMONORI
LXXVIII
Like Michinoku
Cloth, printed with tangled ferns,
My mind is disordered
Because of you,
But my love is not.
Michinoku no
Shinobu mojizuri
Tare yue ni
Midare somenishi
Ware naranaku ni
MINAMOTO NO TŌRU
LXXIX
In all the world
There is no way whatever.
The stag cries even
In the most remote mountain.
Yo no naka yo
Michi koso nakere
Omoi iru
Yama no oku ni mo
Shika zo nakunaru
THE PRIEST
FUJIWARA NO TOSHINARI
LXXX
In the Bay of Sumi
The waves crowd on the beach.
Even in the night
By the corridors of dreams,
I come to you secretly.
Sumi no e no
Kishi ni yoru nami
Yoru sae ya
Yume no kayoi ji
Hito me yokuramu
FUJIWARA NO TOSHIYUKI
LXXXI
Autumn has come invisibly.
Only the wind’s voice is ominous.
Aki kinu to
Me ni wa sayaka ni
Miene domo
Kaze no oto ni zo
Odorokarenuru
TOSHIYUKI
LXXXII
In the evening
The rice leaves in the garden
Rustle in the autumn wind
That blows through my reed hut.
Yū sareba
Kado ta no inaba
Oto zurete
Ashi no maro ya ni
Aki kaze zo fuku
MINAMOTO NO TSUNENOBU
LXXXIII
The wind has stopped
The current of the mountain stream
With only a windrow
Of red maple leaves.
Yama gawa ni
Kaze no kaketaru
Shigarami wa
Nagare mo aenu
Momiji nari keri
HARUMICHI NO TSURAKI
LXXXIV
Out in the marsh reeds
A bird cries out in sorrow,
As though it had recalled
Something better forgotten.
Wasurete mo
Aru beki mono wo
Ashi hara ni
Omoi izuru no
Naku zo kanashiki
KI NO TSURAYUKI
LXXXV
No, the human heart
Is unknowable.
But in my birthplace
The flowers still smell
The same as always.
Hito wa isa
Kokoro mo shirazu
Furusato wa
Hana zo mukashi no
Ka ni nioikeru
TSURAYUKI
LXXXVI
Like a wave crest
Escaped and frozen,
One white egret
Guards the harbor mouth.
Ashi tazu no
Tateru kawa be wo
Fuku kaze ni
Yosete kaeramu
Nami ka to zo omou
THE EMPEROR UDA
LXXXVII
It does not matter
That I am forgotten,
But I pity
His foresworn life.
100 Poems from the Japanese Page 3