Wasuraruru
Mi wo ba omowazu
Chikaikeshi
Hito no inochi no
Oshiku mo aru kana
LADY UKON
LXXXVIII
I will come to you
Through the ford at Saho,
The plovers piping about me
As my horse wades
The clear water.
Chidori naku
Saho no kawa to no
Kiyoki se wo
Uma uchi watashi
Itsu ka kayowamu
ŌTOMO NO YAKAMOCHI
LXXXIX
When I see the first
New moon, faint in the twilight,
I think of the moth eyebrows
Of a girl I saw only once.
Furi sakete
Mika zuki mireba
Hito me mishi
Hito no mayo biki
Omōyuru kamo
YAKAMOCHI
XC
The cry of the stag
Is so loud in the empty
Mountains that an echo
Answers him as though
It were a doe.
Yama biko no
Ai to yomu made
Tsuma goi ni
Ka naku yama be ni
Hitori nomi shite
YAKAMOCHI
XCI
I send you a box
Of glowing pearls.
Wear them with irises
And orange blossoms.
Shira tama wo
Tsutsumite yaraba
Ayame gusa
Hana tachi bana ni
Ae mo nuku gane
YAKAMOCHI
XCII
In the spring garden
Where the peach blossoms
Light the path beneath,
A girl is walking.
Haru no sono
Kurenai niou
Momo no hana
Shita teru michi ni
Ide tatsu otome
YAKAMOCHI
XCIII
I lie long abed
In the morning and listen
To the rivermen
Rowing on the Izumi River.
Asa doko ni
Kikeba harukeshi
Izumi gawa
Asa kogi shitsutsu
Utau funa bito
YAKAMOCHI
XCIV
The wind rustles the bamboos
By my window in the dusk.
Waga yado no
Isasa muratake
Fuku kaze no
Oto no kasokeki
Kono yūbe kamo
YAKAMOCHI
XCV
Mist floats on the Spring meadow.
My heart is lonely.
A nightingale sings in the dusk.
Haru no nu ni
Kasumi tanabiki
Ura ganashi
Kono yū kage ni
Uguisu naku mo
YAKAMOCHI
XCVI
The frost lies white
On the suspended
Magpies’ Bridge.
The night is far gone.
Kasasagi no
Wataseru hashi ni
Oku shimo no
Shiroki wo mireba
Yo zo fukenikeru
YAKAMOCHI
XCVII
Now to meet only in dreams,
Bitterly seeking,
Starting from sleep,
Groping in the dark
With hands that touch nothing.
Ime no ai wa
Kurushikarikeri
Odorokite
Kaki saguredomo
Te ni mo fureneba
YAKAMOCHI
XCVIII
We were together
Only a little while,
And we believed our love
Would last a thousand years.
Kaku shi nomi
Arikeru mono wo
Imo mo ware mo
Chi tose no gotoku
Tanomitarikeru
YAKAMOCHI
XCIX
Others may forget you, but not I.
I am haunted by your beautiful ghost.
Hito wa isa
Omoi yamu tomo
Tama kazura
Kage ni mie tsutsu
Wasuraenu ka mo
THE EMPRESS YAMATOHIME
C
The deer on pine mountain,
Where there are no falling leaves,
Knows the coming of autumn
Only by the sound of his own voice.
Momiji senu
Tokiwa no yama ni
Sumu shika wa
Onore nakite ya
Aki wo shiruramu
ŌNAKATOMI NO YOSHINOBU
CI
Falling from the ridge
Of high Tsukuba,
The Minano River
At last gathers itself,
Like my love, into
A deep, still pool.
Tsukuba ne no
Mine yori otsuru
Minano gawa
Koi zo tsumorite
Fuchi to narikeru
THE EMPEROR YŌZEI
CII
I must leave you, but
If I hear the sound
Of the pine that grows
On Mount Inaba,
I shall come back at once.
Tachi wakare
Inaba no yama no
Mine ni ouru
Matsu to shi kikaba
Ima kaeri komu
ARIWARA NO YUKIHIRA
THREE NAGA UTA from HITOMARO
CIII
In the sea of ivy clothed Iwami
Near the cape of Kara,
The deep sea miru weed
Grows on the sunken reefs;
The jewelled sea tangle
Grows on the rocky foreshore.
Swaying like the jewelled sea tangle
My girl would lie with me,
My girl whom I love with a love
Deep as the miru growing ocean.
We slept together only a few
Tsunusa hau
Iwami no umi no
Koto saegu
Kara no saki naru
Ikuri ni zo
Fuka miru ouru
Ariso ni zo
Tama mo wa ouru
Tama mo nasu
Nabiki neshi ko wo
Fuka miru no
Fukamete moedo
Sa neshi yo wa
Ikuda mo arazu
Hau tsuta no
Wakare shi kureba
Wonderful nights and then
I had to leave her.
It was like tearing apart braided vines.
My bowels are knotted inside me
With the pain of my heart.
I long for her and look back.
A confusion of colored leaves
Falls over Mount Watari.
I can no longer see Her waving sleeves.
The moon rushes through rifted clouds
Over the honeymoon cottage
Kimo mukau
Kokoro wo itami
Omoi tsutsu
Kaerimi suredo
Ō bune no
Watari no yama no
Momiji ba no
Chiri no midari ni
Imo ga sode
Saya ni mo miezu
Tsuma gomoru
Yagami no yama no
Kumo ma yori
Watarau tsuki no
Oshikedomo
On Mount Yagami.
The setting sun has left the sky.
The light grows dim.
I thought I was a brave man.
My thin sleeves are wet with tears.
Kakuroi kureba
Ama zutau
Iri hi sashinure
Masurao to
Omoeru ware mo
Shikitae no
Koromo no sode wa
Tōrite nurenu
HITOMARO
CIV
The Bay of Tsunu
In the sea of Iwami
>
Has no fine beaches
And is not considered beautiful.
Perhaps it is not,
But we used to walk
By the sea of the whale fishers
Over the rocky shingle of Watazu
Where the wind blows
The green jewelled seaweed
Like wings quivering in the morning,
Iwami no umi
Tsunu no urami wo
Ura nashi to
Hito koso mirame
Kata nashi to
Hito koso mirame
Yoshieyashi
Ura wa naku to mo
Yoshieyashi
Kata wa naku to mo
Isana tori
Umibe wo sashite
Watazu no
Ariso no ue ni
Ka ao naru
Tama mo okitsu mo
And the waves rock the kelp beds
Like wings quivering in the evening.
Just as the sea tangle sways and floats
At one with the waves,
So my girl clung to me
As she lay by my side.
Now I have left her,
To fade like the hoarfrost.
I looked back ten thousand times
At every turn of the road.
Our village fell away,
Farther and farther away.
The mountains rose between us,
Asa ha furu
Kaze koso yoseme
Yū ha furu
Nami koso kiyose
Nami no muta
Ka yori kaku yori
Tama mo nasu
Yori neshi imo wo
Tsuyu jimo no
Okite shi kureba
Kono michi no
Yaso kuma goto ni
Yorozu tabi
Kaeri mi suredo
Steeper and steeper.
I know she thinks of me, far off,
And wilts with longing, like summer grass.
Maybe if the mountains would bow down
I could see her again,
Standing in our doorway.
Iya tō ni
Sato wa sakarinu
Iya taka ni
Yama mo koe kinu
Natsu kusa no
Omoi shinaete
Shinuburamu
Imo ga kado mimu
Nabike kono yama
HITOMARO
CV
When she was still alive
We would go out, arm in arm,
And look at the elm trees
Growing on the embankment
In front of our house.
Their branches were interlaced.
Their crowns were dense with spring leaves.
They were like our love.
Love and trust were not enough to turn back
The wheels of life and death.
She faded like a mirage over the desert.
Utsusemi to
Omoishi toki ni
Torimochite
Waga futari mishi
Hashiri de no
Tsutsumi ni tateru
Tsuki no ki no
Kochi gochi no e no
Haru no ha no
Shigeki ga gotoku
Omoerishi
Imo ni wa aredo
Tanomerishi
Kora ni wa aredo
Yo no naka wo
Somukishi eneba
One morning like a bird she was gone
In the white scarves of death.
Now when the child
Whom she left in her memory Cries and begs for her,
All I can do is pick him up
And hug him clumsily.
I have nothing to give him.
In our bedroom our pillows
Still lie side by side,
As we lay once.
Kagiroi no
Moyuru aranu ni
Shiro tae no
Ama hire gakuri
Tori jimono
Asa tachi imashite
Iri hi nasu
Kakurinishikaba
Wagi moko ga
Kata mi ni okeru
Wakaki ko no
Koi naku goto ni
Tori atau
Mono shi nakereba
Otoko jimono
Waki basami mochi
Wagi moko to
Futari waga neshi
I sit there by myself
And let the days grow dark.
I lie awake at night, sighing till daylight.
No matter how much I mourn I shall never see her again.
They tell me her spirit
May haunt Mount Hagai
Under the eagles’ wings.
I struggle over the ridges
And climb to the summit.
I know all the time
Makura zuku
Tsuma ya no uchi ni
Hiru wa mo
Urasabi kurashi
Yoru wa mo
Iki zuki akashi
Nagekedomo
Semu sube shira ni
Kōredomo
Au yoshi wo nami
Ō tori no
Hagai no yama ni
Waga kōru
Imo wa imasu to
Hito no ieba
Iwa ne sakumite
Nazumi koshi
Yokeku mo zo naki
That I shall never see her,
Not even so much as a faint quiver in the air.
All my longing, all my love
Will never make any difference.
Utsusemi to
Omoishi imo ga
Tama kagiru
Honoka ni dani mo
Mienu omoeba
HITOMARO
A FEW SAMPLES
OF THE MORE FAMOUS HAIKU
Autumn evening —
A crow on a bare branch.
BASHŌ
A wild sea —
In the distance,
Over Sado,
The Milky Way.
BASHŌ
An old pond —
The sound
Of a diving frog.
BASHŌ
On this road
No one will follow me
In the Autumn evening.
BASHŌ
Summer grass
Where warriors dream.
BASHŌ
A blind child
Guided by his mother.
Admires the cherry blossoms.
KIKAKU
The Autumn cicada
Dies by the side
Of its empty shell.
jŌsŌ
The long, long river
A single line
On the snowy plain.
BONCHŌ
Wild goose, wild goose.
At what age
Did you make your first journey?
ISSA
In my life
As in the twilight,
A bell sounds.
I enjoy the freshness of evening.
ISSA
Over the vast field of mustard flowers
The moon rises in the East,
The Sun sets in the West.
BUSON
No one spoke.
The host, the guest.
The white chrysanthemums.
RYŌTA
NOTES
YAMABE NO AKAHITO lived during the reign of the Emperor Shomu, 734-748 A. D. He is thought to have died in 736. He seems to have been in close personal attendance on the Emperor and to have accompanied him on his progresses through the country. His short poems are considered nearly the equal of Hitomaro’s, but the latter’s naga uta, “long poems,” are superior. He is a kasei, a deified poet. The point of the first poem is the contrast of white on white, and as such, is typical of the kind of perception prized in Japanese poetry. The next poem is often used, especially in the dodoitsu form to mean “I had such a good time in the Yoshiwara, or elsewhere in feminine company, I forgot to come home.” It would have had this meaning a thousand years later. In Akahito’s time it probably referr
ed to one of the ladies of the palace, or, of course, it could even mean just what it says. Again, the third poem could refer to the sudden realization of old age during a love affair with a young girl. Asuka was a former Imperial Palace site; this poem is a hanka, a sort of coda to a naga uta, as are several others by Akahito, Yakamochi, and Hitomaro.
AKAZOME EMON lived in the eleventh century, a contemporary of Murasaki, Sei Shonagon, Izumi Shikibu, and Ise Tayii (the Priestess of Ise) — the most brilliant gathering of women in the world’s literature. She was the daughter of the poet Taira no Kanemori and the wife of Oe no Masahira, and a Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress. Akazome Emon is not a true name in the same sense as a man’s name in the classical period. Japanese women did not have proper names but were known by titles, nicknames and sometimes derivatives of a husband or father’s name.
ANONYMOUS. The first poem could mean: “The salvation of Buddha (or Amida) has enraptured both the householder and the monk or nun, but the prostitute worships in her own way, all through the night.” The bird called nightingale by all translators is Homochlamys cantans— the uguisu, a bushwarbler, not related to the European nightingale. The cuckoo is cuculus poliocephalus, the hototogisu, a relative of the European and North American cuckoos. The hototogisu usually sings in the twilight. Its cry, as well as the uguisu’s, is often interpreted by the Japanese as Hokkekyo, the name of the Lotus Sutra. It is also supposed to be a spirit from Hell, and, again, symbolizes the pleasures of the flesh, courtesans and prostitutes, sacred and profane. The second poem could be interpreted similarly, “The promise of Amida’s bliss is so powerful (or the Bodhisattva’s vow is so effective) that the ocean of Karma grows still.”
100 Poems from the Japanese Page 4