Poetry from the
Six Collections
[from the Gosenshū, 951 A.D.]
Mizu no omo ni
Aya fukimidaru
Haru kaze ya
Ike no kōri wo
Kyd wa tokuramu
|
The breezes of spring
Are blowing the ripples astray
Along the water—
Today they will surely melt
The sheet of ice on the pond.
|
Ki no Tomonori
- • •
Kore ya kono
Yuku mo kaeru mo
Wakaretsutsu
Shiru mo shiranu mo
Ausaka no seki
|
This is the Barrier
Where people come and people go
Exchanging farewells;
For friends and strangers alike
This is Meeting Barrier.[1]
|
Semimaru
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
[from the Shūishū, 997]
Kuraki yori
Kuraki michi ni zo
Irinubeki
Haruka ni terase
Yama no ha no tsuki
|
Out of the dark,
Into a dark path
I now must enter:
Shine on me from afar,
Moon of the mountain fringe![2]
|
Izumi Shikibu
- • •
Omoikane
Imo gari yukeba
Fuyu no yo no
Kawakaze samumi
Chidori naku nari
|
The time I went to see my sister[3]
Whom I loved unendurably,
The winter night’s
River wind was so cold that
The sanderlings were crying.
|
Ki no Tsurayuki
- • •
Yo no naka wo
Nani ni tatoemu
Asaborake
Kogiyuku fune no
Ato no shiranami
|
To what shall I compare
This world?
To the white wake behind
A ship that has rowed away
At dawn!
|
The Priest Mansei (c. 720)
TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY
- • •
Wasuraruru
Mi wo ba omowazu
Chikaiteshi
Hito no inochi no
Oshiku mo aru kana
|
It does not matter
That I am forgotten,
But I pity
His forsworn life.
|
Lady Ukon
TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
- • •
Yaemugura
Shigereru yado no
Sabishiki ni
Hito koso mienu
Aki wa kinikeri
|
In the loneliness
Of a hut where rankly grows
The prickly goose-grass,
There is not a soul in sight:
Autumn has already come.
|
The Priest Egyō
- • •
Yume yo yume
Koishiki hito ni
Aimisu na
Samete no nochi wa
Wabishikarikeri
|
Dreams, listen, my dreams!
Do not bring me together
With the man I love—
When once I have awakened
It makes me feel so lonely.
|
Anonymous
- • •
Koi su chō
Wa ga na wa madaki
Tachinikeri
Hito shirezu koso
Omoisomeshika
|
They say I’m in love—
The rumor is already
In circulation;
Yet when I began to love
There was not a soul who knew.
|
Mibu no Tadamine
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
[from the Goshūishū, 1086]
Yasurawade
Nenamashi mono wo
Sayo fukete
Katabuku made no
Tsuki wo mishi kana
|
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.
|
Lady Akazome Emon
TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
Sent when ill to someone
Arazaramu
Kono yo no hoka no
Omoide ni
Ima hito tabi no
Au koto mo gana[4]
|
Soon I shall be dead.
As a final remembrance
To take from this world,
Come to me now once again—
That is what I long for most.
|
Izumi Shikibu
- • •
Hi mo kurenu
Hito mo kaerinu
Yamazato wa
Mine no arashi no
Oto bakari shite
|
The day has ended
And the visitors have left—
In the mountain village
All that remains is the howl
Of the storm winds from the peak.
|
Minamoto no Yorizane
- • •
Yo wo komete
Tori no sorane wa
Hakaru to mo
Yo ni Ausaka no
Seki wa yurusaji
|
The night is still dark—
Even though you counterfeit
The morning cockcrows,
They will never let you through
Ausaka Barrier.[5]
|
Sei Shōnagon
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
[from the Kinyōshū, 1128]
Awaji shima
Kayou chidori no
Naku koe ni
Iku yo nezamenu
Suma no sekimori
|
Guardian of the gate
Of Suma, how many nights
Have you awakened
At the crying of the shore bird
Of the Isle of Awaji?
|
Minamoto no Kanemasa
TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
- • •
Murakumo ya
Tsuki no kuma wo ba
Nogofuramu
Hareyuku tabi ni
Terimasaru kana
|
The clustering clouds—
Can it be they wipe away
The lunar shadows?
Every time they clear a bit
The moonlight shines the brighter.
|
Minamoto no Toshiyori
[
from the Shikashū, c. 1151]
Kaze wo itami
Iwa utsu nami no
Onore no mi
Kudakete mono wo
Omou koro kana
|
Whipped by a fierce wind
And dashed like the ocean waves
Against the rocks—
I alone am broken to bits
And now am lost in longing.
|
Minamoto no Shigeyuki (d. 1000)
[from the Senzaishū, 1188]
Mushi no ne wa
Asaji ga moto ni
Uzumorete
Ai wa sue ha no
Iro ni zo arikeru
|
The cries of the insects
Are buried at the roots of
The sparse pampas grass—
The end of autumn is in
The color of the last leaves.
|
The Priest Jakuren (d. 1202)
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
