Poetry from the
Six Collections
[from the Gosenshū, 951 A.D.]
Mizu no omo ni |
The breezes of spring |
Ki no Tomonori
- • •
Kore ya kono |
This is the Barrier |
Semimaru
[from the Shūishū, 997]
Kuraki yori |
Out of the dark, |
Izumi Shikibu
- ↑ The beauty of this poem is in its rhythm, created by the repetition of the word mo and the k sounds. It is the most famous of the poems about the Barrier of Ausaka (or Ōsaka), a place on the road near Kyoto where travelers to and from the east were stopped and questioned. The name contains the word au, “to meet,” and occasioned endless jeux d’esprit.
- ↑ Said to be her death-verse; the moon may refer to Buddha’s teachings.