Anthology of Japanese Literature/Poetry from the Six Collections

Layout 2

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

1. 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.
2. Said to be her death-verse; the moon may refer to Buddha’s teachings.
3. A word for a sweetheart commonly found in the “Man’yōshū,” but rather archaic by this time, when the usual word was “person,” hito.
4. The use of o and a sounds contributes to the effect of this poem.
5. Refers to a Chinese story of a man who got through a barrier by imitating a cock’s crowing and thus making the keeper of the barrier think that dawn had come—when the barrier was opened.