Envoys:
白玉を包みて遣らばあやめぐさ花橘にあへも貫くがね
| siro tama wo tutumiteyaraba ayamegusa pana tatibana ni ape mo nuku ga ne |
If these argent jewels I wrap and send, With iris And orange blossom Will you string them. |
Monthly Archives: October 2015
Bedroom
There were, of course, no separate bedrooms in old Japanese dwellings. A lady would lie down on mats in the centre of the main living room of the house and have screens and curtains placed around her to shield her from the rest of the room and the servants who would be sleeping there. The iplication of sleeping with one of these curtains drawn back, is that she is eagerly awaiting her husbands return.
MYS XVIII: 4101
A poem composed praying for pearls, that he might send them to his home in the capital, with tanka.
珠洲の海人の 沖つ御神に い渡りて 潛き取るといふ 鰒玉 五百箇もがも はしきよし 妻の命の 衣手の 別れし時よ ぬばたまの 夜床片さり 朝寢髮 掻きも梳らず 出でて來し 月日數みつつ 嘆くらむ 心なぐさに 霍公鳥 來鳴く五月の あやめぐさ 花橘に 貫き交へ かづらにせよと 包みて遣らむ
| susu nö ama nö oki tu mikamï ni iwatarite kadukitoru tö ipu apabitama ipo ti mogamo pasikiyösi tuma no mikötö nö körömode nö wakaresi töki yo nubatama nö yodoko kata sari asa ne kami kaki mo kedurazu idetekosi tukï pi yomitutu nagëkuramu kökörönagusa ni potötögisu ki naku satukï nö ayamegusa pana tatibana ni nuki mazipe kadura ni se yo tö tutumite yaramu |
The fisherfolk of Susu To the great god’s isle offshore Cross over, Saying they’ll dive for Abalone pearls: I wanted many For my darling Wife, who since Our sleeves Parted In her lily seed dark Bedroom with a curtain drawn back, Morning hair tousled with sleep Untouched, uncombed Since I left Numbering the days and months Does grieve, To ease your heart With cuckoo Calling Fifth Month Iris And orange blossom String in these pearls And make a garland for your head: I wrap them up and send to you. |
Meet again
MYS XX: 4469
渡る日の影に競ひて尋ねてな淸きその道またもあはむため
| wataru pi nö kagë ni kipopite tadunete na kiyoki sono miti mata mo apamu tame |
Against the coursing sun’s Light striving I will search Out the pure Way, So that we might meet again. |
MYS XX: 4468
Two poems composed when lying in sickness, saddened by the ephemerality of life, and desiring to follow the Way.
うつせみは數なき身なり山川のさやけき見つつ道を尋ねな
| utusemi pa kazu naki mï nari yama kapa nö sayakëki mitutu miti wo tadune na |
This world of ours Is but a passing thing. A moutain stream’s Clean purity in my gaze, I would find the Way. |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi