Sent on returning home from a woman’s residence.
君がためをしからざりしいのちさへながくもがなとおもひけるかな
| kimi ga tame wosikarazarisi inoti saFe nagaku mogana to omoFikeru kana | For your sake, my love, I would not have regretted Even my life, but O, to live long With you in my passionate heart! |
Minor Captain Fujiwara no Yoshitaka
On the last day of the Third Month.
いのちあらばまたもあひみむ春なれどしのびがたくてくらしつるかな
| inochi araba mata mo aimimu haru naredo shinobigatakute kurashitsuru kana | If I live I might once more encounter The springtime, yet How hard that is to recall Amid the dark! |
Minister of Central Affairs, Prince Tomohira
At about the time the Naka Chancellor began visiting her regularly.
わすれじの行末まではかたければけふをかぎりの命ともがな
| wasureji no yukusue made wa katakereba kyō o kagiri no inochi to mogana | Never to be forgotten In all the days to come is Hard to believe, so If only today was the limit Of my life… |
The Mother of Gidō Sanshi
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆをのみくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o nomi kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | Simply as a dewdrop, Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆを見てくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
つゆをみて草葉のうへとおもひしは時まつ程の命なりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
With the passage of the day, so life falls into decline.
けふくれぬいのちもしかとおどろかす入あひのかねの音ぞかなしき
| kyō kurenu inochi mo shika to odorokasu iriai no kane no oto zo kanashiki | The day has turned to twilight, and so Does life before you Notice it; The sunset bell’s Toll is sad, indeed. |
Monk Jakunen
Sent as a reply to someone who said he would visit, after failing to come for a long time.
おもひいでてたれをか人のたづねましうきにたへたるいのちならずは
| omoFi’idete tare wo ka Fito no tadunemasi uki ni taFetaru inoti narazu Fa | Thinking back, Who is this man Seeking to come a’visiting? Ever enduring cruelty is Not how I spend my life… |
Handmaid Koshikibu
Composed gazing at the moon, the year after Lord Minamoto no Tameyoshi had died.
いのちあればことしの秋も月はみつわかれし人にあふよなきかも
| inochi areba kotoshi no aki mo tsuki wa mitsu wakareshi hito ni au yo naki kamo | I have life, so This year in autumn, too, I have gazed upon the moon, but Parted from him, No more nights of meeting in this world there’ll be. |
Monk Nōin
Composed and sent to someone when he was suffering with sickness one autumn and feeling particularly downhearted.
もみぢばをかぜにまかせてみるよりもはかなき物はいのちなりけり
| momidiba wo kaze ni makasete miru yori mo Fakanaki mono Fa inoti narikeri | The scarlet leaves To the winds entrust their fate; Seeing them how much Briefer a thing Is life. |
Ōe no Chisato
