MYS XVI: 3791

In ancient times, there was an old man. His name was Bamboo Cutting Ancient (takatori no okina). In the Third Month, this old man climbed a hill to gaze into the distance, whereupon he suddenly came upon nine maidens brewing fresh greens. Their beauty was beyond description, with faces fairer by far than flowers. The maidens called mockingly to the old man, “Come here, old fellow! Blow on our fire!” “Oho!” said the Old Man, and slowly made his way up to them, arriving close by in due course. After a while, the Maidens said to one another, laughing, “Who called this old man here?” The Bamboo Cutting Ancient replied quickly, “Unintentionally have I encountered divinity. In my confused heart, I had no ill intent. Let me pay for the sin of approaching too closely with a poem.” This is the poem he promptly composed.

みどり子の 若子髪には たらちし 母に抱かえ ひむつきの 稚児が髪には 木綿肩衣 純裏に縫ひ着 頚つきの 童髪には 結ひはたの 袖つけ衣 着し我れを 丹よれる 子らがよちには 蜷の腸 か黒し髪を ま櫛持ち ここにかき垂れ 取り束ね 上げても巻きみ 解き乱り 童になしみ さ丹つかふ 色になつける 紫の 大綾の衣 住吉の 遠里小野の ま榛持ち にほほし衣に 高麗錦 紐に縫ひつけ 刺部重部 なみ重ね着て 打麻やし 麻績の子ら あり衣の 財の子らが 打ちし栲 延へて織る布 日さらしの 麻手作りを 信巾裳成者之寸丹取為支屋所経 稲置娘子が 妻どふと 我れにおこせし 彼方の 二綾下沓 飛ぶ鳥 明日香壮士が 長雨禁へ 縫ひし黒沓 さし履きて 庭にたたずみ 退けな立ち 禁娘子が ほの聞きて 我れにおこせし 水縹の 絹の帯を 引き帯なす 韓帯に取らせ わたつみの 殿の甍に 飛び翔ける すがるのごとき 腰細に 取り装ほひ まそ鏡 取り並め懸けて おのが顔 かへらひ見つつ 春さりて 野辺を廻れば おもしろみ 我れを思へか さ野つ鳥 来鳴き翔らふ 秋さりて 山辺を行けば なつかしと 我れを思へか 天雲も 行きたなびく かへり立ち 道を来れば うちひさす 宮女 さす竹の 舎人壮士も 忍ぶらひ かへらひ見つつ 誰が子ぞとや 思はえてある 如是所為故為 いにしへ ささきし我れや はしきやし 今日やも子らに いさにとや 思はえてある 如是所為故為 いにしへの 賢しき人も 後の世の 鑑にせむと 老人を 送りし車 持ち帰りけり 持ち帰りけり

midorigo no
wagikogami ni pa
taratisi
papa ni mudakape
pimutuki no
papukogami ni pa
yupukataginu
pitura ni nupiki
unatuki no
warapagami ni pa
yupata no
sodetukegoromo
kisi ware wo
niopiyoru
kora ga yoti ni pa
mina no wata
kagurosikami o
makusi moti
koko ni kakitare
toritukane
agetemo makimi
tokimidare
warapa ni nasimi
sani turapu
iro natukasiki
murasaki no
opoaya no kinu
sumi no e no
toposato wono no
mahari moti
nipoposi kinu ni
koma nisiki
pimo ni nupituke
*****
namikasanekite
utisoyasi
omi no kora
arikinu no
takara no kora ga
ututape pa
pete oru nuno
pizarasi no
asa tedukuri wo
*****
*******
*****
inaki wotome ga
tumadopu to
ware ni okosesi
otikata no
puta ayasitagutu
tobu tori no
asuka wotoko ga
nagame imi
nupisi kurogutu
sasipakite
nipa ni tatadume
makari na tati to
sapuru wotome ga
ponokikite
ware ni okosesi
miwapada no
kinu no obi wo
pikiobinasu
karaobi ni torase
watatumi no
tono no iraka ni
tobikakeru
sugaru no gotoki
kosiboso ni
toriyosopopi
masokagami
torinamekakete
wono ga nari
kaperapi mitutu
paru sarite
nope wo megureba
omosiromi
ware wo omope ka
sano tu tori
kinaki kakerapu
aki sarite
yamape wo yukeba
natukasi to
ware o omope ka
amakumo mo
yukitanabiku
kaperitati
miti wo kureba
utipisasu
miyawomina
sasutake no
toneri wotoko mo
sinoburapi
kaperapimitutu
ta ga ko sotoya
omowapetearu
*******
inisipe
sasakisi ware ya
pasikiyasi
kepu ya mo kora ni
isanitoya
omowapetearu
*******
inisipe no
sakasiki pito mo
noti no yo no
kagami ni semu to
oipito o
okurisii kuruma
motikaperi
motikaperi
As a babe with
Downy hair I was
By my droop-breasted
Mother cradled, and then
Wrapped in swaddling, with
My locks new grown; then
In common mulberry garb
Sewn back and front, was dressed;
When to my neck hung
My infant hair,
In tie-dyed
Garb with sleeves
Was I dressed;
Radiant
Is your beauty:
Snail-gut
Pure black tresses
Carefully combed
Drape down;
Gathered all together and
Lifted up, entwined
In artful disarry
On either side;
Ruddy-cheeked
Hues do charm me,
Violet
Broad-patterned robes, in
Sumiyoshi’s
Distant villages and meadows,
Dyed with alder
Hues your garb;
Of fine brocade
Is your belt embroidered
*****
Worn one atop the other;
As softened hemp are,
The spinner-maids,
Well-dressed,
Jewel maidens;
Soft-beaten mulberry
Makes the weft for weaving;
Sun-dried
Hemp, hand-made
*****
*******
*****
Country maidens,
Husband seeking,
Have sent to me
From distant lands
Twin-coloured socks;
A soaring bird
A man from Asuka
Confined by the rain
Has sewn black socks;
He pulls them on and
Goes into the garden,
‘Don’t leave!’ cries
A maiden that
I faintly hear;
I was sent
A sky-blue
Belt of silk,
To fasten o’er my robe,
A belt from Cathay
From the Sea-King’s
Palace rooftops
Take flight
Like wasps
So slim my waist
I take it, and put it on;
Clear mirrors
I stand before me, and
My own reflection
See repeated time and time again;
In the springtime,
I went round the meadows,
Handsome
Did they think me?
The meadow-birds
Come flying for to sing for me;
In the autumn
When I went to the mountains,
Fondly
Did they think of me?
Heaven’s clouds
Drifting across;
On my homeward
Path I found
As shining sunlight
A palace lady;
Bamboo-straight
The guards in attendance, too,
Secretly
Looked back on her,
Who was she and wither bound
We wondered.
*******
It was long ago that
I had fortune;
And so, and so
Today, are you
Real or not
I wonder.
*******
Those who long ago
Had fortune, too,
For the world to come
Should take as a model
An old man’s
Cart and
Take it home!
Yes, take it home!

MYS XVI: 3813

A envoy in  a certain book.

我が命は惜しくもあらずさ丹つらふ君によりてぞ長く欲りせし

wa ga inoti wa
wosiku mo arazu
sani turau
kimi ni yorite zo
nagaku porisesi
My life
I do not regret, for
My ruddy-cheeked
Lord’s sake
I wanted it to be long…

Of the above poems, it is said, ‘Once there was a maiden. Her family name was Kurumamochiuji. Her husband went away and many years passed without his return. All that time, the maiden thought fondly of him, suffering, and eventually took to her bed, ill, wasted away day-by-day, and soon was close to death. Then she sent a messenger to her husband, asking him to return. After she did so, with tears streaming down her face, the maiden whispered these poems to herself, and finally died.’

MYS XVI: 3811

A poem composed yearning for her husband.

さ丹つらふ 君がみ言と 玉梓の 使も来ねば 思ひ病む 我が身ひとつぞ ちはやぶる 神にもな負ほせ 占部据ゑ 亀もな焼きそ 恋ひしくに 痛き我が身ぞ いちしろく 身にしみ通り むらきもの 心砕けて 死なむ命 にはかになりぬ 今さらに 君か我を呼ぶ たらちねの 母のみ言か 百足らず 八十の衢に 夕占にも 占にもぞ問ふ 死ぬべき我がゆゑ

sani turaru
kimi ga mikoto to
tamadusa no
tukapi mo koneba
omopiyamu
wa ga mi pitotu zo
tipayaburu
kami ni mo na opose
urape suwe
kame mo na yaki so
kopisiku ni
itaki a ga mi zo
itisiroku
mi ni simitopori
murakimo no
kokoro kudakete
sinamu inoti
nipaka ni narinu
ima sara ni
kimi ka wa wo yobu
taratine no
papa no mikoto ka
momo tarazu
yaso ni timata ni
yupuke ni mo
ura ni mo zo topu
sinubeki wa ga yuwe
Ruddy-cheeked
My Lord’s words
In bejewelled letters
By messenger come not, so
I am sick at heart, and
All alone;
The mighty
Gods’ burden it is not;
Forget your fortune-teller, and
Don’t bother burning tortoise shells!
For love
Am I suffering
In extreme
Agony sunk;
All my many innards
With my heart are broken into pieces, and
Death will end my life
Soon;
Now
Will you call for me?
O’erflowing with love
Will my honoured mother,
Not yet one hundred
At the eighty partings of the ways
In the evening
Find my fortune?
For I am to die…

MYS V: 811

So, I composed in reply to her.

言とはぬ木にはありともうるはしき君が手馴れの琴にしあるべし

koto topanu
ki ni pa aritomo
urupasiki
kimi ga tanare no
koto ni siarubesi
No speech
Has a tree, yet
A glorious
Lord’s favourite
Zither will you certainly be!

The zither maid replied, ‘I thank you for your kind words. I am truly and humbly grateful.’ I swiftly awoke and moved by the words of the maiden in my dream, I could not remain silent, so I entrusted this zither to an official bound your way, that he might deliver it to you.

Sent by messenger on the 7th day of the Tenth Month Tenpyō 1 [645], to his Most Glorious Excellency of the Inner Palace Guards.

MYS V: 810

Poems respectfully presented by Ōtomo no Tabito, to accompany a Japanese zither made from wood taken from the top of a parasol tree growing on Yuishi in Tsushima:

I dreamed this zither transformed into a maiden who said to me, ‘I placed my roots in the care of the sacrd heights of a distant island; my trunk was dried by the peaceful light of the ninefold sun. Ever was I enveloped by the smoky haze drifting from the mountain streams, and beheld from afar the winds and the waves, finding myself between a tree and a goose. Yet, after a hundred years, I was afraid I would simply be left to rot away in a moat or a ditch somewhere, but by good fortune I met a talented craftsman, who shaped my wood into this meagre zither. My form may be coarse, and my sound grating, but I hope that I may rest, as my Lord’s zither, at his left hand.’ Then, she composed.

いかにあらむ日の時にかも声知らむ人の膝の上我が枕かむ

ika ni aramu
pi no toki ni kamo
kowe siramu
pito no piza no pe
wa ga makurakamu
When will
The day come that
I shall sing
With his lap
For my pillow?