Here’s a short video where I discuss the makura kotoba 枕詞 (‘pillow word’), an enduring technique used by waka poets from as early as the seventh or eighth centuries right the way through until the nineteenth.
Category Archives: Makura kotoba
KKS IV: 228
A poem from a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house.
秋ののにやどりはすべしをみなへし名をむつまじみたびならなくに
| aki no no ni yadori Fa subesi wominaFesi na wo mutumazimi tabi naranaku ni |
In an autumn meadow I would lodge with The maidenflowers– The name is so appealing- Though I travel not. |
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Poems by border guards from various provinces sent as relief to Tsukushi in the 7th year of Tempyō-Shōhō [755], Second Month.
畏きや命被り明日ゆりや草がむた寢む妹なしにして
| kasikoki ya mikötö kagapuri asu yuri ya kae ga muta nemu imu nasi ni site |
A fearsome Order I received And from the morrow Will I sleep among the grasses Without my darling girl? |
The above poem is by Mononobe no Akimochi of Lower Naga District, a man of serviceable age in the service of the District Governor.