When she had gone to a mountain temple around autumn, and heard the insects crying.
こころにはひとつみのりとおもへどもむしはこゑごゑきこゆなるかな
kokoro ni wa hitotsu minori to omoedomo mushi wa koegoe kikoyunaru kana In my heart One sacred truth I hold, yet from The insects song upon song I hear!
Izumi Shikibu
Created with Soan .
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
Created with Soan .
[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’.
From the Later Hundred Poem Sequence from the Reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.
たかせぶねのぼるほりえのみづあさみみくさがくれにかはづなくなり
takasebune noboru horie no mizu asami mikusagakure ni kawazu nakunari Skips Ascend the canal’s Shallow waters; Hidden deep within the grasses, The frogs are singing.
Fujiwara no Akinaka
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Tōin Empress.
ひとたびもこひしとおもふにくるしきはこころぞちぢにくだくべらなる
hitotabi mo koishi to omou ni kurushiki wa kokoro zo chiji ni kudakuberanaru Briefly Did I love you, I feel, then The pain My heart a thousand, thousandfold Did surely shatter.
Anonymous
A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress.
なつのよもしもやおけると見るまでにあれたるやどをてらすつきかな
natsu no yo no shimo ya okeru to miru made ni aretaru yado o terasu tsuki kana Upon a summer night That frost has fallen It does appear at A ruined dwelling where The moon does shine!
Anonymous
Composed on Love after Parting during the reign of Former Emperor Nijō (1143-1165; r. 1158-1165).
水無瀬川流れてとこそ思ひしかこはいかにしてたえはじめけむ
minasegawa nagarete to koso omoishi ka ko wa ika ni shite taehajimekemu The River Minase Rapidly runs – did I think that once? Now what am I to do That our parting has begun?
Minister of Justice [Fujiwara no] Norikane 刑部卿範兼
On the conception of Love on a First Meeting.
いまよりも心ながさを頼まなむつらきをだにも恨みやはせし
ima yori mo kokoro nagasa o tanomanamu tsuraki o dani mo urami ya wa seshi From now On your faithfulness Will I rely! Or your cruelty – Will that be what I despise?
Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai [Fujiwara no] Shige’ie
太宰大弐重家
(1128-1181)
On Love on Meeting.
もの思ひは今朝こそまされつらかりしことは事にもあらぬなりけり
mono’omoi wa kesa koso masare tsurakarishi koto wa koto ni mo aranu narikeri My thoughts do Entirely overwhelm me this morning; For all that was hard to bear, All those things are Quite gone!
Koben
小弁
On the conception of love despised.
恨みじと思ふ思ひのともすればもとの心にかへりぬるかな
uramiji to
omou omoi no
tomo sureba
moto no kokoro ni
kaerinuru kana
I would not despise her
I have thought so many times,
Yet somehow
To my first feelings
I have returned.
Fujiwara no Tadamichi
藤原忠通
見ても思ひ見捨ても思ふ大方は我が身ひとつや物思ひの山
mitemo omoi
misutemo omou
ōkata wa
wa ga mi hitotsu ya
mono’omoi no yama
I see you, and you are in my thoughts
You neglect me, and I think on you;
Why, overall,
Is it only me who has
Mountains of gloomy thought?
Anonymous
'Simply moving and elegant'