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
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’.
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)