Kokin rokujō V: 3215

Jewelled thread of life.

したにのみおもへばくるし玉のをのたえてみだれん人なとがめそ

shita ni nomi
omoeba kurushi
tama no o no
taete midaren
hito na togame so
Simply beneath the surface
Lies my passion, so ‘tis painful—
My jewelled thread of life
Might snap in tangles and
Let no one blame me for it![i]

Tomonori

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[i] A minor variant of this poem, which replaces omeba (feel [passion, so’] with koureba (‘feel love, so’) occurs in Kokinshū (XIII: 677).

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