Written on the rocks by the waterfall at Provisional Middle Councillor Atsutada’s mountain retreat at Nishi-sakamoto.
音羽川せき入れて落す瀧つせに人の心のみえもするかな
| otoFagaFa seki’irete otosu taki tu se ni Fito no kokoro no mie mo suru kana |
On Otowa River A barrier is placed to drop A cataract in torrents And, your heart, perhaps, Reveal! |
Ise
伊勢
Sent to a woman without much sentiment, when he had not visited her for a long time:
伊勢の海のあまのまてかたいとまなみながらへにける身をぞ恨むる
| ise no umi no ama no madekata itoma nami nagaraFenikeru mi wozo uramuru |
By the sea at Ise A diver-girl does work Without surcease Endlessly I hate myself! |
Minamoto no Hide’aki
The latest scholarship suggests that the expression should be read madekata (classical Japanese was written without voicing indicators, so there was no orthographic distiction between te and de – both would have been written て) and utilises a Man’yō expression meaning ‘left and right’ referring to the constant side-to-side movement of the ama girls’ hands and shoulders as they worked – hence the translation above – but it is unlikely that the Roppyaku-ban Uta’awase poets would have had this understanding of it. Matekata did not just cause controversy in this competition – it was discussed extensively in many other premodern critical works, none of which came to a definitive conclusion.
When the Taira Handmaid had not replied to me, I took a letter that she had sent to a lady’s house on some matter of business and, cutting out some words, sent them to her.
伊勢をのや海人と我身はなりぬらん袖のうらなる涙かこへば
| ise wono ya ama to wagami Fa narinuran sode no uranaru namida kakoFeba |
An Ise fisher Man have I Become? My undersleeves Bounded by tears… |
When a man said to a woman who was closely guarded by her parents, ‘Answer me clearly, “Yes” or “No”!’
否せともいひはなたれずうきものは身を心ともせぬよなりけり
| inase tomo iFiFanatarezu uki mono Fa mi wo kokoro tomo senu yo narikeri |
Yea or nay I cannot clearly say; ‘Tis cruel that To my heart true I cannot be, in this world. |
Ise
On the way back, she lodged at place called Koshibe. Remembering how the temple had moved her, she composed:
見も果てずそらに消えなでかぎりなく厭ふうき世に身のかへりくる
| mi mo Fatezu sora ni kienade kagiri naku itoFu uki yo ni mi no kaFerikuru |
Cut short, I will not vanish into the skies; No end to The loathsome, hurtful world to which I am returning. |
to herself, and shed so many tears she had to wring out her sleeves.