Tag Archives: Ōtomo no Yakamochi

MYS III: 466

Another poem by Yakamochi, with tanka.

我がやどに 花ぞ咲きたる そを見れど 心もゆかず はしきやし 妹がありせば 水鴨なす ふたり竝び居 手折りても 見せましものを うつせみの 借れる身なれば 露霜の 消ぬるがごとく あしひきの 山道をさして 入日なす 隱りにしかば そこ思ふに 胸こそ痛き 言ひもえず 名づけも知らず 跡もなき 世閒にあれば 爲むすべもなし

wa ga yado ni
pana zö sakitaru
so wo miredö
kökörö mu yukazu
pasikiyasi
imo ga ariseba
mikamo nasu
putari narabiwi
taworitemo
misemasi monö wo
utusemi nö
kareru mï nareba
tuyu simo nö
kinuru ga götöku
asipiki nö
yamadi wo sasite
iripi nasu
kakuri ni sikaba
sökö omopu ni
mune kösö itaki
ipi mo ezu
naduke mo sirazu
ato mo naki
yo nö naka ni areba
semusube mo nasi
At my home
The blossoms have flowered,
Yet the sight
Does not ease my heart.
If my sweet
Darling were here,
Like mated ducks
Paired side-by-side, we’d be;
And if I plucked a spray,
I would want to show it to her.
As a cicada shell
Is our fleeting flesh;
As dew and frost
It disappears;
The foot-wearying
Mountain paths she trod and,
As the setting sun,
Vanished.
Thinking on it,
Hurts my breast;
I cannot speak
I know not what name to give;
Not a trace will be left
Of the world of men, so
There’s nothing to be done.

MYS III: 464

Another poem composed by Yakamochi, on seeing fringed pinks on the flagstones.

秋去者 見乍思跡 妹之殖之 屋前乃石竹 開家流香聞

秋さらば見つつ偲へと妹が植ゑしやどのなでしこ咲きにけるかも

aki saraba
mitutu sinope tö
imo ga uwesi
yado nö nadesiko
sakinikeru ka mo
“When the autumn comes
Gaze on these and remember,” said she:
My darling planted
Pinks around my house;
And now they bloom.

MYS III: 462

A poem composed by Yakamochi, Lord Ōtomo, in the summer, Sixth Month 11th year [of Tempyō] (739), while mourning for his concubine, who had died.

今よりは秋風寒く吹きなむをいかにかひとり長き夜を寢む

ima yori pa
aki kaze samuku
pukinamu wo
ika ni kapitori
nagaki yo wo nemu
From now on
Coldly autumn winds
Will blow:
How can I bear
To sleep the long night through?