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  • Princess Shikishi Poem

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    Katara Hokaida
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    This is a poem from a collection of 100 specimens of Japanese Tanka poetry collected in the 13th Century C.E., with some of the poems dating back to the 7th Centry. Tanka is a 31 syllable format in the pattern 5-7-5-7-7. Most of these poems were written about the time of the Norman Conquest and display a sophistication that western literature would not achieve for a long time thereafter. These little gems are on themes such as nature, the round of the seasons, the impermanence of life, and the vicissitudes of love. There are obvious Buddhist and Shinto influences throughout. Porter's notes put the poems into a cultural and historical context. Each poem is illustrated in this edition with an 18th century Japanese woodcut by an anonymous illustrator. Production Notes: The original book has Japanese and English on facing pages, each of which are numbered according to the poem. This means that there are two duplicate page numbers per poem. The preface and index have no page numbers. In this text I have put the Japanese, English and the notes on one virtual page per poem, and supplied page numbers for the apparatus.

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    This is a poem from a collection of 100 specimens of Japanese Tanka poetry collected in the 13th Century C.E., with some of the poems dating back to the 7th Centry. Tanka is a 31 syllable format in the pattern 5-7-5-7-7. Most of these poems were written about the time of the Norman Conquest and display a sophistication that western literature would not achieve for a long time thereafter. These little gems are on themes such as nature, the round of the seasons, the impermanence of life, and the vicissitudes of love. There are obvious Buddhist and Shinto influences throughout. Porter's notes put the poems into a cultural and historical context. Each poem is illustrated in this edition with an 18th century Japanese woodcut by an anonymous illustrator. Production Notes: The original book has Japanese and English on facing pages, each of which are numbered according to the poem. This means that there are two duplicate page numbers per poem. The preface and index have no page numbers. In this text I have put the Japanese, English and the notes on one virtual page per poem, and supplied page numbers for the apparatus.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    7 views2 pages

    Princess Shikishi Poem

    Uploaded by

    Katara Hokaida
    This is a poem from a collection of 100 specimens of Japanese Tanka poetry collected in the 13th Century C.E., with some of the poems dating back to the 7th Centry. Tanka is a 31 syllable format in the pattern 5-7-5-7-7. Most of these poems were written about the time of the Norman Conquest and display a sophistication that western literature would not achieve for a long time thereafter. These little gems are on themes such as nature, the round of the seasons, the impermanence of life, and the vicissitudes of love. There are obvious Buddhist and Shinto influences throughout. Porter's notes put the poems into a cultural and historical context. Each poem is illustrated in this edition with an 18th century Japanese woodcut by an anonymous illustrator. Production Notes: The original book has Japanese and English on facing pages, each of which are numbered according to the poem. This means that there are two duplicate page numbers per poem. The preface and index have no page numbers. In this text I have put the Japanese, English and the notes on one virtual page per poem, and supplied page numbers for the apparatus.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    89

    PRINCESS SHIKISHI

    SHIKISHI NAISHINN
    Tama no o yo
    Taenaba taene
    Nagaraeba
    Shinoburu koto no
    Yowari mo zo suru.
    THE ailments of advancing years
    Though I should try to hide,
    Some day the thread will break, the pearls
    Be scattered far and wide;
    Age cannot be defied.
    The Princess was the daughter of the Emperor Goshirakawa, who reigned A.D. 1156-1158. In
    this short reign, however, the country suffered from a very severe earthquake and a
    devastating civil war.
    The second line is a play upon the two verbs tae, which are both pronounced the same, but
    which are written with different ideographic characters. The first couplet, taken literally,
    reads, 'If the string of pearls (i.e. my life) break, I must bear it.'

    The illustration seems to show the Princess sitting down with a nobleman in attendance.

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