Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry.

With Tosa 1
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

Poems from Kokin wakashû

toshi no uchi ni
haru wa kinikeri
hitotose o
koso to ya iwamu
kotoshi to iwamu1
KKS 1. Spring I. Ariwara Motokata 在原元方. Composed on a day when spring arrived during the old
year

Springtime has arrived

while the year lingers on.
What then of the year?
Are we to talk of “last year”?
Or are we to say “this year”?

hana no iro wa
utsurinikeri na
itazura ni
wa ga mi yo ni furu
nagame seshima ni2
KKS 113. Spring II. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

Alas! The beauty

of the flowers has faded
and come to nothing,
while I have watched the rain,
lost in melancholy thought.

satsuki matsu
hanatachibana no
ka o kageba
mukashi no hito no
sode no ka zo suru3
KKS 139. Summer. Anonymous [Topic unknown]

Scenting the fragrance

of orange blossoms that await
the Fifth Month’s coming,
I recall a perfumed sleeve
worn by someone long ago.
aki kinu to
me ni wa sayaka ni

1 旧年に春立ちける日よめる
年の内に春は来にけり一年を去年とやいはむ今年とやいはむ
2 花の色はうつりにけりないたづらに我が身世にふるながめせし間に
3 さつきまつ花たちばなの香をかげば昔の人の袖の香ぞする
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 2
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

mienedomo
kaze no oto ni zo
odorokarenuru4
KKS 169. Autumn 1. Fujiwara Toshiyuki no Ason 藤原敏行朝臣. Composed on the first day of autumn

Nothing meets the eye

to demonstrate beyond doubt
that autumn has come—
yet suddenly we are struck
just by the sound of the wind.

tachitomari
mite o wataramu
momijiba wa
ame to furu tomo
mizu wa masaraji5
KKS 305. Autumn II. [Mitsune 射恒] Composed by imperial command on the topic “a folding
screen picture at the Teijiin, in which a man, preparing to ford a stream, has pulled up his mount
under a tree from which autumn leaves are scattering”

I must pause to gaze

before crossing the river.
Though they fall like rain,
leaves dyed in autumn’s colors
will not make the waters rise.

yuki fureba
fuyugomori seru
kusa mo ki mo
haru ni shirarenu
hana zo sakikeru6
KKS 323. Winter. Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之. Composed as a winter poem

When snow flutters down,

there comes to each grass and tree
locked in winter’s thrall
a burgeoning of blossoms
quite alien to springtime.

4 秋きぬと目にはさやかに見えねども風の音にぞおどろかれぬる
5 立ちとまり見てをわたらむもみぢ葉は雨と降るとも水はまさらじ
6 雪ふれば冬ごもりせる草も木も春に知られぬ花ぞさきける
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 3
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

kame no o no
yama no iwane o
tomete otsuru
taki no shiratama
chiyo no kazu ka mo7
KKS 350. Felicitations. Ki no Koreoka 紀惟岳. Composed on the day when Prince Sadatoki held a
celebration at Ôi in honour of his aunt’s fortieth year

Like the countless years

of her life—such is the sum
of the pearly drops
in the cascade rushing down
Kameyama’s mighty rocks.

omoedomo
mi o shi wakeneba
me ni mienu
kokoro o kimi ni
taguete zo yaru8
KKS 373. Parting. Ikago no Atsuyuki 伊香子淳行. Composed and sent to someone leaving for the
provinces

Though I long to go, too,

I am powerless to split
myself asunder,
so your companion must be
the hidden heart I send.

karikurashi
tanabatatsume ni
yado karamu
ama no kawara ni
ware wa kinikeri9
KKS 418. Travel. Ariwara Narihira no Ason 在原業平朝臣. Once when Narihira was on a hunting trip
with Prince Koretaka, the party dismounted on the bank of a stream called Amanogawa (River of
Heaven). As they were drinking there, the Prince commanded Narihira to offer him a wine cup with a
poem expressing sentiments appropriate for a hunter arriving at the River of Heaven

Having hunted all day,

let us borrow a lodging
from the Weaver Maid,
for we have come to the shore
of the River of Heaven.

7 亀の尾の山の岩ねをとめて落つる滝の白玉千世の数かも
8 思へども身をしわけねば目に見えぬ心を君にたぐへてぞやる
9 狩り暮らしたなばたつ女に宿借らむ天の河原に我は来にけり
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 4
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

ubatama no
waga kurokami ya
kawaruramu
kagami no kage ni
fureru shirayuki10
KKS 460. Names of Things. Tsurayuki 貫之. Kamiyagawa

Is this hair of mine,

black as seeds of leopard-flowers,
altering its hue?
Flakes of white snow have fallen
on the head in the mirror.

hototogisu
naku ya satsuki no
ayamegusa
ayame mo shiranu
koi mo suru kana11
KKS 469. Love I. Anonymous. Topic unknown

This love has cast me

into confusion as sweet
as sweet flags growing
in the Fifth Month, in the time
when cuckoos come forth to sing.

shiru shiranu
nani ka aya naku
wakite iwamu
omoi nomi koso
shirube narikere12
KKS 477. Love I. Anonymous. Reply

How very foolish

to make distinctions between
knowing and not knowing!
It is the devoted heart
that alone can serve as guide.

10 うばたまの我が黒髪や変わるらむ鏡に降れる白雪
11 郭公鳴くや五月のあやめぐさあやめも知らぬ恋もするかな
12 知る知らぬなにか文なくわきていはむおもひのみこそしるべなりけれ
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 5
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

ito semete
koishiki toki wa
nubatama no
yoru no koromo o
kaeshite zo kiru13
KKS 554. Love II. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

When longing for you

torments me beyond my strength,
I reverse my robe,
raiment of seed-black night,
and put it inside out.

mirume naki
wa ga mi o ura to
shiranebaya
karenade ama no
ashi tayuku kuru14
KKS 623. Love III. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

There is no seaweed
to be gathered in this bay.
Does he not know it—
the fisher who comes and comes
until his legs grow weary?

ama no sumu
sato no shirube ni
aranaku ni
uramimu to nomi
hito no iuramu15
KKS 727. Love IV. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

Since I am no guide
to fisherfolk villages,
why these reproaches
constant as pleas to be led
to a view of the seashore?

13 いとせめて恋しき時はうばたまの夜の衣を返してぞ着る
14 みるめなきわが身をうらと知らねばや離れなで海人の足たゆくくる
15 海人のすむ里のしるべにあらなくにうらみむとのみ人の言ふらむ
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 6
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

Tsuki ya aranu
haru ya mukashi no
haru naranu
wa ga mi hitotsu wa
moto no mi ni shite16
KKS 747. Love V. Ariwara Narihira no Ason 有原業平朝臣. Once, quite without premeditation,
Narihira began to make love to a lady who lived in the western wing of a palace belonging to the Gojô
Empress [Fujiwara Junshi]. Shortly after the Tenth of the First Month, the lady moved away with no
word to him. He learned where she had gone, but it was impossible to communicate with her. In the
spring of the following year, when the plum blossoms were at their finest, memories of the preceding
year drew him back to the western wing on a beautiful moonlit night. He lay on the floor of the bare
room until the moon sank low in the sky.

Is this not the moon?

And is this not the springtime,
the springtime of old?
Only this body of mine
the same body as before…

ima wa tote
wa ga mi shigure ni
furinureba
koto no ha sae ni
utsuroinikeri17
KKS 782. Love V. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

Even your pledges,

leaves of words, have lost their green
now that falling tears
dim my youth as drizzling rains
transform autumnal foliage.

iro miede
utsurou mono wa
yo no naka no
hito no kokoro no
hana ni zo arikeru18
KKS 797. Love V. Komachi [Topic unknown].

So much have I learned:

the blossom that fades away,
its color unseen,
is the flower in the heart
of one who lives in this world.

16 月やあらぬ春や昔の春ならぬわが身ひとつはもとの身にして
17 今はとてわが身時雨にふりぬれば言の葉さへに移ろひにけり
18 色見えで移ろふものは世の中の人の心の花にぞありける
Dikter ur Helen Craig McCullough, transl. Kokinwakashû: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry. With Tosa 7
Nikki and Shinsen Waka. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.

wabinureba
mi o ukikusa no
ne o taete
sasou mizu araba
inamu to zo omou19
KKS 938. Miscellaneous. Ono no Komachi 小野小町. Composed in reply when Fun’ya no Yasuhide,
who had been named a third-ranking official in Mikawa, sent her a message saying, “How about coming
to have a look at my new duty post?”

In this forlorn state

I find life dreary indeed:
if a stream beckoned,
I would gladly cut my roots
and float away like duckweed.

hito ni awamu
tsuki no naki ni wa
omoi okite
mune hashiribi ni
kokoro yakeori20
KKS 1030. Miscellaneous Forms: Eccentric Poems. Ono no Komachi 小野小町

On those moonless nights

when I long in vain for him,
love robs me of sleep
and my agitated heart
burns like a cracking fire.

19 わびぬれば身をうき草の根を絶へて誘ふ水あらばいなむとぞ思ふ
20人にあはむつきのなきには思ひおきて胸走り火に心焼けをり