Some Poems from the Kin'yō Wakashū

And we are back to the imperial poetry anthologies. This one, 金葉和歌集 “Poetry Collection of Golden Leaves,” is from the early twelfth century and I am indebted to one of my undergraduate professors, Stephen D. Miller, for turning me on to it. I think he’s translated some of these poems as well in his day. The ones I’ve selected generally have a Buddhist focus or in some cases an autumnal or wintry seasonal focus, which is aspirational given the weather we have been having where I am. There is one summer poem, though.

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By the priest Shōchō:

わたつ海の底のもくづと見し物をいかでか空の月と成らん

Watasumi no soko no mokuzu to mishi mono wo ika de ka sora no tsuki to naruran

I saw in the deep storehouses of the sea a bit of wrack—wonder of wonders, it became the moon in the sky.

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By Princess Senshi:

阿弥陀佛ととなふる声に夢さめて西へながるる月をこそみれ

Amida Butsu to tonauru koe ni yume samete nishi he nagaruru tsuki wo koso mire

I heard a cry, Amida’s Name, and awoke to see westering that very moon.

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By Minamoto no Akinaka, Director of the Department of Shrines:

よそに見る峰の紅葉や散りくるとふもとの里は嵐をぞまつ

Yoso ni miru mine no momiji ya chirikuru to fumoto no sato wa arashi wo zo matsu

Look yonder at the red leaves scattering on the peak; the basecamp village is hunkering down for the storm.

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By Lady Owari, the lady’s-maid to a former Kamo Priestess:

白波の立ち渡るかと見ゆるかな浜名の橋にふれる初雪

Shiranami no tachi wataru ka to miyuru kana Hamana-no-hashi ni fureru hatsuyuki

Whitecaps rise and surge across, I see, on Hamana Bridge at first snow.

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By Izumi Shikibu:

あさましや剣の枝のたはむまでこは何の身のなれるなるらん

Asamashi ya tsurugi no eda no tawamu made ko wa nani no mi no nareru naruran

What a gutting image: swords weight-bent with bodies, fruits of what seed?

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Also by Izumi Shikibu:

諸共に苔の下には朽ちずして埋もれぬ名をなるぞ悲しき

Morotomo ni koke no shita ni wa kuchizushite uzumorenu na wo naru zo kanashiki

What sorrow to see that renowned name pushing up the evergreen mosses with her…

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By Gyōson:

心こそ世をば捨てしかまぼろしの姿も人に忘られにけり

Kokoro koso yo wo ba sute shika maboroshi no sugata mo hito ni wasurare ni keri

I’ve left the world, O my heart, and yet, really, do people not see me, even as a trick of the light…!

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By Fujiwara no Mototoshi:

秋霧の立ち別れぬる君により晴れぬ思ひにまどひぬるかな

Akigiri no tachi wakarenuru kimi ni yori harenu omoi ni madoi nuru kana

For you who left like lifting autumn mists, I’ve lost my way amidst my clouds of feeling.

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By Empress Higo:

思ひやれとはで日をふる五月雨に獨やどもるそでの雫を

Omoi yare to wa de hi wo nuru samidare ni hitori yado moru sode no shizuku wo

Rememer me!—going days with not a word, watching the house alone in early summer rain, sprinkling my sleeves—

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By Idewa no Ben:

送りては歸れと思ひし魂の行きさすらひてけさはなき哉

Okurite wa kaere to omoi shi tamashii no yuki sasureite kesa wa naki kana

Seeing you off and wandering on home, my soul, my feelings, wintry, O what a morning!