Waka of the Tokugawa Period
Hiku koto ni
Koe mo oshimanu
Hototogisu
Kan ni taekane
Ware mo oto ni naku
|
I played the koto—
Unbegrudging of its voice
A nightingale sang;
I could not check my feelings,
I too cried with the music.
|
Tada Mosui (1629–1706)
- • •
Ura ura to
Nodokeki haru no
Kokoro yori
Nioi idetaru
Yamazakura hana
|
From the deep heart’s core
Of the spring serenity,
Splendid, resplendent,
A perfume has arisen—
The mountain cherry blossoms!
|
Kamo no Mabuchi (1697–1769)
- • •
Hito mina wa
Aki wo oshimari
Sono kokoro
Sora ni kayoite
Shigurekemu kamo
|
Everybody hates
To see the autumn go by.
This feeling would seem
To be shared by the heavens—
See how it is drizzling now!
|
Kaku kite wa
Mezurashimi kikedo
Kono nami no
Yo na yo na hibiku
Ama no fuseya wa
|
I, as a stranger,
Listen in wonderment, but
What of fishermen
By whose huts night after night
Echoes the sound of the waves?
|
Tayasu Munetake (1715–1771)
- • •
Hachi no ko ni
Sumire tampopo
Kokimazete
Sanze no hotoke ni
Tatematsuriten
|
In my begging bowl
Violets and dandelions
Are mixed together:
These will be my offering
To the Buddhas of Three Worlds.
|
Kaze wa kiyoshi
Tsuki wa sayakeshi
Iza tomo ni
Odoriakasan
Oi no nagori ni
|
The wind is fresh,
The moon pellucidly bright.
Come, then, together
We’ll spend the night in dancing,
A final fling of old age!
|
Ryōkan (1757–1831)
Translated by Donald Keene
Mountain Home
Wa ga yado wo
Koko ni mo ga na to
Miyakobito
Ii no mi iite
Sumanu yamazato
|
Oh to have a home
In such a quiet leafy spot,
Yearns the city man;
Yet he never builds a hut
In mountain country.
|
Book
Itsu yori ka
Hirakenagara no
Mado no fumi
Kaze bakari koso
Moteasobikere
|
Open and forgotten
Several hours by the window,
The book was fingered
Only by capricious winds.
|
Plum wind
Ka bakari to
Omoishi kaze ni
Kesa yori wa
Hana mo majirite
Okuru umezono
|
Fragrance alone, I thought,
Was the wind’s burden,
But petals too
Are circling the plum garden.
|
Visitor on a late spring day
Kurehatsuru
Haru no yūbe no
Sabishiki ni
Kaeraba towanu
Hito ya masaramu
|
It were better not to call
Than to leave me in the loneliness
Of the late spring afternoon.
|
Ōkuma Kotomichi (1798–1868)
Translated by Yukuo Uyehara and Marjorie Sinclair
The silver mine
Akahada no
Danshi mureite
Aragane no
Marogari kudaku
Tsuchi uchifurite
|
Stark naked, the men
Stand together in clusters;
Swinging great hammers
They smash into fragments
The lumps of unwrought metal.
|
Solitary pleasures
Tanoshimi wa
Kami wo hirogete
Toru fude no
Omoi no hoka ni
Yoku kakeshi toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, spreading out some paper,
I take brush in hand
And write far more skilfully
Than I could have expected.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Momohi hineredo
Naranu uta no
Futo omoshiroku
Idekinuru toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, after a hundred days
Of twisting my words
Without success, suddenly
A poem turns out nicely.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Asa okiidete
Kinō made
Nakarishi hana no
Sakeru miru toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, rising in the morning
I go outside and
Find that a flower has bloomed
That was not there yesterday.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Mare ni uo nite
Kora mina ga
Umashi umashi to
Iite kuu toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, a most infrequent treat,
We’ve fish for dinner
And my children cry with joy
“Yum-yum!” and gobble it down.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Sozoro yomiyuku
Kaki no naka ni
Ware to hitoshiki
Hito wo mishi toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, in a book which by chance
I am perusing,
I come on a character
Who is exactly like me.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Yo ni tokigataku
Suru kaki no
Kokoro wo hitori
Satorieshi toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, without receiving help,
I can understand
The meaning of a volume
Reputed most difficult.
|
Tanoshimi wa
Ebisu yorokobu
Yo no naka ni
Kōkoku wasurenu
Hito wo miru toki
|
It is a pleasure
When, in these days of delight
In all things foreign,
I come across a man who
Does not forget our Empire.
|
Tachibana Akemi (1812–1868)
Translated by Donald Keene