Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/96

Poetry from the

Six Collections

 

[from the Gosenshū, 951 A.D.]

 

Mizu no omo ni Aya fukimidaru Haru kaze ya Ike no kōri wo Kyd wa tokuramu

The breezes of spring Are blowing the ripples astray Along the water— Today they will surely melt The sheet of ice on the pond.

Ki no Tomonori

• •

Kore ya kono Yuku mo kaeru mo Wakaretsutsu Shiru mo shiranu mo Ausaka no seki

This is the Barrier Where people come and people go Exchanging farewells; For friends and strangers alike This is Meeting Barrier.[1]

Semimaru

TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE

[from the Shūishū, 997]

Kuraki yori Kuraki michi ni zo Irinubeki Haruka ni terase Yama no ha no tsuki

Out of the dark, Into a dark path I now must enter: Shine on me from afar, Moon of the mountain fringe![2]

Izumi Shikibu

1. The beauty of this poem is in its rhythm, created by the repetition of the word mo and the k sounds. It is the most famous of the poems about the Barrier of Ausaka (or Ōsaka), a place on the road near Kyoto where travelers to and from the east were stopped and questioned. The name contains the word au, “to meet,” and occasioned endless jeux d’esprit.
2. Said to be her death-verse; the moon may refer to Buddha’s teachings.