# Ono no Komachi

Ono no Komachi (小野 小町; c. 825 – c. 900) was a Japanese waka poet.　She was renowned for her unusual beauty, and Komachi is today a synonym for feminine beauty in Japan. Legends about her were later used extensively by the writers of Noh plays, including Zeami Motokiyo.

## Quotes
### Yone Noguchi's The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (1914)

    The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, trans. Yone Noguchi (John Murray, 1914)
* The flowers and my love Passed away under the rain, While I idly looked upon them Where is my yester-love?
** p. 112

### Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955)

    Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-nineteenth Century, ed. Donald Keene (Allen & Unwin, 1955)
* Iro miede Utsurou momo wa Yo no naka no Hito no kokoro no Hana ni zo arikeru
** A thing which fades With no outward sign— Is the flower Of the heart of man In this world!
*** trans. Arthur Waley, p. 78
* Hito ni awamu Tsuki no naki yo wa Omoiokite Mune hashiri hi ni Kokoro yakeori
** This night of no moon There is no way to meet him. I rise in longing— My breast pounds, a leaping flame, My heart is consumed in fire.
*** p. 78
* Omoitsutsu Nureba ya hito no Mietsuramu Yume to shiriseba Samezaramashi wo
** Thinking about him I slept, only to have him Appear before me— Had I known it was a dream, I should never have wakened.
*** p. 78
* Wabinureba Mi wo ukigusa no Ne wo taete Sasou mizu araba Inamu to zo omou
** So lonely am I My body is a floating weed Severed at the roots. Were there water to entice me, I would follow it, I think.
*** p. 79

### Kenneth Rexroth's translations
#### One Hundred Poems from the Japanese (1955)

    One Hundred Poems from the Japanese, trans. Kenneth Rexroth (New Directions Publishing, 1955), ISBN 978-0811201810
* Imperceptible It withers in the world, This flower-like human heart.
** p. 46

#### One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976)

    One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese, trans. Kenneth Rexroth (New Directions Publishing, 1976), ISBN 978-0811206198
* Yumeji ni wa Ashi mo yasumezu Kayoedo mo Utsutsu ni hitome Misbigoto wa arazu
** Following the roads Of dream to you, my feet Never rest. But one glimpse of you In reality would be Worth all these many nights of love.
*** p. 33
* Hito ni awan Tsuki no naki ni wa Omoiokite Mune hashiribi ni Kokoro yakeori
** You do not come On this moonless night. I wake wanting you. My breasts heave and blaze. My heart burns up.
*** p. 34

#### Women Poets of Japan (1982)

    Women Poets of Japan, trans. Kenneth Rexroth with Ikuko Atsumi (New Directions Publishing, 1982), ISBN 978-0811208208
* I fell asleep thinking of him, and he came to me. If I had known it was only a dream I would never have awakened.
** p. 14
* Although I come to you constantly over the roads of dreams, those nights of love are not worth one waking touch of you.
** p. 15
* He does not come. Tonight in the dark of the moon I wake wanting him. My breasts heave and blaze. My heart chars.
** p. 15

### Helen Craig McCullough's translations
#### Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

    Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, trans. Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985), ISBN 978-0804712583
* Hana no iro wa utsurinikeri na itazura ni wa ga mi yo ni furu nagame seshi ma ni
** Alas! The beauty of the flowers has faded and come to nothing, while I have watched the rain, lost in melancholy thought.
*** p. 35
* Aki no yo mo na nomi narikeri au to ieba koto zo to mo naku akenuru mono o
** Autumn nights, it seems, are long by repute alone: scarcely had we met when morning's first light appeared, leaving everything unsaid.
*** p. 142
* Iro miede utsurou mono wa yo no naka no hito no kokoro no hana ni zo arikeru
** So much I have learned: the blossom that fades away, its color unseen, is the flower in the heart of one who lives in this world.
*** p. 174
* Wabinureba mi o ukikusa no ne o taete sasou mizu araba inamu to zo omou
** In this forlorn state I find life dreary indeed: if a stream beckoned, I would gladly cut my roots and float away like duckweed.
*** p. 206

## Quotes about Komachi

* Her beauty may be legendary but her rank as one of the greatest erotic poets in any language is not.
** Kenneth Rexroth and Ikuko Atsumi, The Burning Heart: Women Poets of Japan (New York: Seabury Press, 1977), p. 141

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Ono no Komachi on Wikipedia
* Media related to Ono no Komachi on Wikimedia Commons