# Anthology of Japanese Literature/Poetry from the Six Collections

Layout 2
​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. |
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! |
Izumi Shikibu
| Omoikane Imo gari yukeba Fuyu no yo no Kawakaze samumi Chidori naku nari | The time I went to see my sister Whom I loved unendurably, The winter night’s River wind was so cold that The sanderlings were crying. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
| Yo no naka wo Nani ni tatoemu Asaborake Kogiyuku fune no Ato no shiranami | To what shall I compare This world? To the white wake behind A ship that has rowed away At dawn! |
The Priest Mansei (c. 720) TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY
| Wasuraruru Mi wo ba omowazu Chikaiteshi Hito no inochi no Oshiku mo aru kana | It does not matter That I am forgotten, But I pity His forsworn life. |
Lady Ukon TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
| Yaemugura Shigereru yado no Sabishiki ni Hito koso mienu Aki wa kinikeri | In the loneliness Of a hut where rankly grows The prickly goose-grass, There is not a soul in sight: Autumn has already come. |
The Priest Egyō
| Yume yo yume Koishiki hito ni Aimisu na Samete no nochi wa Wabishikarikeri | Dreams, listen, my dreams! Do not bring me together With the man I love— When once I have awakened It makes me feel so lonely. |
Anonymous
| Koi su chō Wa ga na wa madaki Tachinikeri Hito shirezu koso Omoisomeshika | They say I’m in love— The rumor is already In circulation; Yet when I began to love There was not a soul who knew. |
Mibu no Tadamine TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
[from the Goshūishū, 1086]
| Yasurawade Nenamashi mono wo Sayo fukete Katabuku made no Tsuki wo mishi kana | I should not have waited. It would have been better To have slept and dreamed, Than to have watched night pass, And this slow moon sink. |
Lady Akazome Emon TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
Sent when ill to someone
| Arazaramu Kono yo no hoka no Omoide ni Ima hito tabi no Au koto mo gana | Soon I shall be dead. As a final remembrance To take from this world, Come to me now once again— That is what I long for most. |
Izumi Shikibu
| Hi mo kurenu Hito mo kaerinu Yamazato wa Mine no arashi no Oto bakari shite | The day has ended And the visitors have left— In the mountain village All that remains is the howl Of the storm winds from the peak. |
Minamoto no Yorizane
| Yo wo komete Tori no sorane wa Hakaru to mo Yo ni Ausaka no Seki wa yurusaji | The night is still dark— Even though you counterfeit The morning cockcrows, They will never let you through Ausaka Barrier. |
Sei Shōnagon TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
[from the Kinyōshū, 1128]
| Awaji shima Kayou chidori no Naku koe ni Iku yo nezamenu Suma no sekimori | Guardian of the gate Of Suma, how many nights Have you awakened At the crying of the shore bird Of the Isle of Awaji? |
Minamoto no Kanemasa TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
| Murakumo ya Tsuki no kuma wo ba Nogofuramu Hareyuku tabi ni Terimasaru kana | The clustering clouds— Can it be they wipe away The lunar shadows? Every time they clear a bit The moonlight shines the brighter. |
Minamoto no Toshiyori
| Kaze wo itami Iwa utsu nami no Onore no mi Kudakete mono wo Omou koro kana | Whipped by a fierce wind And dashed like the ocean waves Against the rocks— I alone am broken to bits And now am lost in longing. |
Minamoto no Shigeyuki (d. 1000)
[from the Senzaishū, 1188]
| Mushi no ne wa Asaji ga moto ni Uzumorete Ai wa sue ha no Iro ni zo arikeru | The cries of the insects Are buried at the roots of The sparse pampas grass— The end of autumn is in The color of the last leaves. |
The Priest Jakuren (d. 1202) TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ Said to be her death-verse; the moon may refer to Buddha’s teachings.
* ↑ A word for a sweetheart commonly found in the “Man’yōshū,” but rather archaic by this time, when the usual word was “person,” hito.
* ↑ The use of o and a sounds contributes to the effect of this poem.
* ↑ Refers to a Chinese story of a man who got through a barrier by imitating a cock’s crowing and thus making the keeper of the barrier think that dawn had come—when the barrier was opened.