The Infinite Voyage

1
Tenchi Tenno

Aki no ta no
Kariho no io no
Toma o arami
Waga koromode wa
Tsuyu ni nure tsutsu

Emperor Tenchi

Coarse the rush-mat roof
Sheltering the harvest-hut
Of the autumn rice-field;
And my sleeves are growing wet
With the moisture dripping through.

2
Jito Tenno

Haru sugite
Natsu ki ni kerashi
Shirotae no
Koromo hosu cho
Ama no Kaguyama

Empress Jito

The spring has passed
And the summer come again;
For the silk-white robes,
So they say, are spread to dry
On the "Mount of Heaven's Perfume."

3
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Ashibiki no
Yamadori no o no
Shidari o no
Naganagashi yo o
Hitori ka mo nen

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Oh, the foot-drawn trail
Of the mountain-pheasant's tail
Drooped like down-curved branch!
Through this long, long-dragging night
Must I lie in bed alone?

4
Yamabe no Akahito

Tago no Ura ni
Uchi idete mireba
Shirotae no
Fuji no takane ni
Yuki wa furi tsutsu

Yamabe no Akahito

When I take the path
To Tago's coast, I see
Perfect whiteness laid
On Mount Fuji's lofty peak
By the drift of falling snow.

5
Sarumaru Dayu

Okuyama ni
Momiji fumiwake
Naku shika no
Koe kiku toki zo
Aki wa kanashiki

Sarumaru

In the mountain depths,
Treading through the crimson leaves,
The wandering stag calls.
When I hear the lonely cry,
Sad--how sad!--the autumn is.

6
Chunagon Yakamochi

Kasasagi no
Wataseru hashi ni
Oku shimo no
Shiroki o mireba
Yo zo fuke ni keru

Otomo no Yakamochi

If I see that bridge
That is spanned by flights of magpies
Across the arc of heaven
Made white with a deep-laid frost,
Then the night is almost past.

7
Abe no Nakamaro

Ama no hara
Furisake mireba
Kasuga naru
Mikasa no yama ni
Ideshi tsuki kamo

Abe no Nakamaro

When I look up at
The wide-stretched plain of heaven,
Is the moon the same
That rose on Mount Mikasa
In the land of Kasuga?

8
Kisen Hoshi

Waga io wa
Miyako no tatsumi
Shika zo sumu
Yo o Ujiyama to
Hito wa iu nari

The Monk Kisen

My lowly hut is
Southeast from the capital.
Thus I choose to live.
And the world in which I live
Men have named a "Mount of Gloom."

9
Ono no Komachi

Hana no iro wa
Utsuri ni keri na
Itazura ni
Waga mi yo ni furu
Nagame seshi ma ni

Ono no Komachi

Color of the flower
Has already faded away,
While in idle thoughts
My life passes vainly by,
As I watch the long rains fall.

10
Semimaru

Kore ya kono
Yuku mo kaeru mo
Wakarete wa
Shiru mo shiranu mo
Osaka no seki

Semimaru

Truly, this is where
Travelers who go or come
Over parting ways--
Friends or strangers--all must meet:
The gate of "Meeting Hill."

11
Sangi Takamura

Wata no hara
Yasoshima kakete
Kogi idenu to
Hito ni wa tsugeyo
Ama no tsuri bune

Ono no Takamura

Over the wide sea
Towards its many distant isles
My ship sets sail.
Will the fishing boats thronged here
Proclaim my journey to the world?

12
Sojo Henjo

Ama tsu kaze
Kumo no kayoiji
Fuki toji yo
Otome no sugata
Shibashi todomen

The Monk Henjo

Let the winds of heaven
Blow through the paths among the clouds
And close their gates.
Then for a while I could detain
These messengers in maiden form.

13
Yozei In

Tsukuba ne no
Mine yori otsuru
Minano-gawa
Koi zo tsumorite
Fuchi to nari nuru

Emperor Yozei

From Tsukuba's peak
Falling waters have become
Mina's still, full flow:
So my love has grown to be
Like the river's quiet deeps.

14
Kawara no Sadaijin

Michinoku no
Shinobu moji-zuri
Tare yue ni
Midare some ni shi
Ware naranaku ni

Minamoto no Toru

Like Michinoku prints
Of the tangled leaves of ferns,
It is because of you
That I have become confused;
But my love for you remains.

15
Koko Tenno

Kimi ga tame
Haru no no ni idete
Wakana tsumu
Waga koromode ni
Yuki wa furi tsutsu

Emperor Koko

It is for your sake
That I walk the fields in spring,
Gathering green herbs,
While my garment's hanging sleeves
Are speckled with falling snow.

16
Chunagon Yukihira

Tachi wakare
Inaba no yama no
Mine ni oru
Matsu to shi kikaba
Ima kaeri kon

Ariwara no Yukihira

Though we are parted,
If on Mount Inaba's peak
I should hear the sound
Of the pine trees growing there,
I'll come back again to you.

17
Ariwara no Narihira Ason

Chihayaburu
Kamiyo mo kikazu
Tatsuta-gawa
Kara kurenai ni
Mizu kukuru to wa

Ariwara no Narihira

Even when the gods
Held sway in the ancient days,
I have never heard
That water gleamed with autumn red
As it does in Tatta's stream

18
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki Ason

Sumi no e no
Kishi ni yoru nami
Yoru sae ya
Yume no kayoi ji
Hito me yoku ran

Fujiwara no Toshiyuki

The waves are gathered
On the shore of Sumi Bay,
And in the gathered night,
When in dreams I go to you,
I hide from people's eyes.

19
Ise

Naniwa gata
Mijikaki ashi no
Fushi no ma mo
Awade kono yo o
Sugushite yo to ya

Lady Ise

Even for a time
Short as a piece of the reeds
In Naniwa's marsh,
We must never meet again:
Is this what you are asking me?

20
Motoyoshi Shinno

Wabi nureba
Ima hata onaji
Naniwa naru
Mi o tsukushite mo
Awan to zo omou

Prince Motoyoshi

In this dire distress
My life is meaningless.
So we must meet now,
Even though it costs my life
In the Bay of Naniwa.

From
Sources of the Texts and Images;
Acknowledgments

The Japanese text used for this edition is traditional. Different versions of the text differ mostly in the choice of kanji or hiragana to represent different words.

The romanized transliteration (Romaji) is taken from MacCauley, with silent changes by the editors to bring it into conformity with modern principles of romanization.

The English translation is MacCauley's, again modernized. For further comments on the translation, see A Note on the English Translation.


The background for this edition is an image of handmade kozo paper, made by Timothy Barrett and Kelly Tetterton for a class on papermaking in the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, July, 1995.


The woodblock print by Hokusai (75K bytes) is reproduced from Peter Morse's edition (see below), by permission of the publisher, George Braziller, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which holds the original print: Hokusai, "Yamabe no Akahito," 1835; from the series One Hundred Poems Told by a Wet Nurse; oban, nishiki-e; gift of James Michener (HAA 21,911). Note that this print may not be copied or reproduced without permission from the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Some Useful Editions of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu


Carter, Steven. "One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets," in Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. Pages 203-238

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