Wakauta
Hyakunin Isshu

murasame no
tsuyu mo mada hinu
maki no ha ni
kiri tachi-noboru
aki no yufu-gure

While the raindrops of
the passing shower have not yet dried from
near the leaves of the evergreens,
the mist is already rising,
on this evening in autumn.

wa ga iho ha
miyako no tatsu-mi
shika zo sumu
yo wo ujhi-yama to
hito ha ifu nari

My hut is to
the capital’s southeast
and thus I live.
But people call it “Uji, hill
of one weary of the world,” I hear.

ohoke naku
uki yo no tami ni
ohofu kana
wa ga tatsu soma ni
sumi-zome no sode

Inadequate, but
they must shelter the folk
of this wretched world—
my ink-black sleeves, having begun to live
“in this timber-forest that I enter.”

arashi fuku
mimuro no yama no
momijhi-ba ha
tatsuta no kaha no
nishiki narikeri

It’s the autumn leaves
of the hills of Mimuro,
where the tempests blow,
that are the woven brocade floating
on the waters of Tatsuta River!

yomosugara
mono-omofu koro ha
akeyaranu
neya no hima sahe
tsurenakarikeri

All through the night
recently, as I dwell on things,
even the gap between the doors
of my bedroom, which does not lighten,
seems cruel and heartless to me.

sabishisa ni
yado wo tachi-idete nagamureba
idzuku mo onaji
aki no yufugure

When, from loneliness,
I stand up and leave my hut
and look distractedly about:
everywhere it is the same
evening in autumn.

wata no hara
kogi-idete mireba hisakata no
kumowi ni magafu
okitsu shiranami

As I row out into
the wide sea-plain and look
all around me—
the white waves of the offing
could be mistaken for clouds!

mi-yoshino no
yama no aki-kaze
sa-yo fukete
furu-sato samuku
koromo utsu nari

Fair Yoshino,
the autumn wind in its mountains
deepens the night and
in the former capital,
cold I hear the fulling of cloth.

kaze soyogu
nara no wo-gaha no
yufu-gure ha
misogi zo natsu no
shirushi narikeru

In the evening
when the wind rustles the oaks
at Nara-no-Ogawa,
it is the ablutions that are
the only sign it’s still summer!

shira-tsuyu ni
kaze no fuki-shiku
aki no ta ha
tsuranuki-tomenu
tama zo chirikeru

In the autumn fields
where the wind blows repeatedly
on the white dewdrops,
the gems, not strung together,
do scatter about indeed.

nagekitsutsu
hitori nuru yo no
akuru ma ha
ika ni hisashiki
mono to ka ha shiru

The span of time
that I sleep alone, sighing,
until night lightens—
can you at all know
how long that is?

arazaramu
kono yo no hoka no
omohide ni
ima hito-tabi no
afu koto mogana

Among my memories of this world, from whence
I will soon be gone,
oh, how I wish there was
one more meeting, now, with you!

nagakaramu
kokoro mo shirazu kuro-kami no
midarete kesa ha
mono wo koso omohe

I do not even know
how long your feelings will last.
My long black hair
is all disheveled and, this morning,
my thoughts too are in a tangle!

wa ga sode ha
shihohi ni mienu
oki no ishi no
hito koso shirane
kawaku ma mo nashi

My sleeves are like
the rock in the offing that
can’t be seen even at low tide,
unknown to anyone, but
there’s not a moment they are dry.

tama no wo yo
taenaba taene
nagaraheba
shinoburu koto no
yohari mo zo suru

O, jeweled thread of life!
if you are to break, then break now!
For, if I live on,
my ability to hide my love
will most surely weaken!

suminoe no kishi ni yoru nami yoru sahe ya yume no kayohi-jhi hitome yokuramu

Not one person who would
call my plight pathetic
comes at all to mind,
and so, uselessly
I must surely die!

suminoe no
kishi ni yoru nami
yoru sahe ya
yume no kayohi-jhi
hitome yokuramu

Must you so avoid others’ eyes
that not even at night,
along the road of dreams,
will you draw nigh like the waves
to the shore of Sumi-no-e Bay?

yura no to wo
wataru funa-bito
kajhi-wo tae
yukuhe mo shiranu
kohi no michi kana

Like a boatman, crossing
the Strait of Yura,
whose oar-cord has snapped,
I’m lost and know not my way
on the road of love!

ima ha tada
omohi-taenamu
to bakari wo
hito-dzute narade
ifu yoshi mogana

Now, the only thing
I wish for is a way to say
to you directly
—not through another—
“I will think of you no longer!”

mi-kaki-mori
weji no taku hi no
yoru ha moe
hiru ha kietsutsu
mono wo koso omohe

Like the fire the guardsman kindles,
guarding the imperial gates:
at night, burning,
in the day, exhausted,
over and over, so I long for her.

akenureba
kururu mono to ha
shiri-nagara
naho urameshiki
asaborake kana

Because it has dawned,
it will become night again—
this I know, and yet,
ah, how hateful it is—
the first cold light of morning!

michinoku no
shinobu mojhi-zuri
tare yuwe ni
midare-somenishi
ware naranaku ni

Whose fault is it
that my feelings have begun to tangle
like the tangle-patterned prints
of Shinobu from the distant north?
Since it is not mine, it must be...

afu koto no
taete shi naku ha
naka-naka ni
hito wo mo mi wo mo
uramizaramashi

If there were no such thing
as ever having met her, then,
contrary to all expectations,
neither her coldness nor my pain
would I have to resent!

ariake no
tsurenaku mieshi
wakare yori
akatsuki bakari
uki mono ha nashi

There is nothing so depressing
as the break of day and
leaving you after
having seen the heartless
morning moon.

konu hito wo
matsuho no ura no
yufu-nagi ni
yaku ya mo-shiho no
mi mo kogaretsutsu

For the man who doesn’t come
I wait at the Bay of Matsuo—
in the evening calm
where they boil seaweed for salt,
I, too, burn with longing!

taki no oto ha
taete hisashiku
narinuredo
na koso nagarete
naho kikoekere

Although the sound of
the waterfall has ceased,
and that long ago,
its name, indeed,
has carried on and is still heard!

yo no naka ha
tsune ni mogamo na
nagisa kogu
ama no wo-bune no
tsunade kanashi mo

If only this world
could always remain the same!
The sight of them towing
the small boats of the fishermen who row in
the tide is touching indeed!

hisakata no
hikari nodokeki
haru no hi ni
shidzu-kokoro naku
hana no chiruramu

In these spring days
with the tranquil light encompassing
the four directions
why should the blossoms scatter
with uneasy hearts?

morotomo ni
aware to omohe
yama-zakura
hana yori hoka ni
shiru hito mo nashi

Let us think of each
other fondly,
O mountain cherries!
for, outside of your blossoms,
there’s no one who knows my feelings.

wasuraruru
mi woba omohazu
chikahiteshi
hito no inochi no
woshiku mo aru kana

Forgotten by him,
I do not think of myself.
But I can’t help worry
about the life of the man who
swore so fervently before the gods!

urami-wabi
hosanu sode dani
aru mono wo
kohi ni kuchinan
na koso oshikere

Although there are
my sleeves that never dry,
bitter and sad,
what I really regret is
my name, made rotten by love!

yo wo komete
tori no sora-ne ha
hakaru tomo
yo ni afusaka no
seki ha yurusaji

Although, still wrapped in night,
the cock’s false cry
some may deceive,
never will the Barrier
of Meeting Hill let you pass.

yasurahade
nenamashi mono wo
sayo fukete
katabuku made no
tsuki wo mishi kana

Though I’d have preferred
to have gone off to bed
without hesitating,
the night deepened and
I watched the moon till it set!

arima-yama
wina no sasahara
kaze fukeba
ide soyo hito wo
wasure ya ha suru

When the wind blows
through the bamboo-grass field of Ina
near Arima Mountain
soyo—so it is:
how could I forget you?

ohoe-yama
ikuno no michi no
tohokereba
mada fumi mo mizu
ama no hashidate

Ōe Mountain and
the road that goes to Ikuno
are far away, and so
not yet have I trod there, nor letter seen,
from Ama-no-Hashidate.

misebaya na
wojima no ama no
sode dani mo
nure ni zo nureshi
iro ha kaharazu

How I’d like to show him!
The sleeves of the fishermen
of Male Island, when it comes to wet, are wet indeed,
but their color doesn’t change!

wasureji no
yuku-suwe made ha
katakereba
kefu wo kagiri no
inochi to mogana

Because that future, until which,
you say, you will “never forget,”
is hard to rely on,
oh, if only today could be
the last day of my life!

oto ni kiku
takashi no hama no
ada-nami ha
kakeji ya sode no
nure mo koso sure

Known far and wide,
the unpredictable waves
of Takashi’s beach—
I will not let them catch me—
For I’d be sorry should my sleeves get wet!

naniha-gata
mijikaki ashi no
fushi no ma mo
ahade konoyo wo
sugushiteyo to ya

To go through this life,
not meeting
for even as short a time as the space
between two nodes of a reed
in Naniwa Inlet—
is that what you are telling me?

inishihe no nara nomiyako no yahe-zakura kefu kokonohe ni nihohinuru kana

The eight-petalled cherries
from the Nara capital
of the ancient past
today nine layers thick
have bloomed within your court!

wogura-yama
mine no momijhi-ba
kokoro araba
ima hito-tabi no
mi-yuki matanamu

O autumn leaves
on the peak of Ogura Hill,
if you have a heart,
I would that you would waitv for one more royal progress.

yama-gaha ni
kaze no kaketaru
shigarami ha
nagare mo ahenu
momijhi narikeri

Ah, the weir
that the wind has flung
across the mountain streamv is the autumn foliage that
cannot flow on, even though it would.

asaborake
ujhi no kaha-giri
tae-dae ni
arahare-wataru
se-ze no ajiro-gi

As the winter dawn
breaks, the Uji River mist
thins in patches and
revealed, here and there, are
all the shallows’ fishing-stakes.

chigiri-okishi
sasemo ga tsuyu wo
inochi nite
ahare kotoshi no
aki no inumeri

Depending with my life
on promises that fell thick
as dew on sasemo plants—
alas! the autumn of this year too
seems to be passing.

chihayaburu
kami-yo mo kikazu
tatsuta-gaha
kara-kurenawi ni
midzu kuguru to ha

Unheard of
even in the legendary age
of the awesome gods:
Tatsuta River in scarlet
and the water flowing under it.

kokoro ni mo arade uki yo ni nagaraheba kohishikarubeki yoha no tsuki kana

Though it is not what’s in my heart,
if in this world of pain
I should linger, then
no doubt I shall remember fondly
the bright moon of this dark night!

hototogisu
nakitsuru kata wo
nagamureba
tada ariake no
tsuki zo nokoreru

The hototogisu:
when I gaze out towards where
he was singing,
all that remains is the moon,
pale in the morning sky.

aki-kaze ni
tanabiku kumo no
tae-ma yori
more-idzuru tsuki no
kage no sayakesa

From between the breaks
in the clouds that trail
on the autumn wind
leaks through the moon-
light’s clear brightness!

nageke tote
tsuki ya ha mono wo
omohasuru
kakochi-gaho naru
wa ga namida kana

“Lament!” does it say?
Is it the moon that makes me
dwell on things?—No, and yet,
look at the tears flowing down
my reproachful face!

ama no hara
furi-sake-mireba
kasuga naru
mikasa no yama ni
ideshi tsuki kamo

As I gaze out, far
across the plain of heaven,
ah, at Kasuga,
from behind Mount Mikasa,
it’s the same moon that came out then!

asaborake
ariake no tsuki to
miru made ni
yoshino no sato ni
fureru shira-yuki

So that I thought it
the light of the lingering moon
at dawn—
the white snow that has fallen
on the village of Yoshino.

kimi ga tame
haru no no ni idete
waka-na tsumu
wa ga koromo-de ni
yuki ha furitsutsu

For my lord’s sake
I went out into the fields of spring
to pick young greens
while on my robe-sleeves
the snow kept falling and falling.

tsuki mireba
chi-jhi ni mono koso
kanashikere
wa ga mi hitotsu no
aki ni ha aranedo

When I look at the moon
I am overcome by the sadness
of a thousand, thousand things—
even though it is not Fall
for me alone.

tsukuba-ne no
mine yori otsuru
mina no kaha
kohi zo tsumorite
fuchi to narinuru

Like the Mina River
that falls from the peak
of Mount Tsukuba,
so my longing has collected
and turned into deep pools.

mika no hara
wakite nagaruru
idzumi-kaha
itsu miki tote ka
kohishikaruramu

Like Izumi River
that wells up and flows,
dividing the Moor of Urns—
when did I see her, I wonder,
that I should yearn for her so?

haru sugite
natsu kinikerashi shiro-tahe no
koromo hosu tefu
ama no kagu-yama

Spring has passed, and
summer has arrived, it seems.
Heavenly Mount Kagu
where, it is said, they dry robes
of the whitest mulberry!

se wo hayami
iha ni sekaruru taki-gaha no
warete mo suwe ni
ahamu to zo omofu

Because the current is swift,
even though the rapids,
blocked by a boulder,
are divided, like them, in the end,
we will surely meet, I know.

kasasagi no
wataseru hashi ni
oku shimo no
shiroki wo mireba yo zo fukenikeru

When I see the whiteness
of the frost that lies
on the bridge the magpies spread,
then do I know, indeed,
that the night has deepened.

ahajhi shima
kayofu chidori no
naku kowe ni
iku yo ne-zamenu
suma no seki-mori

The crying voices
of the plovers who visit
from Awaji Island—
how many nights have they awakened him,
the barrier-keeper of Suma?

hito mo woshi
hito mo urameshi
ajhikinaku
yo wo omofu yuwe ni
mono-omofu mi ha

People seem dear and
people also seem hateful
when vainly
I brood about the world—
this self who broods about things.

yo no naka yo
michi koso nakere
omohi-iru
yama no oku ni mo
shika zo naku naru

Within this world there is, indeed, no path!
Even deep in these mountains I have entered, heart set, I seem to hear the deer cry!

kirigirisu
naku ya shimo-yo no
sa-mushiro ni
koromo kata-shiki
hitori ka mo nemu

When the crickets
cry in the frosty night,
on the cold reed-mat,
spreading out my robe just for one,
must I sleep all alone?

momoshiki ya
furuki noki-ba no
shinobu ni mo
naho amari aru
mukashi narikeri

The hundredfold palace!
even in the shinobu grass
on its old eaves,
I find a past for which
I long yet ever more.