Japanese poetry has the extraordinary ability to convey emotion with a minimum of words. The following are translations by Kenneth Rexroth from his book 100 Japanese Poems. Most are from the Man’yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), the oldest existing, and most highly revered, collection of Japanese poetry.
I wish I were close
to you as the wet skirt of
a soft girl to her body.
I think of you always. (Fujiwara no Atsutada)
I think of the days
Before I met her,
When I seemed to have
No troubles at all. (same)
By Hitomaro:
In the autumn mountains
The colored leaves are falling.
If I could hold them back,
I could still see her.
This morning I will not
Comb my hair.
It has lain
Pillowed on the hand of my lover.
I know she thinks of me, far off,
And wilts with longing, like summer grass
Maybe if the mountians would bow down
I could see her again,
Standing in our doorway.
I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road
But yesterday I did not know
That it would be today (Narihira)
Will he always love me?
I cannot read his heart.
This morning my thoughts
Are as disordered
As my black hair. (Lady Horikawa)
We were together
Only a short while,
And we believed our love
Would last a thousand years. (Yakamochi)
I dreamed I held
A sword against my flesh.
What does it mean?
It means I shall see you soon. (Lady Kasa)
That spring night I spent
Pillowed in your arm
Never really happened
Except in a dream.
Unfortunately I am
Talked about anyway. (Lady Suo)
