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  The following series of poems expressing her intense grief over their separation and her pure love for him ranks her among the foremost women poets in the Man'yōshū.

  171

  I anguish that

  You must Labor over

  The rugged mountain pass

  To the place of your banishment.

  My mind knows no rest or peace.

  (3723)

  172

  How I wish I had

  Heaven's fire

  To destroy

  The Long mountain road

  Along which you must travel.

  (3724)

  173

  Never yield to death.

  Worry not about me,

  Nor pine away.

  So Long as we are alive,

  We may meet again.

  (3745)

  174

  Gazing at the pine of my abode

  Every day I wait for you.

  Hasten back home

  That I may not die

  Of my consuming love for you.

  (3747)

  175

  Search everywhere—

  The corners of the earth,

  The starry skies.

  There is no more ardent passion

  Than my love for you.

  (3750)

  176

  Always wear this close to you,

  This white silken underrobe,

  Till the day arrives

  When you are back safe

  And we can Live together.

  (3751)

  177

  Here's a silken robe

  Which a tender maid has sewn

  in distress and grief,

  For her husband dear to wear

  On the day he returns home.

  (3753)

  178

  Morning and evening

  My soul holds communion

  With yours,

  Yet my heart aches with

  My passionate Love for you.

  (3767)

  179

  Much to my delight

  You were at my side Last night.

  But on waking,

  I was alone in bed,

  And my heart filled with grief.

  (3768)

  180

  Secretly,

  You came only in the dark of night,

  leaving before the gray of dawn.

  Never could I see you well,

  To my infinite regret.

  (3769)

  181

  When I heard a voice

  Saying that some had returned

  From banishment,

  I felt all but dead,

  Hoping you might be among them.

  (3772)

  Nakatomi-no-Yakamori

  Yakamori composed the following poems in banishment.

  182

  insignificant I am,

  And I find no worth

  In myself. Nonetheless,

  She Longs for me.

  She is far too sweet for words.

  (3727)

  183

  In the brightness of day

  I am sunk in melancholy,

  Longing for you.

  In the utter darkness of night,

  I am drowned in bitter tears.

  (3732)

  184

  Had I not the robe

  Which my darling gave me,

  How could I

  Stay alive

  In this place of banishment?

  (3733)

  185

  So often

  I weep in vain.

  Helpless and fororn

  Distracted with despair,

  I fall into a deathlike sleep.

  (3759)

  186

  Today, were I

  In the city of Nara,

  I would tarry outside the stableyard

  On the west of the court

  Anxious for a tryst with you.

  (3776)

  Lady Kasa

  Lady Kasa was a highly gifted poet. There is no information about her life except for the twenty-nine short poems of ardent love that she wrote to Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi during the course of some years around 755. Her intimacy withYakamochi did not last long before they separated, so most of her love poems here express spite or grief. She wrote all her poems to him to no purpose. Finally, she sent him a desperate poem (No. 194) in which she reviled him, and she left the capital of Nara for good. The beautiful, heart-breaking pathos of the best of her love poems has touched readers for over twelve hundred years.

  Yakamochi incorporated into the Man'yōshū the love poems that Lady Kasa and many other ladies had written to him.

  During the thirty years of the fourth period of the Man'yōshū, refined poems expressing sentimental love increased, but Lady Kasa and Maiden Sano-no-Chigami wrote poems overflowing with real passion.

  187

  Overwhelmed with love

  For you, I am lost.

  Beneath a pine

  On the side of Mt. Nara,

  I stand in despair.

  (593)

  188

  So faint with Love,

  I feel I'll fade away

  Like a drop of dew

  On the night-blooming flowers

  In my garden.

  (594)

  189

  As long as breath is Left in me,

  l am yours.

  Daily grows my love for you,

  Till it will be

  More than I can bear.

  (595)

  190

  From afar I had

  But a glimpse of you

  As if through morning mist.

  Yet I'm so consumed with Love

  That I will die of longing.

  (599)

  191

  Evening never falls

  But my ardor blazes—

  The image of my dear one,

  Who once spoke to me,

  Floats before my eyes.

  (602)

  192

  If love

  Always brings a painful death,

  A thousand times

  I would hove died in pain

  For the dear one of my heart.

  (603)

  193

  Now the temple bell

  Tolls the time

  For the night's repose.

  But my ardent love for you

  Keeps me awake the night through.

  (604)

  194

  I might as well

  Worship a hungry demon,

  Prostrating myself to his back,

  As conceive love for a man

  who does not return my Love.

  (608)

  195

  Living near you,

  Though I did not see you oft,

  Some ease of heart I had.

  Living far away from you

  Will soon lead me to my grave.

  (610)

  Footnotes

  In those days most government officials who were ordered to serve at provincial offices could not afford to take their wives and families to their posts. Thus an official in provincial service often became intimate with a country girl and married her.

  A poem that Hitomaro composed on the eve of his death. The location of Mt. Kamo has not been ascertained.

  Hitomaro composed this poem when Empress Jitō ascended Ikazuchi-no-Oka ("Hill ofThunder") and offered prayers.

  Hitomaro composed this poem when he accompanied Empress Jito on her visit to the ruins of Ōmi Palace at Ōtsu. This palace was built by Emperor Tenji in 667 by the western shore of Lake Biwa, only to be destroyed in the Jinshin Uprising five years later.

  See note to No. 110.

  This is regarded as a poignant evocation of an autumn scene.

  This poem was written from a woman's point of view.

  The literal translation of the fifth line reads: "Has now entered into me [or my soul]."

  In this poem, a woman sulks,
wishing to keep her lover with her.

  A poem of a man's sorrow over a long separation from his love.

  This poem was written from a woman's point of view.

  This theme occurs a number of times in the Man'yōshū. See No. 164 and compare Nos. 287, 315, 331, and 345.

  This poem was written from a woman's point of view.

  Poems Nos. 79 to 84 portray women's longings for their lovers or husbands, who come to visit them only at intervals and leave them at daybreak. In Man'yō days, many men and women had to live apart for an indefinite time even after their marriage.

  The viewpoint here could be that of a man or a woman, so "she" and "her" can be replaced by "he" and "him."

  This is considered one of Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro's most exquisite poems, expressing a young mans ardent love for a beauty he had seen momentarily, just once.

  The poet implies that her sensual state is due to her lover's desire for her; she wishes to keep their love secret till she meets him and confirms his commitment to her.

  A poem writen from a woman's standpoint.

  A poem from a woman to a man who is wishy-washy in his courtship of her.

  A poem complaining about a mother's protective care of her daughters, especially her oldest.

  Maybe this was her lover s first visit, and since it was still a little dark when he left, she was too shy to gaze at his face.

  The person is probably a woman. Again, the image of a loosened inner sash (which fastens the underclothes) occurs. On the most immediate level, the image is an anticipation of a love tryst and the events that will occur then.

  This may possibly be a poem composed by a man sent to be a frontier guard. No 55 is almost identical.

  In the following seven poems (Nos. 121 to 127), Ōtomo-no-Tabito expresses his deep yearning for his late wife and the immense solitude of a man bereft.

  To sleep or rest with one s head on someone's arm was a euphemism for having sex.

  The juniper (muro no kt) was looked upon as a sacred tree in ancient times. The poet and his wife might possibly have prayed to the tree for their well-being on their way to Kyushu.

  This poem is proverbial in Japan and is the best known of Okuras poems.

  When Yamanoue-no-Okura fell seriously ill, the chief councilor of state sent a messenger to inquire after his well-being. After expressing his thanks, he composed this poem.

  Yakamochi composed this poem when he was about sixteen years old.

  A poem expressing the spirit of loyalty of the Ōtomo clan, which had been the imperial guard for centuries.

  Takashima is on the west shore of Lake Biwa.

  In ancient days there was an observance characterized by singing, dancing, and sexual freedom. This observance remained in some parts of Japan until the recent past. The foregoing folk song is regarded as a significant source of information about ancient customs in Japan. Mt. Tsukuba is a solitary peak rising above the plain of the Kantō district of East Japan and is a well-known mountain in Japan, appearing in many poems and folk songs.

  A poem describing the feelings of the mother who married off her daughter to her nephew, Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi.

  In the original poem, there is play on the word matsu, which means both "pine tree" and "wait."

  Since their tryst was unlawful, they took great care to keep its secrecy. Probably this poem refers to a tryst before Yakamoris banishment.

  In 740 there was a general amnesty, and she hoped that Yakamori might be among the returnees. Yakamori was pardoned some time after 740.

  Probably Yakamori had a tryst with Chigami, his love, at the place mentioned in this poem.

  Minor Poets

  The poets included in this chapter were skilled, but their poems in the Man'yōshū are few in number, and their names are not as well known as those of the major poets.

  Abe-no-Asomi Mushimaro

  Abe-no-Asomi Mushimaro was a court poet. The following poem was written for his cousin, Lady Ōtomo-no-Sakanoue.

  196

  When I sit with you

  Face to face, I am spellbound

  And I am unable to rise and depart.

  Never do I tire,

  However long I gaze at you.

  (665)

  Lady Abe

  Although little is known about her life, she was a talented poet. The following three poems express her devoted love for her husband.

  197

  I can think of nothing else

  But my dearest.

  All my love and all my soul

  I offer as your own.

  My heart has turned to you.

  (505)

  198

  Be at ease, my lover.

  Should your life be ever at risk,

  I will be with you,

  Ready to confront

  Fire and water for your sake.

  (506)

  199

  into every seam

  Of the robe which I have sewn

  For my husband,

  I have stitched

  My love and my heart.

  (514)

  Ato-no-Sukune Toshitari

  Nothing definite is known about his life.

  200

  How dear is my love.

  Her voice is as sweet

  As the songs of singing birds,

  Which across the nearby hills

  Come fly to my abode in spring!

  (663)

  Fujiwara-no-Kamatari

  Fujiwara-no-Kamatari rendered distinguished service to Emperor Tenji. He rose to premiership and became the founder of the Fujiwara family, which held predominant power at court for the subsequent four centuries.

  201

  I have won Yasumiko,

  The fairest of the Ladies at court,

  Whom all people know

  Is impossible to win.

  I have won the fairest one.

  (95)

  In those days beautiful girls were picked to be ladies-in-waiting to the emperor and the empress. They were known as uneme, and were not permitted to be courted or to marry. The girl called Yasumiko was the fairest of them. In recognition of Kamatari's illustrious service, Emperor Tenji granted him this girl as his mistress. Out of his joy, he composed this poem. His legal wife was Princess Kagami.

  On the whole, the Man'yōshū's emotional poetry reflects sorrow and disappointment rather than good fortune or the happy fulfillment of expectations. Its jubilant mood may be one of the reasons why this poem has been valued.

  Fujiwara-no-Asomi Maro

  Fujiwara-no-Asomi Maro wrote this poem to Lady Ōtomo-no-Sakanoue, whom he later married. He was a statesman of great influence.

  202

  Though l sleep

  Under thick quilts

  And on soft mats,

  Yet I am cold

  If I do not sleep with my dear love.

  (524)

  Priest of the Gangōji Temple

  Though highly erudite and widely informed, the priest lived in obscurity and was treated with contempt. This poem expresses his response to his social status.

  203

  My exquisite pearl,

  Even if it remains unrevealed

  What should I care—

  I know its worth,

  And I treasure it.

  (1018)

  Lady Heguriuji

  The following are three of the twelve poems that she wrote to Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi.

  204

  With my heart afire,

  I am consumed with burning love,

  Pungent as the salt

  Made by boiling water of the sea

  By the men on the shore.

  (3932)

  205

  Gazing at my hand,

  I recall how overjoyed I was