Izumi Shikibu

Out of the dark,
Into a dark path
I now must enter:
Shine on me from afar,
Moon of the mountain fringe!

Izumi Shikibu (Japanese: 和泉式部, b. 976?) was a mid Heian period Japanese poet.

Quotes

• 暗きより暗き道にぞ入りぬべき遙かに照らせ山の端の月
• Kuraki yori
  Kuraki michi ni zo
  lrinubeki
  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!
  • Translated by Arthur Waley
  • "Said to be [Izumi Shikibu's] death-verse; the moon may refer to Buddha's teachings." Anthology Of Japanese Literature (1955) by Donald Keene, p. 92
• Cited in Shūi Wakashū (c. 1005).

Quotes about Izumi Shikibu

• Lady Izumi Shikibu corresponds charmingly, but her behaviour is improper indeed. She writes with grace and ease and with a flashing wit. There is fragrance even in her smallest words. Her poems are attractive, but they are only improvisations which drop from her mouth spontaneously. Every one of them has some interesting point, and she is acquainted with ancient literature also, but she is not like a true artist who is filled with the genuine spirit of poetry. Yet I think even she cannot presume to pass judgment on the poems of others.
  • Murasaki Shikibu, The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu (c. 1010). In: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, edited and translated by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi, 1920. Archived at English Wikisource.