Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

When I gathered flowers
For my girl
From the top of the plum tree
The lower branches
Drenched me with dew.

I sit at home
In our room
By our bed
Gazing at your pillow.

The colored leaves
Have hidden the paths
On the autumn mountain.
How can I find my girl,
Wandering on ways I do not know?

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (Japanese: 柿本人麻呂 or 柿本人麿, c. 653–655 – c. 707–710) was a Japanese waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period. He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Man'yōshū. He is ranked as one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. From the Heian period on, he was often called Hito-maru (人丸).

Quotes

Kenneth Rexroth's translations

One Hundred Poems from the Japanese (1955)

One Hundred Poems from the Japanese (New Directions Publishing, 1955), ISBN 978-0811201810

• Sasa no ha wa
  Miyama mo saya ni
  Sayagedomo
  Ware wa imo omo
  Wakare kinureba
  • In the empty mountains
    The leaves of the bamboo grass
    Rustle in the wind.
    I think of a girl
    Who is not here.
  • XVII, p. 19

• Aki yama ni
  Otsuro momiji ba
  Shimashiku wa
  Na chiri midare so
  Imo ga atari minu
  • In the Autumn mountains
    The colored leaves are falling.
    If i could hold them back,
    I could still see her.
  • XVIII, p. 20

• Hito goto wa
  Natsu no no kusa to
  Shigeku to mo
  Imo to ware to shi
  Tazusawarineba
  • Gossip grows like weeds
    In a summer meadow.
    My girl and I
    Sleep arm in arm.
  • XIX, p. 21

• Asa ne gami
  Ware wa kezuraji
  Utsukushiki
  Kimi ga ta makura
  Fureteshi mono wo
  • This morning I will not
    Comb my hair.
    It has lain
    Pillowed on the hand of my lover.
  • XX, p. 22

• Kurokami no
  Shira kami made to
  Musubiteshi
  Kokoro hitotsu wo
  Ima takame ya mo
  • Your hair has turned white
    While your heart stayed
    Knotted against me.
    I shall never
    Loosen it now.
  • XXI, p. 23

• Masu kagami
  Soko naru kage ni
  Mukai ite miru
  Toki ni koso
  Shiranu okina ni
  Au kokochi sure
  • A strange old man
    Stops me,
    Looking out of my deep mirror.
    • XXII, p. 24

• Aki yama no
  Momiji wo shigemi
  Mado inuru
  Imo wo motomenu
  Yama ji shirazu mo
  • The colored leaves
    Have hidden the paths
    On the autumn mountain.
    How can I find my girl,
    Wandering on ways I do not know?
  • XXIII, p. 25

• Fusuma ji wo
  Hikite no yama ni
  Imo wo okite
  Yama ji wo yukeba
  Ikeri to mo nashi
  • When I left my girl
    In her grave on Mount Hikite
    And walked down the mountain path,
    I felt as though I were dead.
    • XXIV, p. 26

• Ie ni kite
  Waga ya wo mireba
  Tama doko no
  Hoka ni mukikeri
  Imo ga ko makura
  • I sit at home
    In our room
    By our bed
    Gazing at your pillow.
  • XXV, p. 27

• Ware yu nochi
  Umaremu hito wa
  Waga goteku
  Koi suru michi ni
  Ai kosu na yume
  • May those who are born after me
    Never travel such roads of love.
    • XXVI, p. 28

• Kamo yama no
  Iwane shi makeru
  Ware wo kamo
  Shira ni to imo ga
  Machitsutsu aramu
  • My girl is waiting for me
    And does not know
    That my body will stay here
    On the rocks of Mount Kamo.
    • XXVII, p. 29

• Oki tsunami
  Ki yoru ariso wo
  Shikitae no
  Makura to makite
  Naseru kimi kamo
  • On the shingle
    Beaten by waves
    He sleeps with his head
    Amongst the rocks.
    • XXVIII, p. 30

One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976)

One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese, trans. Kenneth Rexroth (New Directions Publishing, 1976), ISBN 978-0811206198

• Ito ga tame
  Hozu e no ume wo
  Ta oru to wa
  Shizu e no tsuyu ni
  Nurenikeru kamo
  • When I gathered flowers
    For my girl
    From the top of the plum tree
    The lower branches
    Drenched me with dew.
  • XXII, p. 24

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Kakinomoto no Hitomaro on Wikipedia
• Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro Poems at Poem Hunter