Ono no Komachi

Ono no Komachi (小野小町; c. 825 – c. 900) was a Japanese waka poet.　She was renowned for her unusual beauty, and Komachi is today a synonym for feminine beauty in Japan. Legends about her were later used extensively by the writers of Noh plays, including Zeami Motokiyo.

Quotes

Yone Noguchi's The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (1914)

The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, trans. Yone Noguchi (John Murray, 1914)

The flowers and my love
Passed away under the rain,
While I idly looked upon them
Where is my yester-love?
- p. 112

Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955)

Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-nineteenth Century, ed. Donald Keene (Allen & Unwin, 1955)

Iro miede
Utsurou momo wa
Yo no naka no
Hito no kokoro no
Hana ni zo arikeru
- A thing which fades
  With no outward sign—
  Is the flower
  Of the heart of man
  In this world!
  - trans. Arthur Waley, p. 78

Hito ni awamu
Tsuki no naki yo wa
Omoiokite
Mune hashiri hi ni
Kokoro yakeori
- This night of no moon
  There is no way to meet him.
  I rise in longing—
  My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
  My heart is consumed in fire.
  - p. 78

Omoitsutsu
Nureba ya hito no
Mietsuramu
Yume to shiriseba
Samezaramashi wo
- Thinking about him
  I slept, only to have him
  Appear before me—
  Had I known it was a dream,
  I should never have wakened.
  - p. 78

Wabinureba
Mi wo ukigusa no
Ne wo taete
Sasou mizu araba
Inamu to zo omou
- So lonely am I
  My body is a floating weed
  Severed at the roots.
  Were there water to entice me,
  I would follow it, I think.
  - p. 79

Kenneth Rexroth's translations

One Hundred Poems from the Japanese (1955)

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

Imperceptible
It withers in the world,
This flower-like human heart.
- p. 46

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

Yumeji ni wa
Ashi mo yasumezu
Kayoedo mo
Utsutsu ni hitome
Misbigoto wa arazu
- Following the roads
  Of dream to you, my feet
  Never rest. But one glimpse of you
  In reality would be
  Worth all these many nights of love.
  - p. 33

Hito ni awan
Tsuki no naki ni wa
Omoiokite
Mune hashiribi ni
Kokoro yakeori
- You do not come
  On this moonless night.
  I wake wanting you.
  My breasts heave and blaze.
  My heart burns up.
  - p. 34

Women Poets of Japan (1982)

Women Poets of Japan, trans. Kenneth Rexroth with Ikuko Atsumi (New Directions Publishing, 1982), ISBN 978-0811208208

I fell asleep thinking of him,
and he came to me.
If I had known it was only a dream
I would never have awakened.
- p. 14

Although I come to you constantly
over the roads of dreams,
those nights of love
are not worth one waking touch of you.
- p. 15

He does not come.
Tonight in the dark of the moon
I wake wanting him.
My breasts heave and blaze.
My heart chars.
- p. 15

Helen Craig McCullough's translations

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, trans. Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985), ISBN 978-0804712583

Hana no iro wa
utsurinikeri na
itazura ni
wa ga mi yo ni furu
nagame seshi ma ni
- Alas! The beauty
  of the flowers has faded
  and come to nothing,
  while I have watched the rain,
  lost in melancholy thought.
  - p. 35

Aki no yo mo
na nomi narikeri
au to ieba
koto zo to mo naku
akenuru mono o
- Autumn nights, it seems,
  are long by repute alone:
  scarcely had we met
  when morning's first light appeared,
  leaving everything unsaid.
  - p. 142

Iro miede
utsurou mono wa
yo no naka no
hito no kokoro no
hana ni zo arikeru
- So much I have learned:
  the blossom that fades away,
  its color unseen,
  is the flower in the heart
  of one who lives in this world.
  - p. 174

Wabinureba
mi o ukikusa no
ne o taete
sasou mizu araba
inamu to zo omou
- In this forlorn state
  I find life dreary indeed:
  if a stream beckoned,
  I would gladly cut my roots
  and float away like duckweed.
  - p. 206

Quotes about Komachi

Her beauty may be legendary but her rank as one of the greatest erotic poets in any language is not.
- Kenneth Rexroth and Ikuko Atsumi, The Burning Heart: Women Poets of Japan (New York: Seabury Press, 1977), p. 141

External links

Encyclopedic article on Ono no Komachi on Wikipedia
Media related to Ono no Komachi on Wikimedia Commons