Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 50
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
for your sake
I would not have been sorry
to lose even my life,
but now, after a night together,
I find myself wishing I could live forever
kimi ga tame
oshi karazarishi
inochi sae
nagaku mo gana to
omoi keru kana
君がため
惜しからざりし
命さへ
ながくもがなと
おもひけるかな
Fujiwara no Yoshitaka 藤原義孝 (954-974)
[Yoshitaka by Yoshitoshi]
As the head-note in the Goshuishu says this poem was sent after returning home from a woman's house, it is a so-called "morning-after poem" (kinuginu no uta), sent after the man had spent the night with the woman for the first time.
"I would not have regretted to die in order to spend the night with you, but having held you in my arms, I now wish that I may live forever."
Notes
- "kimi ga tame" is literally "because of you", but has the implied meaning of "as my love for you is realized."
- "oshikarazarishi": "I didn't regret" ("zari" is the renyokei of the negation "zu" and "shi" indicates the past)
- "mo ga na" indicates a wish.
The poet
Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (954–974) was the son of Fujiwara no Koretada (Poem 45). He served as captain of the right bodyguards (ushosho). He was the father of the renowned calligrapher Yukinari, who was born when Yoshitaka was only eighteen. When his father died, Yoshitaka considered ordaining as a Buddhist monk. In the same year his son was born, which dissuaded him from pursuing a religious career. He died in 974, at age twenty, of smallpox, on the same day as his twin brother. The poet who wrote he wanted "to live forever" in fact died very young... Twelve of his poems were included in imperial anthologies.
References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge); Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).
Ukiyo-e of Yoshitaka: Wikimedia Commons
Hyakunin Isshu Index