Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 56
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
soon my life will end -
as memory to take
to the next world
I want to meet you
one more time!
arazaramu
kono yo no hoka no
omoide ni
ima hitotabi no
au koto mo gana
あらざらむ
この世の外の
思ひ出に
今ひとたびの
逢ふこともがな
Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部 (c. 970-1030)
[Izumi Shikibu, in a kusazoshi by Komatsuken (1765)]
Notes
- aru: here "to be alive". "-zaru" is a negation, so "arazaramu" means "when I am not alive"
- kono yo no hoka ni: "in the next world"
- ima: "sara ni, mo". "ima hitotabi no": only once more
- mo ga na: expresses a wish.
[Grave of Izumi Shikibu in Joshinin Temple, Kyoto]
The Poet
Izumi Shikibu is one of the most important woman poets of Japan, known for her passionate love poetry. Izumi Shikibu was a daughter of Oe no Masamune and her first marriage was with Tachibana no Michisada, governor of Izumi Province (from which comes the "Izumi" in her sobriquet); their daughter Koshikibu no Naishi was also a renowned poet (Poem 60).
Izumi Shikibu had relationships with Prince Tametaka (the third son of Emperor Reizei) and his half-brother Atsumichi - the affair with the latter has been depicted by Izumi Shikibu in her Izumi Shikibu Nikki (The Diary of Izumi Shikibu). Written in a third person, the diary contains over one hundred waka poems. It shows the alternate ardor and indifference on the part of the Prince, and timidity and yearning on the part of Izumi. The two had a very public courtship until Atsumichi's death in 1007 at the age of 27.
Later, Izumi Shikibu served in the salon of Empress Shoshi (the consort of Emperor Ichijo) along with Murasaki Shikibu (Poem 57) and Akazome Emon (Poem 59). While at the court in 1009, she married Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a military commander under Michinaga, and left the court to accompany him to his post in Tango Province. She outlived her daughter Koshikibu no Naishi, but the year of her death is unknown. The last poetic correspondence from her was a poem written in 1027. In later life she devoted herself to Buddhism.
Izumi Shikibu has 242 poems in the Shuishu and later imperial collections. Her personal collection of poems has also been preserved. Her successive affairs with the princes Tametaka and Atsumichi caused quite a scandal and reverberations can be found in two historical tales about the period, A Tale of Flowering Fortunes (Eiga Monogatari) and The Great Mirror (Okagami).
Visiting
See my article "Graves in Kyoto's Shopping Arcades" for Izumi Shikibu's grave in Joshinin, which is located in Kyoto's central shopping district of Teramachi.
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).
Photo: my own work. Portrait Izumi Shikibu: Wikimedia Commons
Hyakunin Isshu Index