This world–
call it an image
caught in a mirror–
real it is not,
nor unreal either
translated by Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson
Japanese poet
a tanka by Ariwara No Narihara
Tsui ni yuku
Michi to wa kanete
Kikishi kado
Kino kyo to wa
Omowazarishi wo
I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
4 line tanka by Fujiwara No Teika
I lifted her black hair
strand by strand–
the way she lay face down
rises in my mind
a three line tanka by Ishikawa Takuboku
A vague sadness
comes with the night
stealthily and sits on my bed.
3 line tanka by Wakayama Bokusui
Such loneliness!
if I could crave in stone a giant,
bound, wordless, standing
tanka 2 by Ishikawa Takuboku
Everyone’s
heading in the same direction.
And me, watching from the side.
a three line tanka by Ishikawa Takuboku
Taking off my gloves, my hands stop–
what is it?
a memory flits through my mind
translated by Hiroaki Sato
a tanka by Lady Izumi
There’s no color
called love
in this world,
yet how thoroughly
it has dyed my heart
translated by Hiroaki Sato
a tanka by Saigyo
Little boat with no treadboard
crossing the straits,
take care!
The hail pelts wildly
and the swift wind sweeps in
translated by Burton Watson & Hiroaki Sato
Leonard Durso 