{"collection":"shi","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/shi/msj/msj06.htm","path":"shi/msj/msj06.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/shi/msj/msj06.htm","text":"The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914]\nFlourished about A.D. 700\nOne of the earliest distinguished poets of Japan. He was the rival of Hit\u00f3maro. He accompanied the Mikado Shoran. to Kii; and afterwards visited the Eastland, where he composed the well-known lines to Fuji.\nBy Ak\u00e1hito\u20147th Century\nOn Waka's shore\n \u00a0\u00a0The tide comes flowing.\n No resting-place\n \u00a0\u00a0Above the waters showing,\n Towards the reeds\n \u00a0\u00a0The cranes are swiftly flying,\n All the night sky\n \u00a0\u00a0Resonant with their crying.\nBy Tago's shore, I wander to and fro,\n \u00a0\u00a0Gazing on Fuji's peak, where Autumn's earliest snow,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0White-gleaming, sparkles.\nBy Ak\u00e1hito\nFair was the Maid who dwelt in olden time\n In Mama village\u2014and well wooed was she.\n Exchanged were Shidzu girdles. Bride-hut built,\n And here among dense maki leafage hid,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There lay her tomb.\n Long as the pine endures, her piteous tale,\n The record of her sorrows shall endure\n Engraven on my heart compassionate.\n Still the smooth sea-wrack floats upon the tide,\n In the clear waters of K\u00e1tsushika.\n How oft the shining tendrils from the sea\n Hath the fair maid of Mama gathered!\nLAY ON THE RUINED CHAPEL OF TAKECHI *\nBy Kamo no Kimitari-Hito\nThe Spring mists hover round the hill,\n The Hill of Kagu, where of old\n The Gods descended, sacred still.\n The pine-breeze murmurs through the wold;\n A little ripple grows, and fades,\n As the light air the clear pool stirs.\n The cherry blooms still star the glades,\n Mist-wreaths of blossom \u2019mid dark firs.\n The wild duck seeks his mate, the teal\n Rise from the reeds on whirring wings,\n But on the lake no cleaving keel\n Over the shining water swings.\n Empty, the pleasure-barges lie,\n Oarless and desolate they float;\n No more for waiting courtiers ply,\n As in Imperial days remote.\nENVOY\nOn the straight cedar-shafts the moss grows green,\n Witness how long this solitude has been!\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu \"\u2014Lay 78)\nBy Kuramochi no Asomi Chitos\u0113\nBy the wide sea, wherein the great whales dwell,\n Pleasant it is to wander o\u2019er the shore,\n And watch the seaweed tendrils undulate\n In the green depths translucent, to and fro.\n Fair 'tis to see the thousand ripples gleam,\n In endless sequence in the morning calm;\n And in the eventide to watch the curves\n Of myriad wavelets breaking ceaselessly;\n While always from the depths of ocean rolls\n Through months and years the ever-heaving swell.\n Pleasant it is on Suminoy\u00e9's strand\n To watch the great white combers break in foam\nSIGHS\nThe mists that drift across the hill\u2014\n High Hill of Ohonu\u2014\n They are my sighs that hover chill,\n Of sorrow born across the hill\u2014\n High Hill of Ohonu!\nBy Tanobe Sakimaro\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu\"\u2014A.D. 744)\nGentle the rise of wooded hills,\n The rapid's murmur pleasant falls,\n With rippled song and rushing trills\n There by Futagi's Palace walls,\n Where our great Prince and sacred Lord\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rules as he wills.\nLong as in Spring, when soft and clear,\n The warblers\u2019 liquid love-song flows,\n Upon the rocks resplendent flung,\n The rich brocade of blossom glows,\n Brightening the sombre mountain-foot\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With gold and rose.\nLong as in Autumn when afar\n Unto his mate the proud stag calls,\n From the brown boughs, a crimson star,\n Trailing to earth, the red leaf falls,\n Hurt by the rainy gusts that sweep\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Through Heaven's blue halls.\nSo while a thousand years go by,\n Still may His life endure, august,\n While the great Palace shall defy\n Ages where Empires turn to dust.\n Still may the Gods preserve His sway\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Imperial, just!\n(Lay 117 from the \"Many\u00f4shiu\"\u2014A.D. 728)\nHeavy the burden of this Life to bear!\n By some strange chance we come into this world;\n Yet, live or die, for us one Duty still\n Shines through the dark perplexities of earth,\n Obedience to the bidding of our Lord!\n Therefore, O friend I while yet thy mortal frame\n Dwells in this world, liege-loyal must thou bide\n To thy great Sovereign\u2014thou who farest forth\n Guard to the distant frontier far away,\n With a great company\u2014as wild-fowl flock,\n Winging their flight in the pale shine of Dawn!\n Forget not thou, in far-flung wilds thy friend\n Left far behind in the City-Royal here,\n Whose love is thine, tho\u2019 long thine absence be!\nEnvoy\nTo Koshi as thou farest, crossing hills\n Steep and snow-clad, thy friend remember still\n Who, left behind, ever remembers thee I\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu.\")\nBy One of the Ladies of the Court\nI may not follow where my Lord\n Blissful ascends to Heaven's high plant;\n But, far from Him whom I adored,\n My sleeve is wet with bitter rain\u2014\n Earthly and mortal I abide\n From His dear Presence sundered wide.\nWere I a jewelled ornament,\n A vesture, an embroidered sleeve,\n I had not been so rudely rent\n From Him I saw but yester-eve\n In a dream-vision\u2014Heaven-seat.\n31:* The son of Mikado Temmu, and a valiant warrior; died A.D. 696.","title":"The Master-Singers of Japan: III.","type":"page"}