Sakyō Taiu Michimasa

Reading tools

Contents

Display

Soundscape

Focus mode

Listen

Offline

Save

Collection

1 min read 215 wordsCompare

Sacred Texts Japan Buy this Book on Kindle

A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com

p. 63

63 THE SHINTO OFFICIAL MICHIMASA, OF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CAPITAL

SAKYŌ TAIU MICHIMASA

Ima wa tada
Omoi-taenamu
Tobakari wo
Hitozute narade
Iu yoshi mo gana.

IF we could meet in privacy,
  Where no one else could see,
Softly I'd whisper in thy ear
  This little word from me—
  'I'm dying, Love, for thee.'

Michimasa was a member of the Fujiwara family, who lived about the year 1030. He fell in love with the Princess Masako, a priestess of Ise; but when the Emperor heard of this, he put the Princess into confinement, where she was strictly guarded by female warders, and this verse was Michimasa's request to her to try to arrange a private meeting with him. The words omoi-taenamu, which is the message he sends to her, mean, 'I shall die of love'; but they can also mean 'I shall think no more about you'; so perhaps he intended the verse to be read in different ways, according to whether it reached the Princess, or fell into the hands of her guards. In the picture Michimasa is shown outside the fortress, where the Princess is confined.

Ask PRATIBHA about this text

Answers quote this scripture directly and show their sources.

Reflect on this passage

Only you can see these notes. They stay on this device.