Fall Longing: Manyoshu Poem 488

Back to our regularly scheduled program, I wanted to share a neat little poem, composed by none other than Princess Nukata using the theme of Autumn and of a night tryst:

Original Manyogana	Modern Japanese	Romanization	Rough Translation
君待跡	君待つと	Kimi matsu to	As I wait for you
吾戀居者	我あが恋ひいをおれば	A ga koi oreba	in anticipation
我屋戸乃	我あが宿戸やどの	A ga yado no	the blinds
簾令動	簾動かし	Sudare ugokashi	of my window flutter
秋之風吹	秋の風吹く	Aki no kaze fuku	but it is only the autumn breeze…

Princess Nukata needs little introduction in the blog. She was the love interest of two powerful men, issued a call to war, and made quite a contribution to the Manyoshu anthology which the Hyakunin Isshu and other later anthologies are all based upon. My book about the Manyoshu, in talking about spring versus fall, listed this poem as an early, early example in Japanese poetry of using autumn to symbolize other things. In this case, a romantic meeting at night, and a woman who eagerly awaits her lover. The blinds alluded to here are sudaré blinds used in Japanese culture since antiquity and even to this day.

Beyond that, it’s just a neat poem.

Happy Autumn everyone! 🍁

P.S. There is still time to register for the Professor Mostow online lecture at the UW on October 23rd!