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We know very little about Ono no Komachi aside from that she was female, a poet, and the subject of numerous medieval legends about her beauty and hard-heartedness. Our best guess as to her dates is "active in the 850s," and as to her background, "probably a lady-in-waiting to someone in the capital." Her parentage is unknown, but the Ono clan held a number of ritual positions, apparently hereditary, and included some of the literary figures of mid-9th century Japan. Her own poetry had enough reputation in her own time that it was discussed in the Kokinshu prefaces, thus making her one of the so-called Six Poetic Geniuses of the early Heian period.
Of the 100-odd surviving poems ascribed to Komachi, only the 18 in the Kokinshu (compiled while people who might have known her were still alive) and possibly the 4 in the Gosenshu (compiled fifty years later out of the former's discards) are considered reliable attributions. Most of these are love poems, though some of those are placed in other topical sections. A few are flirtatious exchanges with men (all active mid-century), the sort of social poetry that was part of daily life among the Heian aristocracy; most have no context, but are personal and informal, and include some of the most passionate works of classical Japanese literature. All show her as a superb poetic technician, and especially a master of pivot-words (words or phrases used punningly in more than one sense simultaneously understood), used not just for decoration but in service of being, by turns, passionate, witty, sarcastic, and regretful.
In short, she is (with Tsurayuki and Narihira) one of the three best poets of the Kokinshu era.
Below the fold are all her Kokinshu poems. Unlike Tsurayuki's, I can't say a single one of these translations feels even adequate, let alone partakes of that quality Aristotle called "being good." I can only hope for some measure of accuracy, if "accurate" has any meaning when it comes to figurative language. As always, corrections and suggestions for improvement welcome.
( When we cannot meet / because there is no moonlight, / I wake up -- blaze up / with longing -- my breast pounding -- / sparks fly -- my troubled heart chars )
For more information, resources, and translations, the Other Women's Voices page on Komachi is, as often the case, a good place to start.
ETA: The 4 Gosenshu poems are here.
(Index to this project)
Of the 100-odd surviving poems ascribed to Komachi, only the 18 in the Kokinshu (compiled while people who might have known her were still alive) and possibly the 4 in the Gosenshu (compiled fifty years later out of the former's discards) are considered reliable attributions. Most of these are love poems, though some of those are placed in other topical sections. A few are flirtatious exchanges with men (all active mid-century), the sort of social poetry that was part of daily life among the Heian aristocracy; most have no context, but are personal and informal, and include some of the most passionate works of classical Japanese literature. All show her as a superb poetic technician, and especially a master of pivot-words (words or phrases used punningly in more than one sense simultaneously understood), used not just for decoration but in service of being, by turns, passionate, witty, sarcastic, and regretful.
In short, she is (with Tsurayuki and Narihira) one of the three best poets of the Kokinshu era.
Below the fold are all her Kokinshu poems. Unlike Tsurayuki's, I can't say a single one of these translations feels even adequate, let alone partakes of that quality Aristotle called "being good." I can only hope for some measure of accuracy, if "accurate" has any meaning when it comes to figurative language. As always, corrections and suggestions for improvement welcome.
( When we cannot meet / because there is no moonlight, / I wake up -- blaze up / with longing -- my breast pounding -- / sparks fly -- my troubled heart chars )
For more information, resources, and translations, the Other Women's Voices page on Komachi is, as often the case, a good place to start.
ETA: The 4 Gosenshu poems are here.
(Index to this project)