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


p. 80

80

LADY HORIKAWA, IN ATTENDANCE ON THE DOWAGER EMPRESS TAIKEN

TAIKEN MON-IN HORIKAWA

  Nagakaran
Kokoro mo shirazu
  Kuro kami no
Midarete kesa wa
Mono wo koso omoe.

MY doubt about his constancy
  Is difficult to bear;
Tangled this morning are my thoughts,
  As is my long black hair.
  I wonder—Does he care?

Lady Horikawa was the daughter of the First Adviser of State, Sane-kyo, who lived about the year 1142. In this verse she is anxiously pondering, how long her lover will continue to be true to her; and she discovers, that her ideas on the subject are as tangled and disordered as her hair is.


Next: 81. The Minister-of-the-Left of the Tokudai Temple: Go Tokudai-ji Sadaijin