Ono no Komachi translation: "Autumn"

Watching wan moonlight

illuminate tree limbs,

my heart also brims,

overflowing with autumn.

"Autumn" by Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation  by Michael R. Burch

Autumn was a recurring theme in the exquisite poetry of Ono no Komachi, particularly autumn rains that left flowers wilted, colorless and bedraggled. The wilted flowers were metaphors for Komachi's fading beauty as she aged, while the autumn rains were metaphors for both Time and the tears Time all-too-often produces in human beings. 

These are my modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi, who wrote tanka (also known as waka) and was renowned for the beauty of her verse as well as for her physical beauty. Komachi is best known today for her pensive, melancholic and erotic love poems. Her bio follows the poems. 

If fields of autumn flowers

can shed their blossoms, shameless,

why can’t I also frolic here �"

as fearless, wild and blameless?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I had thought to pluck

the flower of forgetfulness

only to find it

already blossoming in his heart.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

So cruelly severed,

a root-cut reed…

if the river offered,

why not be freed?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:938), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The wildflowers and my love

wilted with the rain

as I idly wondered

where in the past does love remain?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:782), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Alas, the beauty of the flowers came to naught

as I watched the rain, lost in melancholic thought…

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:113), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Sad,

the end that awaits me �"

to think that before autumn yields

I'll be a pale mist

shrouding these rice fields.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:822), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Abandonment

This abandoned mountain shack �"

how many nights

has autumn sheltered there?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Am I to spend the night alone

atop this summit,

cold and lost?

Won't you at least lend me

your robes of moss?

�"Ono no Komachi (GSS XVII:1195), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Komachi wrote her poem about a visit she made to a temple. The moss robe refers to the coarse clothing worn by Buddhist monks and priests. The next poem was Henjo’s clever reply to the famous beauty:

Alas, my moss robe has just one layer,

yet not to share it would be inhospitable...

Come, let’s sleep together!

�"Henjo (GSS XVII:1196), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Ancient Feminism

Submit to you �" is that what you advise?

The way ripples do

whenever ill winds arise?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you �"

is that what you’re saying?

The way ripples do

whenever hot air is splaying?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

If fields of autumn flowers

can shed their blossoms, shameless,

why can’t I also frolic here �"

as fearless, wild and blameless?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Autumn Rains and Wilted Flowers

Time is a harsh mistress. Autumn rains and wilting flowers are metaphors for Komachi's tears over her loss of beauty and happiness as she aged...

Alas, the beauty of the flowers came to naught

as I watched the rain, lost in melancholy thought…

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:113), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Once-colorful flowers faded,

while in my drab cell

life’s impulse also abated

as the long rains fell.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:113), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This flower's color

has drained away,

while in idle thoughts

my life drained away

as the long rains fell.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:113), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Now that I approach

life’s inevitable winter

your ardor has faded

like blossoms left limp

by late autumn rains.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:113), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Two things wilt without warning,

bleeding away their colors:

a flower and a man's heart.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:797), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Watching the long, dismal rains

inundating the earth,

my heart too is washed out, bleeds off

with the colors of the late spring flowers.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:797), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I had thought to pluck

the flower of forgetfulness

only to find it

already blossoming in his heart.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

"It's over!"

Your words drizzle like dismal rains,

reducing me to tears

as I wilt with my years.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:782), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My body has wilted with late autumn rains;

now even your leaves lie colorless and scattered.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:782), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The colorless, scattered leaves might be those of love letters and books.

Like flowers wilted by drenching rains,

my beauty has faded in the onslaught of my forlorn years.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:782), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Ono no Sadaki wrote the following poem in response:

Heart,

if you were the last leaf on a barren tree,

then, and only then,

in obedience to the wind,

would you wisely fall and be consumed.

�"Ono no Sadaki (KKS XV:783), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

So lately severed,

a root-cut reed,

if the river offered,

why not be freed?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:938), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This aimlessly floating body?

This reed severed from its roots?

If the river offered me freedom

I think I'd follow…

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:938), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Wretched water-weed that I am,

severed from all roots:

should the rapids entice me,

why not welcome their lethal shoots?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:938), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

How brilliantly

tears rain upon my sleeve

in bright gemlets,

for my despair cannot be withstood,

like a surging flood!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:557), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Foolish teardrops, indeed, to form beads on a sleeve:

mine deluge the earth, undammable!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:557), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Komachi wrote her poem in reply to one by Abe no Kiyoyuki about tears his sleeve could not contain.

Watching wan moonlight flooding tree limbs,

my heart also brims,

overflowing with autumn.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Watching wan moonlight

illuminate bare limbs,

my heart also brims,

overflowing with autumn.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Sad,

the end that awaits me �"

to think that before autumn yields

I'll be a pale mist

shrouding these rice fields.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:822), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Now bitterly I watch fierce winds

battering the rice stalks,

suspecting I'll never again

find anything to harvest.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XV:822), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

In this dismal world 

the living decrease

as the dead increase…

Oh, how much longer

must I bear this body of grief?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Preferring Dreams to Reality

In eye-opening daylight

much stands revealed,

but when I see myself

reflected in hostile eyes

even dreams become nightmares.

Such wretchedness!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:656), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Terrible reality!

You must do as you must, I suppose.

But even protected in dreams from prying eyes,

to watch you still pains me so!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:656), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Since my body

was neglected by the one

who had promised faithfully to come,

I now lie here questioning its existence.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation

my desired beloved appeared to me;

therefore, dreams have become my reality

and consolation.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:553), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Did you appear

only because I was lost in love-thoughts

when I nodded off, day-dreaming of you?

(If I had known that you

couldn't possibly be true

I'd have never awakened!)

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:552), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I nodded off thinking about you

only to have you appear in my dreams.

Had I known that I slept,

I'd have never awakened!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:552), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Though I visit him nightly in my dreams,

the sum of all such ethereal trysts

is still less than one actual, solid glimpse.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:658), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Though I visit you

continually in my dreams,

the sum of all such ethereal trysts

is still less than one actual, solid glimpse.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:658), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I pursue you ceaselessly in my dreams…

yet we've never met; we're not even acquainted!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:658), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I think of you ceaselessly, with love…

and so … come to me tonight,

for in the flight of dreams,

no one can disapprove! 

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:657), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Yielding to a love

that recognizes no boundaries,

I will approach him by night�"

for the world cannot despise

a vagabond dreamer.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:657), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Yielding to dreams of limitless love,

a love with no boundaries,

I shall come tonight on the uncensored path

of a vagabond dreamer.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:657), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Night Sweats and Desire

These moonless nights,

with no way to meet him,

I grow restless with longing:

my breast’s an inferno,

my heart chars within me.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIX:1030), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I would meet him tonight

but the moon lights no path;

my desire for him,

smoldering in my breast,

chars my heart to ash!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIX:1030), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

These moonless nights,

when no star lights your way to me,

I lie awake, blazing with longing,

my breast an inferno,

while my heart chars within me.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIX:1030), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Overwhelmed by desire

in the lily-seed darkness,

tonight I'll turn my robe inside-out.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:554), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I ache so intensely

in the lily-seed night

that I'll turn my yakuta inside-out.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XII:554), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Japanese folklore held that if you wore your nightclothes inside-out, you’d see the person you desired in your dreams. A yakuta is a casual version of the kimono tied loosely with a sash and worn for bathing and sleeping.

Sleepless with loneliness,

I find myself longing for the handsome moon.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love and Loneliness

This unbreakable shackle, love,

chains me to this world of pain.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:939), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

That which men call "love" �"

is it not merely the shackling chain

preventing my escape

from this world of pain?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:939), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This "love" men tout and proclaim�"

is it not merely the shackles

preventing my escape from this world of pain?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:939), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love is man's most unbreakable bond.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:939), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Fiery coals searing my body

hurt me far less than the sorrow of separation.

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XX:1104), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Am I to spend the night alone

atop this summit,

cold and lost?

Won't you at least lend me

your robes of moss?

�"Ono no Komachi (GSS XVII:1195), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This abandoned mountain shack �"

how many nights

has autumn sheltered there?

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This vain life!

My looks and talents faded

like these cherry blossoms left limp

by endless dismal rains

that I now survey, alone.

�"Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Fishermen

Since there’s obviously nothing to catch

in this barren bay,

how can he fail to understand�"

this fisherman who persists in coming

until he collapses in the sand?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:623), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

There’s nothing to catch here in this barren bay,

so how can he fail to understand�"

this fisherman who persists in angling

until his weary legs collapse in the sand?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:623), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Am I a guide to rural fisherfolk?

What do I care where the anemones dwell?

Why ask me to reveal the inlet,

lead you to some dewy shell?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIV:727), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What do I know of villages

where fisherfolk dwell?

Why do you keep demanding

that I lead you to the inlet,

guide you to some pearly shell?

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIV:727), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Compelled by my longing,

I boarded desire’s drifting boat;

where I now float aimlessly,

with wave-drenched sleeves.

�"Ono no Komachi (GSS XI:779), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Oarless and rudderless,

beyond the help of the fisherfolk,

I’m wearied of crossing and re-crossing the sea...

�"Ono no Komachi (GSS XV:1090), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Flowers blooming but never blossoming,

never ripening to fruits:

the ocean garlanded by whitecaps.

�"Ono no Komachi (GSS XIX:1360), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Over-Hasty Dawn

Autumn nights are overrated,

for we had scarcely gazed into each other’s eyes

when the skies were immolated!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:635), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Autumn nights are "long"

only in verse and song:

for we had just begun

to gaze into each other’s eyes

when dawn immolated the skies!

�"Ono no Komachi (KKS XIII:635), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

SOTOBA KOMACHI

Sotoba Komachi (�'�"婆小�"�) is a modern Noh play by Yukio Mishima (1925-1970). Mishima's play is based on an ancient work by Kan'ami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384). The kanji �'�"婆 means "stupa" (the dome of a shrine) while the kanji 小�"� means "belle" or "beautiful woman." So the title may be interpreted as something like "Beauty's Shrine" or "Shrine to Beauty." Kan'ami was the first playwright to incorporate the Kusemai song and dance style and Dengaku dances into plays. He founded a sarugaku theater group in the Kansai region of Honshu; the troupe later moved to Yamato and formed the Yuzaki theater company, which would become the school of Noh theater.

Excerpts from SOTOBA KOMACHI

by KWANAMI

loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Priest of the Koyasan:

We who have built our homes on shallow slopes

now seek solitude in the heart's deep recesses.

Second Priest:

This single thought possessed me:

How I might bring a single seed to flower,

the wisdom of Buddha, the locus of our salvation,

until in despair I donned this dark cassock.

Ono no Komachi:

Lately so severed,

like a root-cut reed,

if the river offered,

why not be freed?

I would gladly go,

but here no wave stirs…

I was once full of pride

now fled with the years,

gone with dark tresses

and with lustrous locks;

I was lithe as a willow

in my springtime frocks;

I once sang like a nightingale

sipping dew;

I was wild as the rose

when the skies shone blue…

in those days before fall

when the long shadows grew.

But now I’ve grown loathsome

even to w****s;

even urchins abhor me;

men treat me with scorn…

Now I am nothing

but a poor, withered bough,

and yet there are wildflowers

in my heart, even now.

Only my body lingers, for my heart left this world long ago!

Priests (together):

O, piteous, piteous!

Is this the once-fabled flower-bright Komachi,

Komachi the Beautiful,

whose dark brows bridged eyes like young moons;

her face whitest alabaster forever;

whose many damask robes filled cedar-scented closets?

BIO

Ono no Komachi wrote tanka (also known as waka), the most traditional form of Japanese lyric poetry. She is an excellent representative of the Classical, or Heian, period (circa 794-1185 AD) of Japanese literature, and she is one of the best-known poets of the Kokinshu (circa 905), the first in a series of anthologies of Japanese poetry compiled by imperial order. She is also one of the Rokkasen �" the six best waka poets of the early Heian period, during which poetry was considered the highest art. Renowned for her unusual beauty, Komachi has become a synonym for feminine beauty in Japan. She is also included among the thirty-six Poetry Immortals. It is believed that she was born sometime between 820-830 and that she wrote most of her poems around the middle of the ninth century. She is best known today for her pensive, melancholic and erotic poems. Keywords/Tags: Ono no Komachi waka tanka translation Japanese love women womanhood feminist feminism