The Kokinshu: Love at First Sight
Here's one to celebrate Valentine's Day!! I'm going to include the Japanese version of this as well to add to the romance of it. Don't kill me just yet for being too lame and cheesy!
On the day of an archery meet at the riding grounds of the Right Imperial Guards, Narihira glimpsed a woman's face through the hangings of the carriage opposite his. He sent her this poem.
mizu mo arazu
mi mo senu hito no
koishiku wa
ayanaku kyo ya
nagame kurasan
Not hidden and yet
not disclosed was one for whom my
heart leapt in new-found
love must I now spend the day
in unavailing yearnings
~ Ariwara no Narihira
An annual equestrian archery contest was held on the Imperial Palace grounds on the sixth of the fifth month. Carriages of the nobility were enclosed with hanging blinds and brocades through which tantalizing glimpses of the occupants might be captured.
The Kokinshu is a compilation of well over a thousand short poems composed by Japanese poets in the Heian period (as ordered by Emperer Uda). It dates all the way back roughly to the year 905. I have fallen in love with these poems! The book I'm pulling these poems from deserve the following credits: John Timothy Wixted (Author), Leonard Grzanka (Author), Laurel Rasplica Rodd (Translator), Mary Catherine Henkenius (Translator) The book itself can be purchased on Amazon if you follow this link. Please keep in mind that The Kokinshu has been published by many different publishers and translated by many different people over time. I'm simply sharing with you the translations from one book.