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


p. 43

43

THE IMPERIAL ADVISER YATSU-TADA

CHŪ-NAGON YATSU-TADA

  Ai-mite no
Nochi no kokoro ni
  Kurabureba
Mukashi wa mono wo
Omowazari keri.

HOW desolate my former life,
  Those dismal years, ere yet
I chanced to see thee face to face
  ’Twere better to forget
  Those days before we met.

Yatsu-tada was a member of the great Fujiwara family, and is said to have died in the year 943,

It is interesting to note in these illustrations, as in nearly all old Japanese pictures, that the artist either takes off the roof of the house or removes part of the wall when he wishes you to see what is going on indoors.


Next: 44. The Imperial Adviser Asa-tada: Chū-Nagon Asa-tada