A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com
A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com
How I regret my fallen friends
How I despise my foes!
And, tired of life, I only seek
To reach my long day's close,
And gain at last repose.
The Emperor Gotoba, or Toba II, reigned A.D. 1186-1198. He was the son of the retired Emperor Takakura, and was banished to Amagori, in the Oki Islands, where he took the name of Sen-Tei, busied himself in making swords, and died in the year 1239. He was very sensitive to noises, and it is said that the frogs of the pool of Shike-kuro have been dumb ever since the year 1200; for their croaking at night disturbed his rest, and he commanded them to be silent. It was in the eleventh year of his reign that the title of Shōgun was created and conferred upon the great General Yoritomo; which title, down to the year 1868, was borne by the real rulers of the country, the Emperor himself being not much more than a figure-head.
Notice the resemblance in sound between the first and second lines, and between the fourth and fifth lines, not fully brought out in the translation.
