The Romance of the Milky Way Part 2

[_Over the Rapids of the Everlasting Heaven, floating in his boat, my lord will doubtless deign to come to me this very night._]

Kaze k.u.mo wa Futatsu no kis.h.i.+ ni Kayoedomo, Waga toho-tsuma no Koto zo kayowanu!

[_Though winds and clouds to either bank may freely come or go, between myself and my faraway spouse no message whatever may pa.s.s._]

Tsubute[9] ni mo Nage kos.h.i.+tsu-beki, Amanogawa Hedatereba ka mo, Amata sube-naki!

[_To the opposite bank one might easily fling a pebble; yet, being separated from him by the River of Heaven, alas! to hope for a meeting (except in autumn) is utterly useless._]

[Footnote 9: The old text has _tabute_.]

Aki-kaze no f.u.kinis.h.i.+ hi yori "Itsus.h.i.+ka" to--; Waga machi kois.h.i.+ Kimi zo kimaseru.

[_From the day that the autumn wind began to blow (I kept saying to myself), "Ah! when shall we meet?"--but now my beloved, for whom I waited and longed, has come indeed!_]

Amanogawa Ito kawa-nami wa Tatanedomo, Samorai gatas.h.i.+-- Chikaki kono se wo.

[_Though the waters of the River of Heaven have not greatly risen, (yet to cross) this near stream and to wait upon (my lord and lover) remains impossible._]

Sode furaba Mi mo kawas.h.i.+tsu-beku Chika-keredo, Wataru sube nas.h.i.+, Aki nis.h.i.+ araneba.

[_Though she is so near that the waving of her (long) sleeves can be distinctly seen, yet there is no way to cross the stream before the season of autumn._]

Kagero no Honoka ni miete Wakarenaba;-- Motonaya kon Au-toki made wa!

[_When we were separated, I had seen her for a moment only,--and dimly as one sees a flying midge;[10] now I must vainly long for her as before, until time of our next meeting!_]

Hikobos.h.i.+ no Tsuma mukae-bune Kogizuras.h.i.+,-- Ama-no-Kawara ni Kiri no tateru wa.

[Footnote 10: _Kagero_ is an obsolete form of _kager[=o]_, meaning an ephemera.]

[_Methinks that Hikobos.h.i.+ must be rowing his boat to meet his wife,--for a mist (as of oar-spray) is rising over the course of the Heavenly Stream._]

Kasumi tatsu Ama-no-Kawara ni, Kimi matsu to,-- Ikay[=o] hodo ni Mono-suso nurenu.

[_While awaiting my lord on the misty sh.o.r.e of the River of Heaven, the skirts of my robe have somehow become wet._]

Amanogawa, Mi-tsu no nami oto Sawagu-nari: Waga matsu-kimi no Funade-suras.h.i.+ mo.

[_On the River of Heaven, at the place of the august ferry, the sound of the water has become loud: perhaps my long-awaited lord will soon be coming in his boat._]

Tanabata no Sode maku yo no Akatoki wa, Kawase no tazu wa Nakazu to mo yos.h.i.+.

[_As Tanabata (slumbers) with her long sleeves rolled up, until the reddening of the dawn, do not, O storks of the river-shallows, awaken her by your cries._[11]]

[Footnote 11: Lit., "not to cry out (will be) good"--but a literal translation of the poem is scarcely possible.]

Amanogawa Kiri-tachi-wataru: Ky[=o], ky[=o], to-- Waga matsu-kos.h.i.+ Funade-suras.h.i.+!

[_(She sees that) a mist is spreading across the River of Heaven.... "To-day, to-day," she thinks, "my long-awaited lord will probably come over in his boat."_]

Amanogawa, Yasu no watari ni, Fune ukete;-- Waga tachi-matsu to Imo ni tsuge koso.

[_By the ferry of Yasu, on the River of Heaven, the boat is floating: I pray you tell my younger sister[12] that I stand here and wait._]

[Footnote 12: That is to say, "wife." In archaic j.a.panese the word _imo_ signified both "wife" and "younger sister." The term might also be rendered "darling" or "beloved."]

[=O]-sora yo Kay[=o] ware sura, Na ga yue ni, Amanokawa-ji no Nazumite zo kos.h.i.+.

[_Though I (being a Star-G.o.d) can pa.s.s freely to and fro, through the great sky,--yet to cross over the River of Heaven, for your sake, was weary work indeed!_]

Yachihoko no Kami no mi-yo yori Tomos.h.i.+-zuma;-- Hito-s.h.i.+ri ni keri Tsugites.h.i.+ omoeba.

[_From the august Age of the G.o.d-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears_,[13] _she had been my spouse in secret_[14] _only; yet now, because of my constant longing for her, our relation has become known to men._]

[Footnote 13: Yachihoko-no-Kami, who has many other names, is the Great G.o.d of Izumo, and is commonly known by his appellation Oho-kuni-nus.h.i.+-no-Kami, or the "Deity-Master-of-the Great-Land." He is locally wors.h.i.+ped also as the G.o.d of marriage,--for which reason, perhaps, the poet thus refers to him.]

[Footnote 14: Or, "my seldom-visited spouse." The word _tsuma_ (_zuma_), in ancient j.a.panese, signified either wife or husband; and this poem might be rendered so as to express either the wife's or the husband's thoughts.]

Ame tsuchi to Wakares.h.i.+ toki yo Onoga tsuma; s.h.i.+ka zo te ni aru Aki matsu are wa.

[_From the time when heaven and earth were parted, she has been my own wife;--yet, to be with her, I must always wait till autumn._[15]]

[Footnote 15: By the ancient calendar, the seventh day of the seventh month would fall in the autumn season.]

Waga k[=o]ru Niho no omo wa Koyo mo ka Ama-no-kawara ni Is.h.i.+-makura makan.

[_With my beloved, of the ruddy-tinted cheeks_,[16] _this night indeed will I descend into the bed of the River of Heaven, to sleep on a pillow of stone._]

[Footnote 16: The literal meaning is "_beni_-tinted face,"--that is to say, a face of which the cheeks and lips have been tinted with _beni_, a kind of rouge.]

Amanogawa.

Mikomori-gusa no Aki-kaze ni Nabikafu mireba, Toki kitaruras.h.i.+.

[_When I see the water-gra.s.ses of the River of Heaven bend in the autumn wind (I think to myself): "The time (for our meeting) seems to have come."_]

Waga seko ni Ura-koi oreba, Amanogawa Yo-fune kogi-toyomu Kaji no 'to kikoyu.

[_When I feel in my heart a sudden longing for my husband_,[17] _then on the River of Heaven the sound of the rowing of the night-boat is heard, and the plash of the oar resounds._]

[Footnote 17: In ancient j.a.panese the word _seko_ signified either husband or elder brother. The beginning of the poem might also be rendered thus:--"When I feel a secret longing for my husband," etc.]

T[=o]-zuma to Tamakura kawas.h.i.+ Netaru yo wa, Tori-gane na naki Akeba aku to mo!

[_In the night when I am reposing with my (now) far-away spouse, having exchanged jewel-pillows_[18] _with her, let not the c.o.c.k crow, even though the day should dawn._]

[Footnote 18: "To exchange jewel-pillows" signifies to use each other's arms for pillows. This poetical phrase is often used in the earliest j.a.panese literature. The word for jewel, _tama_, often appears in compounds as an equivalent of "precious," "dear," etc.]