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


p. 83

83

TOSHI-NARI, A SHINTO OFFICIAL IN ATTENDANCE ON THE EMPRESS DOWAGER

KWŌ-TAI-KŌGŪ NO TAIU TOSHI-NARI

  Yo no naka yo
Michi koso nakere
  Omoi iru
Yama no oku ni mo
Shika zo naku naru.

FROM pain and sorrow all around
  There 's no escape, I fear;
To mountain wilds should I retreat,
  There also I should hear
  The cry of hunted deer.

Toshi-nari was a celebrated poet and nobleman in the reign of the Emperor Gotoba. He, however, gave up his position at Court and entered the church in the year 1176. He was the father of the writers of verses Nos. 94 and 97, and died in the year 1204, at the age of ninety-one.


Next: 84. The Minister Kiyo-suke Fujiwara: Fujiwara No Kiyo-suke Ason