Poetry has been a major Japanese influence on the literature of many countries. In the early waka and later haiku forms, poets strove for the utmost conciseness and vividness; always linking emotions or ideas to natural objects. The gem-like brilliance of these extremely restricted forms has attracted many modern Western poets. The following poems are from two classic collections of Japanese verse, the Manyoshu and the Kokinoshu.
From the early section of the love poems of the Kokinoshu.
In the autumn fields
mingled with the pampas grass
flowers are blooming
should my love too, spring forth
or shall we never meet?
Mibu no Tadamine: On Kasuga plain
Having seen a young lady at the Kasuga festival, Tadamine asked where she lived and sent this poem.
On Kasuga plain
between those patches of snow
just beginning to sprout,
glimpsed, the blades of grass,
like those glimpses of you.
Ono no Komachi: The hue of the cherry (9th C. CE)
Ono no Komachi was a fine poet, but she was also a great court beauty whose love affairs became the plots of more than one Noh drama. Many of her poems used multiple puns (called "pivot words") to create complex layers of meaning.
In what way does the poet compare herself to the cherry blossoms in the spring rain?
The hue of the cherry
fades too quickly from sight
all for nothing
this body of mine grows old --
spring rain ceaselessly falling.
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