Ono no Komachi Quotes

825–900 Japan

Ono no Komachi (小野小町; c. 825 – c. 900) was a Japanese waka poet. She was renowned for her unusual beauty, and Komachi is today a synonym for feminine beauty in Japan.

Japan
Poets

Random Ono no Komachi quote

17 quotes

Imperceptible
It withers in the world,
This flower-like human heart.

One Hundred Poems from the Japanese (1955)

The flowers and my love
Passed away under the rain,
While I idly looked upon them
Where is my yester-love?

Yone Noguchi's The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (1914)

Although I come to you constantly
over the roads of dreams,
those nights of love
are not worth one waking touch of you.

Women Poets of Japan (1982)

I fell asleep thinking of him,
and he came to me.
If I had known it was only a dream
I would never have awakened.

Women Poets of Japan (1982)

Autumn nights, it seems,
are long by repute alone:
scarcely had we met
when morning's first light appeared,
leaving everything unsaid.

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

Following the roads
Of dream to you, my feet
Never rest. But one glimpse of you
In reality would be
Worth all these many nights of love.

One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976)

Iro miede
Utsurou momo wa
Yo no naka no
Hito no kokoro no
Hana ni zo arikeru A thing which fades
With no outward sign—
Is the flower
Of the heart of man
In this world!

Iro miede
utsurou mono wa
yo no naka no
hito no kokoro no
hana ni zo arikeru

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

He does not come.
Tonight in the dark of the moon
I wake wanting him.
My breasts heave and blaze.
My heart chars.

Women Poets of Japan (1982)

This night of no moon
There is no way to meet him.
I rise in longing—
My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
My heart is consumed in fire.

Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955)

Alas! The beauty
of the flowers has faded
and come to nothing,
while I have watched the rain,
lost in melancholy thought.

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

In this forlorn state
I find life dreary indeed:
if a stream beckoned,
I would gladly cut my roots
and float away like duckweed.

Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985)

Yumeji ni wa
Ashi mo yasumezu
Kayoedo mo
Utsutsu ni hitome
Misbigoto wa arazu Following the roads
Of dream to you, my feet
Never rest. But one glimpse of you
In reality would be
Worth all these many nights of love.

You do not come
On this moonless night.
I wake wanting you.
My breasts heave and blaze.
My heart burns up.

One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976)

So lonely am I
My body is a floating weed
Severed at the roots.
Were there water to entice me,
I would follow it, I think.

Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955)

Omoitsutsu
Nureba ya hito no
Mietsuramu
Yume to shiriseba
Samezaramashi wo

Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955)

Hito ni awan
Tsuki no naki ni wa
Omoiokite
Mune hashiribi ni
Kokoro yakeori This night of no moon
There is no way to meet him.
I rise in longing—
My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
My heart is consumed in fire.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ono no Komachi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.