The Romance of the Milky Way | Page 9

the time of their next meeting. This poem is said to have been composed in the seventh year of Y[=o]r[=o],--A.D. 723,--eleven hundred and eighty-two years ago.]
Hisakata no[8] Ama no kawas�� ni, Fun�� uk��t��, Koyo? ka kimi ga Agari kimasan?
[Footnote 8: Hisakata-no is a "pillow-word" used by the old poets in relation to celestial objects; and it is often difficult to translate. Mr. Aston thinks that the literal meaning of hisakata is simply "long-hard," in the sense of long-enduring,--hisa (long), katai (hard, or firm),--so that hisakata-no would have the meaning of "firmamental." Japanese commentators, however, say that the term is composed with the three words, hi (sun), sasu (shine), and kata (side);--and this etymology would justify the rendering of hisakata-no by some such expression as "light-shedding," "radiance-giving." On the subject of pillow-words, see Aston's Grammar of the Japanese Written Language.]
[Over the Rapids of the Everlasting Heaven, floating in his boat, my lord will doubtless deign to come to me this very night.]
Kaz�� kumo wa Futatsu no kishi ni Kayo?domo, 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 pass.]
Tsubut��[9] ni mo Nag�� koshitsu-b��ki, Amanogawa H��dat��r��ba ka mo, Amata sub��-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 tabut��.]
Aki-kaz�� no Fukinishi hi yori "Itsushika" to--; Waga machi ko?shi Kimi zo kimas��ru.
[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 Tatan��domo, Samorai gatashi-- Chikaki kono s�� 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.]
Sod�� furaba Mi mo kawashitsu-b��ku Chika-ker��do, Wataru sub�� nashi, Aki nishi aran��ba.
[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.]
Kag��ro? no Honoka ni mi��t�� Wakar��naba;-- Motonaya ko?n A��-toki mad�� 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!]
Hikoboshi no Tsuma muka?-bun�� Kogizurashi,-- Ama-no-Kawara ni Kiri no tat��ru wa.
[Footnote 10: Kag��ro? is an obsolete form of kag��r[=o], meaning an ephemera.]
[Methinks that Hikoboshi 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 shore 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 Funad��-surashi 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 Sod�� maku yo? no Akatoki wa, Kawas�� no tazu wa Nakazu to mo yoshi.
[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-ko?shi Funad��-surashi!
[(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, Fun�� uk��t��;-- Waga tachi-matsu to Imo ni tsug�� 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 Japanese the word imo signified both "wife" and "younger sister." The term might also be rendered "darling" or "beloved."]
[=O]-sora yo Kay[=o] war�� sura, Na ga yu�� ni, Amanokawa-ji no Nazumit�� zo koshi.
[Though I (being a Star-god) can pass 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 Tomoshi-zuma;-- Hito-shiri ni keri Tsugit��shi omo?ba.
[From the august Age of the God-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 God of Izumo, and is commonly known by his appellation Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, or the "Deity-Master-of-the Great-Land." He is locally worshiped also as the god of marriage,--for which reason,