Poem 20, by Princess Nukata, from Vol. 1 of the Man'yoshu

Poem attributed to Princess Nukata from the Man'yoshu

Text of the poem in Japanese:














[A transliteration of the Japanese text:]

Akane sasu
murasaki-no yuki
shime-no yuki
nomori wa mizu ya
kimi ga sode furu



[English translation by Ian Hideo Levy:]


Going over the fields of murasaki grass
that shimmer crimson,
going over the fields marked as imperial domain,
will the guardian of the fields not see you
as you wave your sleeves at me?


Note - The poems in the Man'yoshu date from approximately 600-760 A.D.

Source of the text [original Japanese text, transliteration, and English translation] - Love Songs from the Man'yoshu: Selections from a Japanese Classic, Commentary by Ooka Makoto, Translation by Ian Hideo Levy.  Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2000, p. 26.

TJB: Hear the force of sleeves not arms & of repeating fields to stress the speaker too is imperial domain. When could she say this to her lover?