Komachi was one of the pillars of Japanese Heian era poetry. She served in the court in the capitol city of Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto).
Komachi’s poetry was extremely passionate, deeply subjective and complex. She was of a poetical society that developed the form with philosophical and emotional depth.
My study of Komachi is just beginning and it’s better we allow her words to lead us into her world.
Lady Nyo
Ono No Komachi
Did he appear
because I fell asleep
thinking of him?
If only I’d known I was dreaming,
I’d never have wakened.
2.
When my desire
grows too fierce
I wear my bed clothes
inside out,
dark as the night’s rough husk.
3.
No way to see him
on this moonless night–
I lie awake longing, burning,
breasts racing fire,
heart in flames.
4.
Though I go to him constantly on the paths of dream,
never resting my feet,
in the real world
it doesn’t equal a single glance.
5.
The cicadas sing
in the twilight
of my mountain village–
tonight, no one
will visit save the wind.
—-From “The Ink Dark Moon”, Hirshfield and Aratani