英語訳
## *Ryūkō Dōke Sanjūrokkasen* — The Trendy Burlesque Thirty-six Poetry Immortals (Measles Edition)
**[Note: Only twenty-six poems are confirmed; more may follow on subsequent pages.]**
This document is a comic parody (*mitate*) of the classical anthology of the "Thirty-six Poetry Immortals" (*Sanjūrokkasen*), in which the famous waka poems of Japan's greatest classical poets are rewritten as humorous verses lamenting the suffering caused by a measles (*hashika*) epidemic. Each parody verse is paired with the original classical poem it parodies (shown in brackets).
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**Emperor Tenji**
What a shock — this measles sickness,
House after house, my children too
have finally fallen ill.
[Original: *Aki no ta no / kariho no io no / toma wo arami / waga koromode ni / tsuyu wa okitsutsu* — "The thatch of the harvest-shelter in the autumn rice field is so coarse that dew settles on my sleeve."]
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**Emperor Jitō**
Spring has passed and summer has come,
yet this commotion — not a single child
abandons measles, O mountain!
[Original: *Haru sugite / natsu ki ni kerashi / shirotahe no / koromo hosu chō / Ama no Kaguyama* — "Spring has passed and summer seems to have come: white robes are being dried on Mount Kaguyama in Heaven."]
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**Kakinomoto no Hitomaro**
Struck down by the fever that rises and falls,
rambling in delirium through the long, long night —
how I suffer, on and on.
[Original: *Ashihiki no / yamadori no o no / shidari-o no / naganagashi yo wo / hitori kamo nemu* — "Like the long, long tail of the copper pheasant of the hills, must I sleep alone through this long, long night?"]
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**Yamabe no Akahito**
Whatever shore I drift to,
looking everywhere — "the doctor and the medicine shop!" —
gold falls like snow upon their counters.
[Original: *Tago no ura ni / uchi-idete mireba / shirotahe no / Fuji no takane ni / yuki wa furitsutsu* — "Coming out upon the Bay of Tago and looking, I see white snow falling continuously on the lofty peak of Fuji."]
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**Lord Harumaru (parody of Ariwara no Narihira)**
Even the mistress, red as autumn leaves,
swells up and groans —
hearing her voice is so sorrowful.
[Original: *Okuyama ni / momiji fumiwake / naku shika no / koe kiku toki zo / aki wa kanashiki* — "When I hear the cry of the deer walking through the deep mountains, treading through the autumn leaves, that is when autumn is most melancholy."]
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**Abe no Nakamaro**
Gazing back across the world below,
I see this measles epidemic —
how many people has it touched?
[Original: *Ama no hara / furisake mireba / Kasuga naru / Mikasa no yama ni / ideshi tsuki kamo* — "Looking far off into the sky, I wonder — is that the same moon that rose over Mount Mikasa in Kasuga?"]
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**Ono no Komachi**
The color of her face has turned deep red;
oh, how pitiful — while my own body
burns with fever, unnoticed.
[Original: *Hana no iro wa / utsuri ni keri na / itazura ni / waga mi yo ni furu / nagame seshi ma ni* — "The color of the flower faded in vain, while I was lost in idle thoughts, as the long rains fell."]
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**Priest Kisen (parody)**
My household cannot eat properly nor make a living —
because of measles, things are shut down,
or so people say.
[Original: *Waga io wa / miyako no tatsumi / shika zo sumu / yo wo Ujiyama to / hito wa iu nari* — "My hut is to the southeast of the capital; thus I live — the world, they say, is Mount Uji to me."]
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**Semimaru**
Melons, peaches, plums, apricots —
none can be eaten; soba or udon too —
nearly all of it is poison (forbidden during measles recovery).
[Original: *Kore ya kono / yuku mo kaeru mo / wakarete wa / shiru mo shiranu mo / Ausaka no Seki* — "This is the place — the Barrier of Meeting Hill, where those who go and those who return, those who know each other and those who don't, all must part."]
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**Councillor Takamura (Sangi Takamura)**
No sooner had the fever come
than it relapsed five times, bringing numbness,
cramping muscles — adrift like a fishing boat.
[Original: *Wata no hara / yasoshima kakete / kogi-idenu to / hito ni wa tsuge yo / ama no tsuribune* — "Tell them — that I have set out rowing across the wide ocean, heading toward the eighty islands — O fisherman's boat!"]
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**Archpriest Henjō**
On top of everything, the feverish heat of a cold
is blown away, and barely,
let it be stayed a while.
[Original: *Amatsu kaze / kumo no kayoiji / fukitoje yo / otome no sugata / shibashi todomemu* — "O heavenly wind, close off the path through the clouds, so that the maiden's form might linger here a while longer."]
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**Prince Motoyoshi**
Seeing sake, he craves it greedily —
filthy habit! Even if it might kill him,
he still intends to drink.
[Original: *Wabinureba / ima wa ta onaji / Naniwa naru / mi wo tsukushite mo / awamu to zo omou* — "Since I am already in despair, it is all the same now — even if I must exhaust myself like the channel-markers of Naniwa, I intend to meet you."]
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**Ariwara no Narihira**
The scolded child won't listen,
the spoiled brat won't take medicine —
instead swilling water!
[Original: *Chihayaburu / kamivo mo kikazu / Tatsutagawa / karakurenai ni / mizu kukuru to wa* — "Even the age of the mighty gods never heard of this — that the Tatsuta River should dye its waters a deep scarlet."]
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**Priest Sosei**
Having said only "cut out the bad food,"
waiting out the long, long
seventy-five days of convalescence.
[Original: *Ima kon to / iishi bakari ni / Nagatsuki no / ariake no tsuki wo / machi-idetsuru kana* — "Because you said only 'I will come soon,' I have waited out the night and seen the dawn moon of the long ninth month."]
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**Fumiya no Yasuhide**
Because one falls ill, again and again it
relapses — this is something that
will cost a life, they say.
[Original: *Fuku kara ni / aki no kusaki no / shiorureba / mube yamakaze wo / arashi to iu ramu* — "Because it blows so forcefully that the plants and trees of autumn wither, it is rightly called 'arashi' (storm/mountain wind)."]
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**Ōe no Chisato**
When sick, day after day
one cannot eat — my own body,
but it is not my affliction alone (everyone suffers).
[Original: *Tsuki mireba / chiji ni mono koso / kanashikere / waga mi hitori no / aki ni wa aranedo* — "Looking at the moon, a thousand sorrows fill me — yet this autumn does not belong to me alone."]
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**Kanke (Sugawara no Michizane)**
This time, without even changing doctors,
alone crossing the pass,
left entirely to the mercy of the illness.
[Original: *Kono tabi wa / nusa mo toriahezu / Tamukeyama / momiji no nishiki / kami no manimani* — "This time I was not even able to prepare offerings — O Tamukeyama, let the brocade of autumn leaves serve as an offering to the gods."]
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**Minister of the Right Sanjō**
Famous for great commotion,
the seller of light-baked sweets (*karuyaki*), somehow —
if only there were a way to come through unknown!
[Original: *Na ni shi owaba / Ausaka yama no / sane kazura / hito ni shirarede / kuru yoshi mo gana* — "If it truly bears its name, then like the vine of Ausaka — 'meeting hill' — I wish there were a way to come to you unknown."]
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**Minamoto no Muneyuki**
The pleasure quarters are now lonelier than ever;
the teahouses and brothels are withering —
just thinking about it...
[Original: *Yamazato wa / fuyu zo sabishisa / masarikeru / hitome mo kusa mo / karenu to omoeba* — "In the mountain village, winter is loneliest of all — for both human visits and the grass have withered away."]
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**Mibu no Tadamine**
Doctors and medicine sellers are busy and thriving;
for their trade, measles alone
is the best thing there is.
[Original: *Ariake no / tsure naku mieshi / wakare yori / akatsuki bakari / uki mono wa nashi* — "Since that parting when the dawn moon looked so cold and indifferent, nothing has seemed as painful as the break of day."]
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**Ukon**
Being exorcised, consulting spirit-mediums,
performing *kaji* and *kitō* prayers — people find
life so precious indeed.
[Original: *Wasurureru / mi wo ba omowazu / chikahiteshi / hito no inochi no / oshiku mo aru kana* — "I do not grieve for myself, whom you have forgotten — but oh, how precious is the life of the one who swore to me."]
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**Lord Kentoku**
How pitiable it is —
the theater district, facing a long closure,
has surely come to that.
[Original: *Aware to mo / iu beki hito wa / omohoede / mi no itazura to / naru beki kana* — "There is no one who will say 'how sad' for me — and so my life must come to nothing."]
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**Sone no Yoshitada**
Merchants shuttered their doors all over town;
how many tens of thousands of shops —
there is no limit to count.
[Original: *Yura no to wo / wataru funabito / kaji wo tae / yukue mo shiranu / koi no michi kana* — "Like the boatman crossing the strait of Yura, who has lost his oar and drifts not knowing where — such is the path of love."]
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**Fujiwara no Yoshitaka**
The money earned from woolen cloth and cotton goods —
none of it sticks; this time, measles
has ground it all to nothing.
[Original: *Kimi ga tame / oshikarazarishi / inochi sae / nagaku mo gana to / omohi keru kana* — "This very life, which I did not begrudge giving for your sake — now I find myself wishing it could last longer."]
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**Ise no Taifu (Lady Ise no Osuke)**
The raw tuna of old,
bonito and skipjack in the old days —
these days, all forbidden to eat (during measles recovery).
[Original: *Inishie no / Nara no miyako no / yamazakura / kyō kokonoe ni / nioi nuru kana* — "The mountain cherry blossoms of the ancient capital of Nara — today their fragrance has drifted to this imperial court."]
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**Sei Shōnagon**
Late at night, when the fever runs high,
though I try to measure it,
the cough (the "barrier") will not relent all night.
[Original: *Yo wo komete / tori no sorane wa / hakaru tomo / yo ni Ausaka no / seki wa yurusaji* — "Even if you try to deceive with the false crowing of a cock before dawn, the Barrier of Meeting Hill will never let you pass."]
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