‘A Conversation Between the Poor and the Poorer’ by Okura, Translated by Seiji Hakui

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A Conversation Between the Poor
and the Poorer, followed by an Envoi

From the book five of the Man’yōshū, this poem is
believed to be based on what the author witnessed
while working as a provincial governor, as it is unlikely
that Okura, a nobleman, experienced such extreme
poverty firsthand. His intention was probably to raise
awareness of poor people’s condition.

by Okura (c. 660 – 733)
translated from Old Japanese by Seiji Hakui

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The Poor Man

On nights when rain mingles with winds
__Or snowflakes with raindrops,
I sip, freezing, some white sake
__And bite a few salt blocks.

Coughing and sniffing all the time,
__I scratch my scattered beard,
Imagining myself being
__Someone greatly revered.

But still freezing, I pull hempen
__Blankets all over me
And wear all sleeveless shirts I have
__To cover my body.

How cold would be the parents of
__Someone poorer than me!
With your wife and children weeping,
__How hard your life must be!

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The Poorer Man

Though heaven and earth appear wide,
__They tightly me confine.
Though seem bright the sun and the moon,
__They never for me shine.

Is it just me, or others too?
__Born a man just like you,
I labor just like everyone else
__As I am meant to do,

But all I wear are tattered rags
__Hanging down like seaweed;
My bed’s a mat of straw on dirt;
__My hut has gone to seed;

My parents by my head, my wife
__And children by my feet,
Huddle together, whimpering,
__Dejected and downbeat;

No fire in our stove; cobwebs
__Collect in our clay bowls;
I forgot how to cook my rice;
__The nué all night mewls.

Yet, as if to trim a trimmed cloth,
__The village leader takes
Up his whip and comes to my hut:
__He all of us awakes

As pierces into our bedroom
__The angry voice of his.
Alas, how bitter and hopeless
__The way of the world is!

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The Envoi:

__O, no matter how
Shameful and miserable feels this world,
Never could I fly away like a bird!

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Notes

1. sleeveless shirts: Nuno-kata-ginu, a simple sleeveless shirt worn by commoners.
2. tattered rags: The original text specifies it as the same nuno-kata-ginu. Whereas the poor man has barely anything to wear but nuno-kata-ginus, the poorer man has nothing but a tattered nuno-kata-ginu, displaying a harsher situation.
3. The nué: I.e. the white’s thrush, known for making long whistles late at night. Because of the distinctive lonely tone of its whistles, the nué was considered sinister and dubbed the Yomi-tsu-Dori (lit. the bird of the underworld). The name nué was later adapted for a yokai believed to mimic the bird’s whistles.

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The original (reformatted to correspond to the translation):

貧窮問答歌

（貧者）
風交り雨降る夜の雨交り
雪降る夜はすべもなく
寒くしあれば、堅塩を
とりつづしろひ、糟湯酒うちすすろひて、

しはぶかひ、鼻びしびしに、
しかとあらぬひげ掻き撫でて、
我れをおきて人はあらじと誇ろへど、

寒くしあれば、麻衾
引き被り、布肩衣
ありのことごと着襲へども、

寒き夜すらを我れよりも
貧しき人の父母は
飢ゑ寒ゆらむ。妻子どもは
乞ふ乞ふ泣くらむ。この時は
いかにしつつか汝が世は渡る。

（窮者）
天地は広しといへど、我がためは
狭くやなりぬる。日月は
明しといへど、我がためは照りやたまはぬ。

人皆か、我のみやしかる
わくらばに人とはあるを、
人並に我れも作るを、

錦もなき布肩衣の
海松のごと、わわけさがれる
かかふのみ肩にうち掛け、
伏盦の曲盦の内に
直土に藁解き敷きて、

父母は枕の方に、
妻子どもは足の方に
囲み居て、憂へさまよひ、

かまどには火気吹き立てず、
甑には蜘蛛の巣かきて、
飯炊くことも忘れて、
ぬえ鳥ののどよひ居るに、

いとのきて短き物を
端切るといへるがごとく、
しもと取る里長が声は

寝屋処まで来立ち呼ばひぬ。
かくばかりすべなきものか、
世間の道。

反歌
世間を厭しと恥しと思へども
飛び立ちかねつ、鳥にしあらねば。

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About the Poet:
Okura of Yama-no-Ue (c. 660 – 733) was a Japanese nobleman, envoy to Tang Dynasty China, and one of the major poets of the Man’yōshū, the oldest collection of Japanese poetry. With the bulk of the Man’yōshū focusing on nature, seasons, love, travel, praising the emperors, etc., his poems stand out with their social themes and humane tones.

About the Translator:
Seiji Hakui (b. 1986) is a Japanese poet living in Tokyo. His debut collection of poems, “Sonnets and Translations”, composed entirely in Classical Japanese, was published in 2022 by Shichosha (http://www.shichosha.co.jp/newrelease/item_2891.html).