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65. Sagami, read aloud

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A Hundred Verses from Old Japan · 66 of 101

65. Sagami

65

SAGAMI

Urami wabi Hosanu sode dani Aru mono wo Koi ni kuchinamu Na koso oshikere.

BE not displeased, but pardon me, If still my tears o’erflow; My lover's gone, and my good name, Which once I valued so, I fear must also go.

This lady was the wife of Kinsuke Ōye, the Governor of the Province of Sagami, from which she got her name. The verse is said to have been composed at an Imperial poetical contest in the year 1051. The incidents mentioned in these verses are not all supposed to have really taken place; many of the poems, including this one, were simply written on a given subject for one of the poetical contests, which were so common at the period.