The Secret History of the Mongols

And Other Pieces

The Arthur Waley Estate, Arthur Waley

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781136748233
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Asian Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

First published in 1963. The Secret History (so called merely because it was meant for the Mongols and not for the Chinese, ) has been chiefly studied from a learned point of view and its quality as literature and hence its value to the lay reader have been greatly overlooked. The Chinese version has been used, but with constant reference to the Mon

SOME POEMS FROM THE
MANYOSHU AND RYOJIN HISSHO

I. Manyō. Of the 4,100 short poems in the Manyōshū, about 200 have been translated, by Florenz,¹ Aston,² Dickins,³ and others.⁴ Many more deserve translation, particularly the dialect-songs, which have been avoided by previous translators. A few of these (noted as such when they occur), and some fifty other songs not hitherto translated, will be found below, with text and rendering.

For general information with regard to the Manyō,, I must refer my reader to the works mentioned at the foot of this page. The order of the poems is that of the Manyō; the numbers, those of the Kokka Daikwan.

95. Ware wa mo yo Yasumiko etari, Mina hito no Egate ni su tou Yasumiko etaril

I have got her, Have got Yasumiko; She who for any man Was thought hard to get, Yasumiko I have got!

By Fujiwara no Kamatari (AD 614–59). This song, astounding in its simplicity, was made by Kamatari when he married the lady-in-waiting Yasumiko.

123. Takeba nure; Takaneba nagaki Imo ga kami, Kono-goro minu ni Midare tsuramu ka?

When it is put up, it straggles; When it is let down, it is too long, My lady's hair! This great while that I have not seen her How tangled it must have grown!

1 Geschichte der japanischen Literatur.

2 History of Japanese Literature.

3 Japanese Texts.

4 e.g. Waley, Japanese Poetry (Clarendon Press, 1919).

By Mikata no Sami.¹

124. Hito mina wa ‘Ima wa nagashi’ to, ‘Take’ to iyedo, Kimi ga mishi kami Midaritari to mo—

Every one is saying ‘Now it is too long’ And ‘Put it up’; But the hair that you used to look at, However tangled it may grow—

(Reply to above.)

125. Tachibana no Kage fumu michi no Ya-chimata ni Mono wo zo omou Imo ni awazute!

What longing fills my heart When at the meeting o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• CHINA: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, ECONOMICS
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Preface
• Contents
• Anquetil-Duperron and Sir William Jones
• A Chinese Poet in Central Asia
• Lo-yang and its Fall
• Some Chinese Ghosts
• Some Far-Eastern Dreams
• The Toetry of Chinese Mirrors
• Chinese Stones about Actors
• The Green Bower Collection
• Shiba Kōkan
• Some Poems from the Manyo and Ryojin Hissho
• Kono Tabi; a little-known Japanese Religion
• The Chinese Cinderella Story
• China's Greatest Writer
• Blake the Taoist
• History and Religion
• Notes on Translation
• The Ainu Epic
• Ainu Song
• The Owl Speaks. An Ainu Story
• The Secret History of the Mongols
• La Vie de Pierre Rufin, a review
• The Coal-Scuttle
• The Hymn of the Soul
• ORIGINAL PIECES