The Man’yoshu: A Tapestry of Love and Passion

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The Diverse Forms of Love Reflected in Japan’s Oldest Anthology

The Man’yoshu is Japan’s oldest anthology of poetry, a priceless literary treasure that candidly captures the emotions of people from all walks of life, from emperors to commoners.
The collection is organized into three main categories: Zoka (miscellaneous poems), which are about public events and travel; Banka (elegies), which are poems mourning the dead; and Somonka (exchanged poems), which, while also including verses between parents and children or friends, primarily focus on the love between men and women.

The love poems within the Man’yoshu are far more than simple romantic declarations.
They reveal a diverse range of human emotions, including intense passion, profound suffering, jealousy, and the struggle against social constraints.
This report analyzes this multifaceted world of “love and passion” through four key themes: “forbidden love” tangled with power and politics, “jealousy and hatred” born from love, poems expressing unrequited or straightforward passion, and “universal love” that transcends social status.
By exploring these verses, we can uncover the timeless human psychology hidden behind what may seem like ancient words, revealing a depth that still resonates today.

Table of Contents

10 Man’yoshu Poems: Tales of Intense and Heartbreaking Love

Poem (Modern Japanese)	Author	Brief Explanation
あかねさす紫野行き標野行き野守は見ずや君が袖振る ( Akane sasu Murasakino yuki shimeno yuki nomori wamizuya kimi ga sode furu )	Princess Nukata	This poem captures Princess Nukata’s conflicting feelings as she, caught between two powerful figures – Prince Oama (later Emperor Tenmu) and Emperor Tenji – waves her sleeve to a lover in public. It’s a love song filled with political tension and heartfelt emotion.
君が行き日長くなりぬ山尋ね迎へか行かむ待ちにか待たむ (Kimi ga yuki hinagakunarinu yamatazune mukaeka yukan machi ni ka matan)	Empress Iwa-no-Hime	Empress Iwa-no-Hime waits for the return of Emperor Nintoku, who is away on a journey. Her deep love and growing impatience are palpable. Though known for her jealousy, this poem reveals the depth of her devotion.
人言を繁み言痛みおのが世にいまだ渡らぬ朝川渡る (Hitogoto wo shigemi koto itami onoga yo ni imada wataranu asakawa wataru)	Princess Tajima	Princess Tajima, tormented by a forbidden love with her half-brother, describes the painful experience of crossing a river at dawn to avoid gossip. Her passion to pursue love despite social pressure is deeply moving.
我が心焼くも我なりはしきやし君に恋ふるも我が心から Waga kokoro yaku mo ware nari hashikiyashi kimi ni kofuru mo waga kokoro kara	Anonymous	A blunt expression of the conflicting emotions of love. The speaker’s heart is consumed by intense jealousy, yet that same heart cannot stop loving the person. This painful poem shows how love and hatred are two sides of the same coin.
相思はぬ人を思ふは大寺の餓鬼の後に額づくがごと (Aiawanu hito wo omou wa ohodera no gaki no shirie ni azuku ga goto)	Lady Kasa	Lady Kasa, suffering from unrequited love, uses a striking metaphor to convey her feelings. To love someone who doesn’t love you back is as futile as bowing and worshiping the rear of a statue of a hungry ghost (gaki) instead of a Buddha statue.
恋ひ恋ひて逢へる時だに愛しき言尽くしてよ長くと思はば (Koi koite au toki dani uruwashiki koto tsukushite yo nagaku to omowaba)	Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue	Known for her passionate nature, this poet, having finally met her lover, demands, “Speak all your lovely words, if you want our love to last long!” It’s a direct and passionate call for verbal reassurance.
阿胡の海の荒磯の上のさざれ波我が恋ふらくは止む時もなし (Ago no umi no araiso no ue no sazanami waga koururaku wa yamu toki mo nashi)	Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro	Part of a larger elegy, this poem was composed by Hitomaro as he left his wife behind. He swears his love will never end, just like the ceaseless ripples on the rough shores of Ago Bay.
多摩川にさらす手作りさらさらになにそこの児のここだかなしき (Tamagawa ni sarasutezukuri sarasarani nanzo kono kono kokoda kanashiki)	Anonymous (from *Azuma-uta*)	This folk song from Eastern Japan is a simple, direct expression of love. The speaker, seeing cloth being bleached in the Tamagawa River, wonders with pure sincerity why he finds this girl so endearing.
我が妻はいたく恋ひらし飲む水に影さへ見えてよに忘られず (Wagatsuma wa itakukoirashi nomumizuni kagesae miete yoni wasurarezu)	Anonymous (from *Sakimori-uta*)	A soldier, serving far from home, expresses his deep longing for his wife. He feels her love for him is so strong that he can even see her reflection in the water he drinks, unable to forget her.
黒髪に白髪交じり老ゆるまでかかる恋にはいまだあはなくに (Kurokamini shiraga majiri oyumade kakaru koi ni wa imada awanakuni)	Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue	The author writes that even as her black hair turns gray with age, she has never experienced such a painful and intense love. This poem shows that love can bring new, powerful emotions at any stage of life.

Forbidden Love Caught Between Power and Politics

In the Man’yoshu era, love among the imperial family was never a purely private matter; it was deeply intertwined with political dynamics.
The success of a love affair could become a tool in a power struggle, while its failure could influence the fate of the dynasty.
This chapter explores two imperial figures whose destinies were shaped by these forces.

Princess Nukata: In the Midst of Politics and Love

“Akane sasu Murasakino yuki shimeno yuki nomori wa mizu ya kimi ga sode furu“

This famous poem is believed to have been composed by Princess Nukata during a medicinal herb gathering led by what would become Emperor Tenji.
Princess Nukata’s life was complex: she was originally the wife of Prince Oama (later Emperor Tenmu) and mother to Princess Tochi, but she was later summoned to serve Emperor Tenji, Prince Oama’s brother.
This poem symbolically represents her position, caught between the two princes.

“Murasakino” (Purple Field) and “Shimeno” (Forbidden Field) in the poem were imperial hunting grounds and restricted areas, respectively.
The princess’s act of waving her sleeve to her beloved in such a public and restricted place carried the risk of being noticed by the “nomori,” or field wardens.
This poem is not merely about a secret rendezvous; it reflects the political tension and intricate human relationships within the ancient court.
One theory suggests that Prince Oama placed Princess Nukata close to Emperor Tenji to use her as a source of information to ensure his own safety.
The “forbidden” nuance in this poem goes beyond a simple romantic taboo, suggesting that love was part of a larger context of political alliances and information warfare within the imperial family.

Princess Tajima: Defying Public Gossip for Love

“Hitogoto wo shigemi koto itami onoga yo ni imada wataranu asakawa wataru“

This poem was written by Princess Tajima after she fell in love with her half-brother, Prince Hozumi.
Though she was the consort of another half-brother, Prince Takechi, her secret affair with Prince Hozumi became the subject of public gossip.
While half-sibling marriages were not strictly forbidden in the imperial family at the time, their relationship was a source of “slander from the people.”

The poem expresses the painful situation of having to cross a “dawn river” to return from her lover’s side, something she had never done before.
This act of crossing the river is not just a physical journey but a symbol of the mental conflict she faced – forced to make a serious decision by public opinion, or to face the hardship herself.
This poem speaks volumes about the passion required to pursue love when it is exposed to social norms and the judgment of others.
Princess Tajima’s poem transcends a personal tragedy, highlighting the universal conflict between an individual’s will and external pressure.

The Two Faces of Love: Jealousy and Hatred

Love isn’t always about joy and happiness. It can also give rise to intense jealousy and the hatred that is its flip side.
The Man’yoshu candidly depicts this darker side of love – the emotions that can consume a heart.

Empress Iwa-no-Hime: The Passion and Impatience of Love

“Kimi ga yuki hinagaku narinu yama sagashi mukaeka yukan machi ni ka matan“

Empress Iwa-no-Hime, Emperor Nintoku’s wife, wrote this poem while anxiously awaiting her husband’s return from a journey.
In both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, she is portrayed as a “very jealous” woman.
This poem expresses her impatience as her beloved husband’s trip stretches on, along with the intense internal conflict of whether she should go find him or continue to wait.

The three poems by Empress Iwa-no-Hime that follow this one show her emotions rapidly changing.
In one, she sings, “I would rather die than suffer this pain”; in another, “I shall wait until frost settles on my black hair”; and in the last, she expresses resignation, “This love will never clear.”
This emotional fluctuation demonstrates that her jealousy was not simply hatred toward others, but a result of the deep anxiety and suffering caused by her beloved’s absence.
Her intense passion reveals the instability and weight of love, vividly portraying the pain that lies beneath.

The Heart Where Love and Hatred Coexist

“Waga kokoro yaku mo ware nari hashikiyashi kimi ni kouru mo waga kokoro kara“

This anonymous poem is known for its raw, unfiltered expression of emotion.
Its most remarkable feature is its self-aware recognition of the contradiction in human emotion – that love and hatred can spring from the same heart.

The poem begins with “it is my own heart that is consumed by intense jealousy,” and continues, “it is also my own heart that longs for you, my beloved.”
This expression of self-contradiction captures the truth of a complex emotion: suffering from love-fueled jealousy while being unable to abandon that same love.
Literary analysis suggests that there are few other poems that so openly express the feeling of jealousy.
This poem directly reveals the universal psychological truth that love and hatred, though seemingly distinct, can emerge from the same source.

Painful Unrequited Love and Straightforward Passion

The Man’yoshu contains many poems that express the pain of unrequited love, while others are a direct expression of passion.
These works symbolize the two sides of love: the inward struggle and the outward expression.

Lady Kasa: Unrequited Love as a Source of Creativity

“Aiawanu hito o omou wa ohodera no gaki no shirie ni azuku ga goto“

Lady Kasa held an unrequited love for the nobleman Otomo-no-Yakamochi, who also compiled the Man’yoshu.
She sent him 29 poems, but only received two in return, leading to her deep suffering.
This masterpiece expresses her anguish through a unique and powerful metaphor.

She mocks her own foolishness by stating that to love someone who doesn’t reciprocate is like “bowing down to worship the rear of a hungry ghost statue in a grand temple.”
The Buddhist concept of the “hungry ghost” conveys how empty and unfulfilling her love was.
Analysis of her work suggests that her suffering from unrequited love sharpened her skills as a poet, enabling her to create works that move many people.
This poem shows how the tragedy of unreciprocated love was not just an expression of sadness, but was elevated into an art form, deeply suggesting that pain can be a wellspring of creativity.

Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue: A Direct Demand for Words of Love

“Koi koite au toki dani uruwashiki koto tsukushite yo nagaku to omowaba“

Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue, the aunt of Otomo-no-Yakamochi, is known as a “woman of many loves” and is a key figure in the Man’yoshu.
Her poems are filled with straightforward and passionate expressions of love. This poem is one such example.

She directly and strongly demands of her lover, “Having longed for you, now that we have finally met, speak all your lovely words.
If you want this love to last long.”
This expression is so direct and honest that she is praised as “not calculating, but straightforward, and that’s why she was popular.”
This poem shows that love demanded not just physical contact but also an emotional connection, particularly the confirmation of “words.”
It conveys the universal truth that passion is fulfilled by words of love, a truth that has been passed down from the Man’yoshu era to the present day.

Universal Love that Transcends Social Status

The poems in the Man’yoshu are rooted not only in the glamorous court life of the nobility but also in the daily lives of common people.
No matter the social status or circumstances, the universality of love remains constant.
This chapter introduces simple yet powerful love songs from these individuals.

Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro: The Loneliness of Eternal Separation

“Ago no umi no araiso no ue no sazanami waga kouru raku wa yamu toki mo nashi“

This poem is an appendage to a grand elegy composed by Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro, the greatest poet in the Man’yoshu, as he left his wife behind in Iwami province to return to the capital.
While the longer elegy uses majestic natural imagery to express the sadness of parting, this short poem expresses the core emotion simply and powerfully.

He states, “Just like the ceaseless ripples on the rough shores of Ago Bay, my longing for my wife will never cease.”
Hitomaro’s poems are considered “the masterpieces of love poetry” because he elevates personal sadness into a universal and artistic experience by blending it with grand depictions of nature.
This poem shows how deeply and strongly love can become when facing the great currents of life and the fate of separation.

Azuma-uta (Eastern Poems): The Unadorned Love of Common People

“Tamagawa ni sarasu tezuri sarasara ni nanzo kono ko no kokoda itoshiki“

The Man’yoshu contains many folk-style songs from commoners and farmers in the eastern provinces, which are known as Azuma-uta.
This poem is one such example, conveying a simple form of love rooted in daily life, unlike the poems of court poets.

Using a prefix that refers to the sight of cloth being bleached in the Tamagawa River, the poem wonders, “Why do I find this girl so endearing?” The power of this poem lies in its simple and direct expression of emotion, without any clever techniques.
This Azuma-uta quietly but powerfully tells us that love is a fundamental human emotion, regardless of social status or education.

Sakimori-uta (Border Guard Songs): The Love of Separation

“Waga tsuma wa itoku koirashi nomu mizu ni kage sae miete yo ni wasurarez“

“Sakimori-uta” are poems composed by soldiers who left their homes to serve as border guards, expressing their longing for the families they left behind.
This poem conveys a soldier’s heartfelt love for his wife from a distant post.

He sings, “My wife must be missing me terribly.
Her face is even reflected in the water I drink, and I can never forget her.”
This poem illustrates the paradox of love, where physical distance can strengthen the bond between people.
The universal theme of love is expressed even more clearly and strongly in the context of the harsh reality of leaving home without knowing when, or if, one will ever return.

Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue: A New Love, Even in Old Age

“Kurokami ni shiraga majiri oyu made kakaru koi ni wa imada awanaku ni“

While the previously mentioned poem by Lady Otomo-no-Sakanoue expressed a direct demand for words of love, this poem highlights the “painful” aspect of her love.

She writes that even as her black hair begins to mix with gray as she ages, she has never experienced such an intense and painful love.
This poem suggests that love, regardless of age or experience, always brings new suffering and joy.
The fact that a woman known for her many loves would still say “I have never met such a painful love” speaks to the profound depth of love and its endless possibilities.

Conclusion and Summary for a Blog Post

The 10 poems selected here embody various forms of “love and passion”: love tangled with politics, the duality of love and hatred, unrequited love, and the simple affection of common people.
These verses not only convey the raw emotions of people from some 1,300 years ago but also reflect a timeless human truth that transcends eras and social status.
The Man’yoshu shows us that love is complex, powerful, and deeply human.
It can be a source of great joy and creativity, but also of profound pain and struggle.
This collection is a powerful reminder that while the world has changed, the human heart’s capacity for love and passion remains a constant, universal force.