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iv and thirty-one syllables, arranged thus: 5–7–5–7–7; as this is an unusual metre in our ears, I have adopted for the translation a five-lined verse of 8–6–8–6–6 metre, with the second, fourth, and fifth lines rhyming, in the hope of retaining at least some resemblance to the original form, while making the sound more familiar to English readers.

I may perhaps insert here, as an example, the following well-known tanka verse, which does not appear in the Hyaku-nin-isshiu collection:—

Idete inaba Nushinaki yado to Narinu tomo Nokiba no ume yo Haru wo wasuruna.

Though masterless my home appear, When I have gone away, Oh plum tree growing by the eaves, Forget not to display Thy buds in spring, I pray.

This was written by Sanetomo Minamoto on the morning of the day he was murdered at Kamakura, as related in the note to verse No. 93.

It is necessarily impossible in a translation of this kind to adhere at all literally to the text; more especially as Japanese poetry abounds in all sorts of