Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Horikawa, attendant to Empress Taiken

Meaning

Not knowing whether your heart will last — I woke this morning with my long black hair in tangles, lost in thought.

Commentary

The poem captures the vulnerability of the morning after a first meeting. Tangled black hair (kurokami no midarete) was both a literal image of a woman freshly woken and a metaphor for the disorder of her heart. The uncertainty about the man's fidelity — "not knowing if your heart will be long" — deepens the sense of exposure and fragile hope.

Horikawa was a court lady who served Empress Taiken (consort of Retired Emperor Toba). She was active in late Heian poetry circles and contributed to the Senzai Wakashū. This poem is prized for its intimate, almost physical detail — the tangled hair making an invisible emotional state suddenly, honestly visible.

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