Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Princess Shikishi

Meaning

Let my life end now, if it must. For if I go on living, my power to endure this secret love may weaken.

Commentary

"Tama no o" (thread of gems) is a metaphor for the fragile thread of life. The speaker commands her life to end rather than continue — because the longer she lives, the harder it becomes to conceal a forbidden love. The logic is extreme but poetically coherent: endurance weakens over time, so death is preferable to eventual exposure.

Princess Shikishi was an imperial princess who served as High Priestess of the Kamo Shrine and was therefore forbidden to marry. Her poems suggest a deep, secret, and possibly forbidden love — some scholars believe for Fujiwara no Teika. The combination of noble restraint and barely contained passion makes her one of the most admired poets in the Shin Kokinshū.

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