Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Attendant to Empress Inpu

Meaning

I wish I could show you — these sleeves of mine, soaked through and through with tears that never change color, never dry.

Commentary

The comparison is precise and unexpected: seawater wets the fisherwomen's sleeves constantly but doesn't alter their color. The speaker's tears, by contrast, have literally or figuratively faded the dye from her sleeves — implying that her sorrow is of a different, deeper quality than even the most relentless physical labor of the sea.

The Attendant to Empress Inpu was a court lady active in late Heian poetry circles who left a relatively substantial body of work for a female poet of her era. This poem is praised for its originality — taking the conventional "wet sleeves" image and pushing it to an unexpected, quietly devastating conclusion.

Learn More