Komomo, geiko of Miyagawa-cho, as Yokobue.

A low-ranking lady-in-waiting, Yokobue fell in love with Takiguchi-no-Tokiyori, a warrior of the Imperial Palace. The first time Tokiyori saw Yokobue dance at a hanami party he decided at once that he wanted her for his wife. When his family rejected her, the warrior sought solace by becoming a priest. Yokobue traveled to see Tokiyori, but he refused to meet her because he had already taken his vows. Stricken with grief, Yokobue drowned herself (as many Japanese heroines are rumored to have done). Before leaving, she wrote her true feelings in her own blood on a rock still standing before the gate of Takiguchi-dera, on the same site where Tokiyori took refuge so long ago.

Fukuaya, geiko of Miyagawa-cho, as Ono no Komachi.

Immortalized as one of the best waka poets of her day and a rare beauty, Ono no Komachi is Japan's earliest and best example of a passionate woman poet. Although they were written over a thousand years ago and can be read in a matter of minutes, the handful of her verses that survive today have been celebrated and studied for centuries, transcending time and culture to move and inspire people all around the world.

One of her poems is also included in the Hyakunin Isshu, a famous anthology of waka poetry also used in uta-garuta.

花の色は

The hue of the cherry blossoms
have faded
Gazing meaninglessly
at the long rain,
I grow old

It may be hard to fully appreciate Japanese poetry without an understanding of the subtle puns and play of words lost in translation. In the poem above, Komachi uses the word furu to connect the idea of growing old to the falling of the rain, and the word nagame to the idea of gazing to the long rains.

Here are a few of my favorite Komachi poems:

Although my feet never cease running to you
On the path of dreams,
The sum of all those meetings
Is less than a single waking glimpse.