我が御門千代とことばに榮えむと思ひてありし我れし悲しも
wa ga mikado
titöse tö kötöba ni
sakaemu tö
omopite arisi
ware si kanasi mo
My Prince’s palace
Would for truly a thousand years
Be glorious;
So thought
I, now sunk in grief.
鳥座立て飼ひし雁の子巣立ちなば眞弓の岡に飛び歸り來ね
tögura tate
kapisi kari nö ko
sudatinaba
mayumi nö woka ni
tobikaperikone
A coop was built
And goslings kept within:
Should you fly the nest,
To Mayumi Hill
Come winging back.
み立たしの島の荒礒を今見れば生ひざりし草生ひにけるかも
mitatasi nö
sima nö araiso wo
ima mireba
opizarisi kusa
opinikeru ka mo
Where once he stood
Upon this rocky island coast,
When I see it now,
The grasses which once failed to grow
Have, indeed, sprouted now.
み立たしの島をも家と棲む鳥も荒びな行きそ年かはるまで
mitatasi nö
sima wo mo ipe tö
sumu töri mo
arabi na yuki sö
tösi kaparu made
Where once he stood
Upon this isle, a home
Have birds made;
Run not so wild,
At least until the changing year.
This is thought to be a reference to a large area on the western bank of the Asuka River which was the location of the Jōgū Kōin Bodai-ji, a Tendai sect Buddhist temple, also known more poetically as Tachibana-dera, or “Orange Blossom Temple”. Supposedly founded by Prince Shōtoku in 606, the temple fell into ruins in the in fifteenth century and was not rebuilt until late nineteenth. The sima nö miya was also in this area.
橘の島の宮には飽かねかも佐田の岡邊に侍宿しに行く
tatibana nö
sima nö miya ni pa
akane ka mo
sada nö wokape ni
tonowi si ni yuku
Of your orange blossom
Island Palace
Unsated, perhaps,
And so to Sada hillside
I go to keep night-watch.
み立たしの島を見る時にはたづみ流るる涙止めぞかねつる
mitatasi nö
sima wo miru töki
nipa tadumi
nagaruru namida
tome zö kaneturu
He once stood
On this isle I see;
Flood waters through a garden,
Flow my tears
And I cannot halt them.
朝日照る佐田の岡邊に群れ居つつ我が泣く涙やむ時もなし
asapi teru
sada nö wokape ni
murewitutu
wa ga naku namida
yamu töki mo nasi
Where the morning sun shines bright
On Sada hillside
While we flock together,
The tears we weep
Cease not for a moment.
天地とともに終へむと思ひつつ仕へまつりし心違ひぬ
amë tuti tö
tö mo ni wopemu tö
omopitutu
tukapematurisi
kökörö tagapinu
“‘Til heaven and earth
Shall both be done!”
So thinking
Did I serve;
How wrong I was.
夢にだに見ずありしものをおほほしく宮出もするかさ檜の隈廻を
ime ni dani
mizu arisi monö wo
opoposiku
miyade mo suru ka sa
pi nö kumami wo
Not even in a dream
Could I watch;
Cheerlessly
Do they bear him out?
Past the cypress corners.
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