On wind.
萩の花咲きたる野辺にひぐらしの鳴くなるなへに秋の風吹く
pagi no pana
sakitaru nobe ni
pigurasi no
nakunaru nape ni
aki no kaze puku |
Bush clover blooms
Flowering in the fields where
While the evening cicadas
Sing
Blows the autumn wind. |
Anonymous
On cicadas.
夕影に来鳴くひぐらしここだくも日ごとに聞けど飽かぬ声かも
yupukage ni
ki naku pigurasi
kokodaku mo
pigoto ni kikedo
akanu kowe kamo |
With the twilight
Comes to call the evening cicadas;
Endlessly
With every day I hear them yet,
Never do I tire of their song… |
Anonymous
On cicadas.
黙もあらむ時も鳴かなむひぐらしの物思ふ時に鳴きつつもとな
moda mo aramu
toki mo nakanamu
pigurasi no
mono’omopu toki ni
nakitutu motona |
When all is tranquil
Then, too, would I have you sing
O evening cicada!
But when I’m so sunk in thought
Do you cry endlessly! |
Anonymous
A poem by Ōtomo no Yakamochi on the evening cicada.
隠りのみ居ればいぶせみ慰むと出で立ち聞けば来鳴くひぐらし
komori nomi
woreba ibusemi
nagusamu to
idetachi kikeba
kinaku pigurasi |
Shut indoors and
Sunk in misery,
I wonder what would console me;
Going outside, I listen and,
The evening cicadas come calling… |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
Composed when there was much disturbance in the world.
朝な朝な鹿の柵む萩がえの末葉の露のありがたのよや
asana asana
sika no sikaramu
Fagi ga e no
suweba no tuyu no
arigata no yo ya |
Every morning
The stag is tangled in
Bush clover branches,
Dew upon the leaf-tips –
Such is the length of life… |
Zōki
増基
On blossom.
見まく欲り恋ひつつ待ちし秋萩は花のみ咲きてならずかもあらむ
mimakupori
koitutu matisi
aki pagi pa
pana nomi sakite
narazu kamo aramu |
Longing to see, and
Yearning have I awaited
The autumn bush clover:
In flower only does it bloom –
Will no more come of it that that… |
Anonymous
On blossom.
春日野に咲きたる萩は片枝はいまだふふめり言な絶えそね
kasugano ni
sakitaru pagi pa
kataeda pa
imada pupumeri
koto na tae so ne |
On Kasuga Plain
Blooms bush clover;
One branch is
Yet in bud, it seems;
Let its words cease not! |
Anonymous
On dew.
このころの秋風寒し萩の花散らす白露置きにけらしも
kono koro no
akikaze samusi
pagi no pana
tirasu siratuyu
wokinikerasi mo |
At about this time
The autumn wind is chill;
Bush clover bloom
Scattering silver dewdrops –
Do they, perhaps, fall too? |
Anonymous
A poem by Ōtomo sukune Yakamochi.
高円の野辺の秋萩このころの暁露に咲きにけむかも
takamato no
nobe no akipagi
kono koro no
akatoki tuyu ni
sakinikemu kamo |
At Takamato
The bush clover
At about this time
With dawn-time dew
Does it bloom, I wonder… |
On blossom.
奥山に棲むといふ鹿の夕さらず妻どふ萩の散らまく惜しも
wokuyama ni
sumu to ipu sika no
yopi sarazu
tumadopu pagi no
tiramaku wosimo |
Deep within the mountains
Lives a stag;
Every evening
He calls upon his bride, the bush clover, but
That it is scattered, brings him only regret… |
'Simply moving and elegant'