The End of Summer
Left
なくこゑはするものからに身はむなしあなおぼつかなうつせみのよや
| naku koe wa suru mono kara ni mi wa munashi ana obotsukana utsusemi no yo ya | Their voices sing And yet Their flesh is empty— O, how strange is A cicada shell world! |
Tadamine
9
Right (Win)
ほととぎすをちかへりなけうなゐこがうちたれがみのさみだれのこゑ
| hototogisu ochikaeri nake unaiko ga uchitaregami no samidare no koe | A cuckoo Calls again and again; A child’s shoulder-brushing Hair dangling down: The song of a summer shower. |
Mitsune
10
The Beginning of Summer
Left
ふるさとはこだかけれどもきみならぬほととぎすにもうとまれにけり
| furusato wa kodakakeredomo kimi naranu hototogisu ni mo utomarenikeri | Around this ancient estate The trees grow high, yet Not by you alone, By the cuckoo, too Am I despised. |
Tadamine
7
Right (Win)
やまがつのかきほにさけるうのはなはたがしろたへのころもかけしぞ
| yamagatsu no kakiho ni sakeru u no hana wa ta ga shirotae no koromo kakeshi zo | Along the mountain man’s Lattice fence bloom Deutzia: Whose white mulberry Robes are hung there? |
Mitsune
8
The End of Spring
Left
をしめどもとどまらなくにはるがすみかへるみちにしたちぬとおもへば
| oshimedomo todomaranaku ni haragasumi kaeru michi nishi tachinu to omoeba | Though sad am I, There’s no stopping it: The spring haze On its homebound path Has departed. |
Motokata
5
Right (Win)
とどむべきものとはなしにはかなくもちるはなごとにたぐふこころか
| todomubeki mono to wa nashi ni hakanaku mo chiru hanagoto ni taguu kokoro ka | That would halt them There is nothing, yet How hopelessly To every scattered flower My heart is drawn. |
Mitsune
6
The Middle of Spring
Left (Win)
春はなほわれにてしりぬはなざかりこころのどけき人はあらじな
| haru wa nao ware nite shirinu hanazakari kokoro nodokeki hito wa araji na | That spring endures I know well; The profusion of blossom means A peaceful heart has No one at all… |
Tadamine
3
Right
はかなくてはるひとつきはくれにけりはなのさかりはすぎがてにせよ
| hakanakute haru hitotsuki wa kurenikeri hana no sakari wa sugigate ni seyo | The brief First month of spring Has reached its eve; O, to make the blossoms’ profusion Impossible to pass away! |
Mitsune
4
On the conception of love, in a hundred poem sequence.
あふ事のむなしき空のうき雲は身をしる雨の便りなりけり
| au koto no munashiki sora no ukigumo wa mi o shiru ame no tayori narikeri | Meeting you is A vain hope—empty as the skies, where Drifting clouds are The rainfall of my misery’s Harbingers. |
Prince Kore’akira
惟明親王
An allusive variation on KKS XIV: 705.
Around the last day of the Fifth Month, when she had been lying awake all night, filled with gloomy thoughts.
限りあればこよひにつきぬさみだれも身をしるあめはいつかをやまん
| kagiri areba koyoi ni tsukinu samidare mo mi o shiru ame wa itsuka o yaman | All things have an end, so This night’s endless Showers— The rainfall of my misery— O, when might they cease to fall? |
Lady Aki, in service to the Empress Ikuhōmon’in
郁芳門院安芸
On love in the rain, when she presented a hundred poem sequence for the Hōji hyakushu [1248].
おもひきやなみだにしぼる袖に猶身をしる雨をそへん物とは
| omoiki ya namida ni shiboru sode ni nao mi o shiru ame o soen mono to wa | Never did I think, that I would wring the tears From my sleeves yet still The rain upon my misery Would add to it… |
Tsuchimikado-in no Kosaishō
土御門院小宰相