When His Majesty commanded a poem, during the reign of the Engi emperor.
しら露をかぜの吹きしくあきののはつらぬきとめぬ玉ぞちりける
| siratuyo wo kaze no Fukisiku aki no no Fa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo tirikeru | Silver dewdrops, In the ever-blowing wind Across the autumn meadows Never remaining threaded are Those scattered gemstones. |
Fun’ya no Asayasu
Sent to a woman.
名にしおはばあふさか山のさねかづら人にしられでくるよしもがな
| na ni si oFaba aFusakayama no sanekadura Fito ni sirarede kuru yosi mogana | If the name fits, then As Meeting Mount’s Twining kadsura vine, Without others finding out, I wish I had a way to come to you! |
The Sanjō Minister of the Right
Topic unknown.
たごのうらにうち出でてみればしろたへのふじのたかねに雪はふりつつ
| tago no ura ni uchi’idete mireba shirotae no fuji no takane ni yuki wa furitsutsu | From the bay at Tago I see, when gazing out, White as mulberry cloth On the heights of Fuji’s peak— The snow is ever falling. |
Akahito
Topic unknown.
難波潟みじかき蘆のふしのまも逢はでこの世をすぐしてよとや
| naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo awade kono yo o sugushiteyo to ya | In the Naniwa tidelands, Brief, indeed, are the reeds’ Span between the knots upon their stalks, but Such times in this world without meeting you— Are you really telling me to just go on like that? |
Ise
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
住の江のきしによる波夜さへや夢のかよひ路人めよくらむ
| suminoe no kisi ni yoru nami yoru saFe ya yume no kayoFidi Fitome yokuramu | On Suminoe’s Shore break waves; Even at night Upon the path of dreams Can we avoid others’ prying eyes? |
Lord Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Topic unknown.
陸奥のしのぶもぢずり誰ゆへにみだれむと思我ならなくに
| mitinoku no sinobu modizuri tare yuFe ni midaremu to omoFu ware naranaku ni | Distant Michinoku’s Tangled fern-patterned garb: For whose sake might it be, that Secret passion leaves me so distraught? For it is not mine, I know, so… |
The Kawara Minister of the Left
Round One Hundred and Forty-Eight
Left
くらきよりくらき道にぞ入りぬべきはるかにてらせ山のはの月
| kuraki yori kuraki michi ni zo irinubeki haruka ni terase yama no ha no tsuki | From darkening On a shadowed path I must make my way; Let it faintly shine, The moon upon the mountain’s edge. |
Izumi Shikibu
295[1]
Right
色かへぬ竹の葉しろく月さえてつもらぬ雪をはらふ秋かぜ
| iro kaenu take no ha shiroku tsuki saete tsumoranu yuki o harau akikaze | The unchanging hue of The bamboo leaves turns white Beneath the chilly moon— Snow that never drifts With the brush of autumn breezes. |
Kunaikyō
296[2]
[1] Shūishū XX: 1342: Composed and sent to the Monk Shoku.
[2] Shinsenzaishū IV: 416: On the wind in the bamboo before the moon.
Round One Hundred and Fifty
Left
物おもへばさはのほたるも我が身よりあくがれいづるたまかとぞみる
| mono’omoeba sawa no hotaru mo wa ga mi yori akugare izuru tama ka to zo miru | I’m at such a loss; Fireflies by the marsh: From my breast Wanders out My soul, or so it seems. |
299[1]
Right
からにしき秋のかたみやたつ田川ちりあへぬ枝にあらし吹くなり
| karanishiki aki no katami ya tatsuta yama chiriaenu eda ni arashi fuku nari | O, Cathay brocade: Are you autumn’s keepsake? On the mount of Tatsuta Through the few remaining leaves The storm comes blowing. |
300[2]
[1] Goshūishū XX: 1162: When she had been forgotten by a man, she went to Kibune, and composed this on seeing fireflies flitting about by the Mitarashi River.
[2] Shinkokinshū VI: 566: From when she presented a fifty-poem sequence.
Round One Hundred and Forty-Nine
Left
もろともにこけのしたにはくちずしてうづもれぬ名を聞くぞかなしき
| morotomo ni koke no shita ni wa kuchizushite uzumorenu na o kiku zo kanashiki | With her Beneath the moss It perishes not— Of high renown, her name: To see it is a bitter grief. |
297[1]
Right
霜をまつまがきの菊のよひの間におきまよふ色は山のはの月
| shimo o matsu magaki no kiku no yoi no ma ni okimayou iro wa yama no ha no tsuki | Awaiting the frost By my lattice fence, the chrysanthemums In the midst of night Are draped in puzzling hues By the moon from off the mountains’ edge. |
298[2]
[1] Kin’yōshū X: 612 (3): After the Koshikibu Handmaid had died, Izumi Shikibu had several robes which Empress Akiko had given her daughter over the years as keepsakes; when she saw notes she had made with Koshikibu, she composed.
[2] Shinkokinshū V: 507: On the conception of chrysanthemums under the moon by a lattice fence, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
On the conception of chrysanthemums under the moon by a lattice fence, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
霜をまつまがきの菊のよひの間におきまよふ色は山のはの月
| shimo o matsu magaki no kiku no yoi no ma ni okimayou iro wa yama no ha no tsuki | Awaiting the frost By my lattice fence, the chrysanthemums In the midst of night Are draped in puzzling hues By the moon from off the mountains’ edge. |
Kunaikyō
