Around the time the Naka Chancellor had begun visiting her, on the morning following a night when he had failed to call, she composed this to say that this night’s dawn had been particularly hard to bear.
ひとりぬる人やしるらん秋の夜をながしとたれか君につげつる
| Fitori nuru Fito ya siruran aki no yo wo nagasi to tareka kimi ni tugeturu | Sleeping alone I know it all too well—that An autumn night is Long to someone You’ve been telling! |
The Kō Handmaid
Round One Hundred and Fifteen
Left
暁のつゆはまくらにおきけるを草葉のうへとなにおもひけん
| akatsuki no tsuyu wa makura ni okikeru o kusaba no ue to nani omoiken | At the dawning Dewdrops upon my pillow Have fallen, but Resting atop a blade of grass— I s that what you think of me? [1] |
The Kō Handmaid
229[2]
Right
ちりかかるもみぢの色はふかけれどわたればにごる山川の水
| chirikakaru momiji no iro wa fukakeredo watareba nigoru yamakawa no mizu | The fallen, scattered Scarlet leaves’ hue is Deep, indeed, yet In crossing it, I muddy The waters of a mountain stream. |
Sanuki
230[3]
[1] An allusive variation on Izumi shikibu-shū 304/Mandaishū XVIII: 3559.
[2] Goshūishū XII: 701:
[3] Shinkokinshū V: 540: When she presented a hundred poem sequence.
When she presented a hundred-poem sequence.
ちりかかるもみぢの色はふかけれどわたればにごる山川の水
| chirikakaru momiji no iro wa fukakeredo watareba nigoru yamakawa no mizu | The fallen, scattered Scarlet leaves’ hue is Deep, indeed, yet In crossing it, I muddy The waters of a mountain stream. |
Sanuki, from the Nijō Palace
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆをのみくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o nomi kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | Simply as a dewdrop, Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆを見てくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
つゆをみて草葉のうへとおもひしは時まつ程の命なりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Composed when the Naka Chancellor [Fujiwara no Michitaka] returned from another woman’s residence with the dawn, but rather than coming in, remained outside and went back to his own house.
暁のつゆはまくらにおきけるを草葉のうへとなにおもひけん
| akatuki no tuyu Fa makura ni okikeru wo kusaba no uFe to nani omoFiken | At the dawning Dewdrops upon my pillow Have fallen, but Resting atop a blade of grass— Is that what you think of me? [1] |
The Kō Handmaid
[1] An allusive variation on Izumi shikibu-shū 304/Mandaishū XVIII: 3559.
Round One Hundred and Fourteen
Left
つくば山葉やましげ山しげけれどおもひいるにはさはらざりけり
| tsukubayama hayama shigeyama shigekeredo omoi’iru ni wa sawarazarikeri | Tsukuba Mountain has Peaks both high and low So many watch, yet Once embarked on love ‘Tis no trouble, at all. |
227[1]
Right
さびしさにうきよをかへてしのばずはひとり聞くべき松のかぜかは
| sabishisa ni ukiyo o kaete shinobazu wa hitori kikubeki matsu no kaze ka wa | If the loneliness of This cruel world is a burden Unendurable, then All alone I can listen to The wind passing through the pines. |
228[2]
[1] Shinkokinshū XI: 1013: Topic unknown.
[2] Senzaishū XVII: 1138: Topic unknown.
Topic unknown.
さびしさにうきよをかへてしのばずはひとり聞くべき松のかぜかは
| sabishisa ni ukiyo o kaete shinobazu wa hitori kikubeki matsu no kaze ka wa | If the loneliness of This cruel world is a burden Unendurable, then All alone I can listen to The wind passing through the pines. |
Monk Jakuren
Topic unknown.
つくば山葉やましげ山しげけれどおもひいるにはさはらざりけり
| tsukubayama hayama shigeyama shigekeredo omoi’iru ni wa sawarazarikeri | Tsukuba Mountain has Peaks both high and low So many watch, yet Once embarked on love ‘Tis no trouble, at all. [1] |
Minamoto no Shigeyuki
[1] An allusive variation on a well-known fūzoku-uta 風俗歌 (‘folk poem’): 筑波山は山しげ山茂きをぞや誰が子も通ふな下に通へわがつまは下に tsukubayama / hayama shigeyama / shigeki o zo ya / ta ga ko mo kayou na / shita ni kayoe / wa ga tsuma wa shita ni ‘Tsukuba Mountain has / Peaks both high and low / So many pass along their ways, / No one should take them! / Go secretly! / For my wife is secret, too…’