Round Fifty-Eight

Left

春たつといふばかりにやみよしのの山もかすみて今朝はみゆらん

haru tatsu to iu bakari ni ya miyoshino no yama mo kasumite kesa wa miyuran

Spring is here They simply say, but Is fair Yoshino Mountain, too, all hazed In view this morning, I wonder?

Mibu no Tadamine
115[i]

Right

山ざくらさきそめしより久かたの雲井にみゆるたきのしらいと

yamazakura sakisomeshi yori hisakata no kumoi ni miyuru taki no shira’ito

Since the mountain cherries Have begun to bloom, The eternal Clouds seem Threaded with a waterfall of white.

Lord Minamoto no Toshiyori
116[ii]

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[i] SIS I: 1: Composed at the poetry match at Taira no Sadafun’s house.

[ii] KYS I: 50 (2) / KYS I: 45 (3): Composed at the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Uji Former Grand Minister.

Round Fifty-Seven

Left

伊勢の海にしほやくあまの藤衣なるとはすれどあはぬ君かな

ise no umi ni shio yaku ama no fujigoromo naru to wa suredo awanu kimi kana

By the sea at Ise, Brine-burning, the fisher-folks’ Violet garb Is a familiar sight-as are you, yet I have not met you, have I?

113[i]

Right

見し人のけぶりとなりし夕よりなもむつましきしほがまのうら

mishi hito no keburi to narishi yūbe yori na mo mutsumashiki shiogama no ura

Him, I saw, Turn into smoke, and Since that evening, The name fills me with fond thoughts: The bay at Shiogama.

114[ii]

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[i] GSS XI: 744: Sent to a woman whom he had grown accustomed to seeing who served in the same place.

[ii] A minor variant on a poem in Shinkokinshū (VIII: 820), replacing one particle, ni, with to, which does not significantly impact on the poem’s meaning: When she was grieving over the transience of the world, she composed this on Shiogama, when looking at some paintings of named places in Michinoku.

Round Fifty-Six

Left

すみよしの松を秋かぜ吹くからにこゑうちそふる興つしらなみ

sumiyoshi no matsu o akikaze fuku kara ni koe uchisouru oki tsu shiranami

When through Sumiyoshi’s Pines the autumn wind Does blow, Draped are they by the roar of Whitecaps in the offing.

111[i]

Right

なきよわるまがきの虫もとめがたき秋の別やかなしかるらん

naki yowaru magaki no mushi mo tomegataki aki no wakare ya kanashikaruramu

Faintly crying, The insects in the cage, too, Do they find it difficult to halt The parting Autumn And feel this sadness?

112[ii]

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[i] A minor variation on a poem from Shūishū (XVII: 1112) with a variant initial line, using the place name Sumiyoshi, rather than Suminoe: For a folding screen at the residence of Major Captain of the Right Sadakuni.

[ii] SZS VII: 478: A person who was going far away came to see her and left with the dawn; it was the last day of the Ninth Month and the insects were crying movingly, so she composed:

Round Fifty-Five

Left

いづくとも春のひかりはわかなくにまだみよしのの山は雪ふる

izuku tomo haru no hikari wa wakanaku ni mada miyoshino no yama wa yuki furu

Everywhere should fall The light of spring Without exception, yet Still in fair Yoshino’s Mountains snow is falling.

Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
109[i]

Right

みよしのは春のけしきにかすめどもむすぼほれたる雪の下草

miyoshino wa haru no keshiki ni kasumedomo musubōretaru yuki no shitakusa

Fair Yoshino is With Spring’s seeming Hazed, yet there is Solid Snow around the undergrowth.

Murasaki Shikibu
110[ii]

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[i] A minor variant on a poem from Gosenshū (I: 19), differing only by one syllable in the initial line, but whose meaning is otherwise identical: From among twenty poems he presented to a certain Chamberlain, wishing His Majesty to see them, during the same reign when he was serving in the Banqueting Section of the Royal Table Office and grieving that he was falling into obscurity.

[ii] GSIS I: 10: Composed when she was requested for a Spring poem by some courtiers during the reign of Retired Emperor Ichijō.

Round Fifty-Four

Left

よしの河岩なみたかく行く水のはやくぞ人をおもひそめてし

yoshinogawa iwa nami takaku yuku mizu no hayaku zo hito o omoisometeshi

At Yoshino River Waves crash high above the rocks; The rushing water Swift as your Lodging within my thoughts.

107[i]

Right

おもへどもいはでの山に年をへてくちやはてなん谷のむもれ木

omoedomo iwade no yama ni toshi o hete kuchi ya hate nan tani no mumoregi

I think on you, yet Stay silent as the Iwade Moutains Through the passing years Might my love rot away, as A drowned tree within the valley?

108[ii]

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[i] KKS XI: 471: Topic unknown.

[ii] SZS XI: 651: Composed as a love poem, when he presented a hundred poem sequence.