Round Fifty-Three

Left

むすぶ手のしづくににごる山の井のあかでも人にわかれぬるかな

musubu te no sizuku ni nigoru yama no i no akade mo hito ni wakarenuru kana

From cupped hands Droplets cloud The mountain spring- It’s not enough-as from you Am I parted.

105[i]

Right

あふと見てうつつのかひはなけれどもはかなき夢ぞいのちなりける

au to mite utsutsu no kai wa nakeredomo hakanaki yume zo inochi narikeru

Glimpsing a meeting Upon this reality has no effect At all, yet A brief dream Is my whole life.

106[ii]

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[i] KKS VIII: 404: Composed on parting from someone with whom he had spoken by a rocky spring on the way through the Shiga mountains.

[ii] KYS VII: 354 (2)/KYS VII: 371 (3): Composed when people were instructed to compose love poems at the residence of Lord Akisue.

Round Fifty-Two

Left

しら露もしぐれもいたくもる山はした葉のこらず色づきにけり

shiratsuyu mo shigure mo itaku moruyama wa shitaba nokorazu irozukinikeri

The white dewfall and Showers, too, have completely Drenched Moruyama: Every single under-leaf Has coloured.

Ki no Tsurayuki
103[i]

Right

かづらきやたかまの山のさくら花雲井のよそにみてや過ぎなん

kazuragi ya takama no yama no sakurabana kumoi no yoso ni mite ya suginan

In Kazuragi On the peak of Takama are Cherry blossoms: Being beyond the clouds Should I overlook them?

Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke
104[ii]

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[i] KKS V: 260: Composed in the region of Moruyama.

[ii] SZS I: 56: As a poem on blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence to Former Emperor Sutoku.

Round Fifty-One

Left

したにのみおもへばくるし玉のをのたえてみだれん人なとがめそ

shita ni nomi omoeba kurushi tama no o no taete midaren hito na togame so

Simply beneath the surface Lies my passion, so ‘tis painful— My jewelled thread of life Might snap in tangles and Let no one blame me for it![i]

101[ii]

Right

いまはとてねなましものをしぐれつる空ともみえずすめる月かな

ima wa tote nenamashi mono o shiguretsuru sora tomo miezu sumeru tsuki kana

Now, I think, I would to bed, yet The showers that Filled the skies have vanished, and The moon shines so clear!

102[iii]

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[i] A minor variant of this poem, which replaces omeba (feel [passion, so’] with koureba (‘feel love, so’) occurs in Kokinshū (XIII: 677).

[ii] KKRJ V: 3215: Jewelled threads

[iii] SKKS VI: 600: On the conception of the moon in winter after the rain.

Round Fifty

Left

あづまぢのさやの中山中中になにしか人をおもひそめけん

azumaji no saya no nakayama nakanaka ni nani shi ka hito o omoisomekemu

On the road to the Eastlands Nakayama in Saya Lies halfway; half-heartedly Oh, why, this lady Have I begun to love?

99[i]

Right

さびしさにやどをたちいでてながむればいづくもおなじ秋の夕暮

sabishiki ni yado o tachi’idete nagamureba izuku mo onaji aki no yūgure

In my loneliness I leave my home and Gaze about; Everywhere is the same Autumn evening.

100[ii]

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[i] KKS XII: 594: Topic unknown.

[ii] GSIS IV: 333: Topic unknown.

Round Forty-Nine

Left

ゆふさればほたるよりけにもゆれども光みねばや人のつれなき

yū sareba hotaru yori ke ni moyuredomo hikari mineba ya hito no tsurenaki

With the fall of evening, The fireflies’ are as nothing beside My burning, yet I cast no light, so Will my love stay chill?

Ki no Tomonori
97[i]

Right

たづねつる花も我が身もおとろへてのちの春ともえこそちぎらね

tazunetsuru hana mo wa ga mi mo otoroete nochi no haru to mo e koso chigirane

Paying a visit on The blossom, I, too, Am fading fast; That we will meet in springs to come Is not a promise I can make…

Monk Ryōzen
98[ii]

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[i] KKS XII: 562: A poem composed at a competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kampyō emperor.

[ii] SKKS II: 153: When he went to the Unrin’in to view the cherry blossom, it was all scattered with but a single branch left.