Mist.
足柄の山たちかくす霧のうへにひとりはれたる富士の柴山
ashigara no
yama tachikakusu
kiri no ue ni
hitori haretaru
fuji no shibayama |
Ashigara
Mountain is hidden by rising
Mist; above it
One clear sight:
The brushwood peak of Fuji. |
Moon.
わたの原風ぞたよりとおもひしを夜舟は月のさそふなりけり
wata no hara
kaze zo tayori to
omoishi o
yobune wa tsuki no
sasou narikeri |
Across the broad sea’s sweep
Was the wind a guide,
Or so I thought, yet
Night boats do the moon’s
Beckoning follow. |
Moon.
世のうさを捨かねし身や山里の月にもあかぬ心なるらむ
yo no usa o
sutekaneshi mi ya
yamazato no
tsuki ni mo akanu
kokoro naruramu |
The sorrows of this world
I am unable to abandon;
Above my mountain hut
The moon does never slake
My heart. |
Moon.
かく斗つれなき霧のへだてともしらでや月の空にすむらん
kaku bakari
tsurenaki kiri no
hedatetomo
shirade ya tuki no
sora ni sumuran |
So
Cruelly does the mist
Intrude, yet
It knows it not; is the moon
Clear in the sky above, I wonder? |
Moon.
みればなど心すむらん村雲のひまゆく月はのどけからぬを
mireba nado
kokoro sumuran
murakumo no
hima yuku tsuki wa
nodokekaranu o |
Gazing upon it, why
Should in clear my heart?
Through crowding clouds’
Cracks peering the moon
Is anything but calm. |
Moon.
すみのぼるほどをば待たじ奧山の槇の葉しのぎいづる月影
suminoboru
hodo o ba mataji
okuyama no
maki no ha shinogi
izuru tsukikage |
Until ’tis clearly risen
It has not waited, but
In the mountains’ heart
Pine needles weighs down and
Pushes through: moonlight. |
Insects.
いかなれば涙をからぬ蟲の音もさのみ枕の下に鳴らん
ikanareba
namida o karanu
mushi no ne mo
sanomi makura no
shita ni nakuran |
Why should it be that,
Though my tears they’ve borrowed not,
The insects’ cries
Alone from my pillow’s
Foot arise? |
Stag.
有明の光をみても鳴く鹿は山よりいでぬ妻や待らん
ariake no
hikari o mitemo
naku shika wa
yama yori idenu
tsuma ya matsuran |
The morning moon’s pale
Light he sees, yet
The stag cries on;
Failing to emerge from amongst the mountains
Is his doe – does he await her, I wonder? |
Morning Glory.
朝な朝なさくか苔路の花よりもさかりはみゆる庭のあさがほ
asanasana
saku ka kokeji no
hana yori mo
sakari wa miyuru
niwa no asagao |
Is it that with every morn
They bloom? The moss-strewn paths’
Blooms have not
The vigour, it seems,
Of my garden’s morning glories. |
Silver Grass.
花薄草のたもとの露ちりて手玉もゆらに秋風ぞ吹
hana susuki
kusa no tamoto no
tsuyu chirite
tedama mo yura ni
aki kaze zo fuku |
O silver grass,
Upon your shoots’ cuffs
Dew has fallen
Bejewelled fingers rustling
In the gusts of autumn wind. |
'Simply moving and elegant'