夜をかさね戸無瀬の方に見ゆる火は鵜舟に灯すか篝なりけり
yo o kasane
tonase no kata ni
miyuru hi wa
ubune ni tomosu
kagari narikeri |
Night upon night
Towards Tonase
Can I see the lights;
Kindled upon the cormorant boats
Are torches. |
大堰川鵜舟の手縄うちはへて夜な夜な瀬せをすみかとぞする
ōikawa
ubune no tanawa
uchihaete
yonayona sese o
sumika to zo suru |
Upon the River Ōi
The cormorant boats’ hawsers
Are tangled;
Night after night upon the rapids
Do they make their dwelling. |
篝火のかげをうつして大堰川鵜舟くださぬよははあらじな
kagaribi no
kage o utsushite
ōigawa
ubune kudasanu
yo wa araji na |
The torches’
Light reflects from
The River Ōi:
Cormorant boats do not drift downstream
On no night at all… |
鵜舟さしよるはよるはと幾夜かはよとのわたりをおりのぼるらむ
ubune sashi
yoruwa yoruwa to
ikuyo kawa
yoto no watari o
orinoboruramu |
The cormorant boats head
Out at midnight and
Every night the river’s
Evening sounds cross with
Their rise and fall… |
鵜川には皐月の闇もなかりけりくだればくだす舟の篝火
ukawa ni wa
satsuki no yami mo
nakarikeri
kudareba kudasu
fune no kagaribi |
To the cormorant river
The Fifth Month’s dark
Has not come;
For when it falls, also do
The boats’ torches! |
Shunzei
夏の日の暮れば灯す篝火の幾夜か川にかげ浮かぶらむ
natsu no hi no
kurureba tomosu
kakaribi no
ikuyo ka kawa ni
kage ukaburamu |
When to summer days’
Dusk comes, kindled
Torches,
Every night upon the river
Do seem to float their light. |
Fujiwara no Tametada (? – 1136)
藤原為忠
篝火の見えぬ夜ぞなき大堰川おなじ鵜舟やおりのぼるらむ
kagaribi no
mienu yo zo naki
ōikawa
onaji ubune ya
orinoboruramu |
Torches
Never go unseen at night
On the River Ōi:
Is it always the same cormorant boat
That plies back and forth? |
Fujiwara no Tametada (? – 1136)
藤原為忠
浮き立ちて宿も定めぬ海人の子はなかなか世にや住みよかるらむ
ukitachite
yado mo sadamenu
ama no ko wa
nakanaka yo ni ya
sumi yokaruran |
Drifting about
With no certain home,
Can a diving girl
Easily within this world
Find a living? |
Fujiwara no Shunzei
藤原俊成
河の瀬に波のうき草うかれありくそのたはれめをいかが頼まむ
kawa no se ni
nami no ukikusa
ukare ariku
sono tawareme o
ikaga tanomamu |
Upon the river rapids
A waterweed among the waves
Carried along:
In that pleasure girl
How can I put my trust? |
Minamoto no Nakamasa
源仲正
波の上に浮き寝のみする海女の子はさせるとまりを定めぬぞ憂き
nami no ue ni
ukine nomi suru
ama no ko wa
saseru tomari o
sadamenu zo uki |
Atop the waves,
She sleeps but briefly;
That my diving girl
Has no fixed place
To rest, is sad, indeed! |
'Simply moving and elegant'