Category Archives: Kokinshū

KKS XIX: 1021

On the day when the following day would mark the beginning of spring, he saw the snow being blown by the wind from the house next door, so he composed this and sent it over.

冬ながら春の隣のちかければなかがきよりぞ花はちりける

Fuyu nagara
Faru no tonari no
tikakereba
nakagaki yori zo
Fana wa tirikeru
‘Tis winter, yet
Spring as a neighbour
Lies so close, so
From the fence between
Blossom has scattered.

Kiyowara no Fukayabu

KKS XIX: 1020

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

秋風にほころびぬらし藤袴つづりさせてふきりぎりすなく

akikaze ni
Fokorobinurasi
Fudibakama
tudurisasete teFu
kirigirisu naku
With the autumn breeze
Seem to have bloomed and twined
The asters
Bound together by the rasping
Crickets’ cries.[1]

Ariwara no Muneyana


[1] This poem is composed around a dual wordplay, which I have not been able to closely replicate in the translation. Hokorobu is simultaneously both ‘bloom fully’ and ‘thread (a needle)’ while tsuzuru is both ‘sew together’ and an onomatopoeic representation of the sound that a cricket makes.

KKS XVII: 902

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

しら雪の八重ふりしけるかへる山かへるがへるも老いにける哉

shirayuki no
yaFe Furisikeru
kaFeru yama
kaFerugaFeru mo
oinikeru kana
White snow
Falls eightfold on
Mount Return—
Returning and returning again
Is the age I feel!

Ariwara no Muneyana

KKS XIV: 688

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

思ふてふ事の葉のみや秋をへて色もかはらぬ物にはあるらん

omoFu teFu
koto no Fa nomi ya
aki wo Fete
iro mo kaFaranu
mono ni Fa aruran
My fond thoughts expressed
In words, and leaves, simply
On reaching autumn’s surfeit—
Won’t they change their hues?
No, that will never be.

Anonymous

KKS XIII: 639

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

明けぬとて帰る道にはこきたれて雨も涙もふりそほちつつ

akenu tote
kaFeru miti ni Fa
kokitarete
ame mo namida mo
FurisoFotitutu
‘Tis the break of day, and
On the road back home
Descending sheets of
Rain, and my tears, too
Soak me to the skin…

Lord Toshiyuki