Category Archives: Senzaishū

SZS XIX: 1211

Composed when he was on a pilgrimage to worship Kannon at thirty-three places, and saw oil emerging at Tanigumi, in Mino.[1]

よをてらすほとけのしるしありければまだともし火もきえぬなりけり

yo wo terasu
Fotoke no sirusi
arikereba
mada tomosibi mo
kienu narikeri
Shining light upon the world,
This Buddha, a sign
Does give:
As yet, the lanterns
Never have gone out!

Former Archbishop Kakuchū
前大僧正覚忠


[1] This poem was composed at the Kegonji 華厳寺 temple on Mount Tagumi (Tagumisan 谷汲山) in the middle of what is now Gifu 岐阜 prefecture.

SZS V: 303

Composed when he presented a hundred poem sequence, during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.

山ざとはさびしかりけりこがらしのふく夕ぐれのひぐらしのこゑ

yamazato Fa
sabisikarikeri
kogarasi no
Fuku yuFugure no
higurasi no kowe
A mountain retreat is
Lonely, indeed;
The biting wind
Blows of an evening with
The sundown cicadas’ cries.

Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実

SZS XII: 766

Composed as a love poem.

よもすがら物思ふころはあけやらぬねやのひまさへつれなかりけり

yomosugara
mono’omoFu koro wa
akeyaranu
neya no Fima saFe
turenakarikeri
Night after night,
Sunk in gloomy thoughts which
Never lift,
The time spent in my bed
Is tedious, indeed!

Monk Shun’e

SZS III: 176

At a time when he produced a Hundred Poem Sequence, His Majesty composed this as a poem on orange blossoms.
五月雨にはなたちばなのかをる夜は月すむ秋もさもあらばあれ

samidare ni
hanatachibana no
kaoru yo wa
tsuki sumu aki mo
sa mo araba are
Early summer showers fall, and
Orange blossom
Scents the night;
The clear, bright moon of autumn
Hardly seems to match it…

Emperor Sutoku