やま風にとくる氷のひまごとにうち出づる浪や春の初花
yamakaze ni
tokuru kōri no
hima goto ni
uchi’izuru nami ya
haru no hatsuhana | With the mountain breeze
The melting ice from
Every crack
Bursts out in waves, perhaps
These are the first blooms of spring? |
Minamoto no Maszumi
On the cold wind.
木がらしのおとはすぎにし時なれどときはにつねに松にふく風
kogarashi no
oto wa suginishi
toki naredo
tokiwa ni tsune ni
matsu ni fuku kaze | The biting wind’s
Howl has passed
And yet,
The evergreens always
Pine for the gusting breeze. |
Anonymous
うちかへし思ひ出づれば石上古りにし恋は忘られにけり
utikaFesi
omoFi’idureba
isonokami
Furinisi koFi Fa
wasurarenikeri |
Time and time again
Memories come back to me
Of Isonokami
Where I did love long ago
And had forgotten. |
君さらば山にかへりて冬毎に雪踏み分けておりよとぞ思ふ
kimi saraba
yama ni kaFerite
Fuyugoto ni
yuki Fumiwakete
oriyo to zo omoFu |
If you should
Return to the mountains, then
With every winter
Forge through the snow
And descend, I beg you! |
年のうちに積もれる罪はかきくらし降る白雪とともに消えなむ
tosi no uti ni
tumoreru tumi Fa
kakikurasi
Furu sirayuki to
tomo ni kienamu |
Within the year
My accumulated sins
Leave me in darkness;
With the falling snow so white
I wish they would disappear! |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
伎倍人の斑衾に綿せはだいりなましもの妹がをささに
kiFeFito no
madarabusuma ni
wata seFada
irinamasi mono wo
imo ga wosasa ni |
The Kie Folk’s
Motley bedding
Has cotton within, yet
I wish I had entered in
My darling’s meagre blankets… |
庭に立つ麻布小衾今宵だに妻よしこせぬ麻ち小衾
niFa ni tatu
asade kobusuma
koyoFi dani
tuma yosikosenu
asati kobusuma |
Standing in the grounds,
Hemp, turned meagre bedding, but
Even on this night
My wife will not draw near
My hempen bedding! |
厚衾和やが下に寝たれども妹とし寝ねば肌寒しも
atubusuma
nagoya ga sita ni
netaredomo
imo to si neneba
FadaFe samusi mo |
Piled high, my bedding, and
Soft beneath
Where I lie in sleep, yet
I sleep not with my darling, so
My skin feels a chill… |
露深き菊をし折れる心あらば千代のあだ名はたたむとぞ思ふ
tuyu Fukaki
kiku wo si woreru
kokoro araba
tiyo no adana Fa
tatamu to zo omoFu |
Drenched in dew,
Picking chrysanthemums:
Should you have a mind to that,
Then a thousand years of old-wives’ tales
Would arise about you, I feel! |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
折る菊の雫を多み若ゆてふ濡れ衣をこそ老いの身にきれ
woru kiku no
sizuku wo oFomi
wakayu teFu
nureginu wo koso
oi no mi ni kire |
The picked chrysanthemums
Have so many droplets
Returning youth, that
A dampened, pointless, robe
I’ll wear about my aged frame! |
Mibu no Tadamine
壬生忠岑
'Simply moving and elegant'