うちわびて落穂拾ふと聞かませば我も田面にゆかましものを
uchiwabite ochibo hirou to kikamaseba ware mo tazura ni yukamashi mono o |
Sadly, You gather fallen ears of rice – Had I heard that, I, too, into the paddy fields Would have made my way… |
うちわびて落穂拾ふと聞かませば我も田面にゆかましものを
uchiwabite ochibo hirou to kikamaseba ware mo tazura ni yukamashi mono o |
Sadly, You gather fallen ears of rice – Had I heard that, I, too, into the paddy fields Would have made my way… |
しのぶ山忍びて通ふ道もがな人の心の奥も見るべく
shinobuyama shinobite kayou michi mogana hito no kokoro no oku mo mirubeku |
O Mount Shinobu! To secretly traverse Your paths – I wish I could! Then into my lady’s heart of Hearts could I catch a glimpse! |
Written by a woman and sent to a man whom she had promised to marry, after her family have disagreed and taken her away:
秋かけていひしながらもあらなくに木の葉降りしくえにこそありけれ
aki kakete iFisinagara mo aranakuni ko no Fa Furisiku e ni koso arikere |
‘When autumn comes’ I said, And yet, ‘tis not to be; Fallen leaves swept along The inlet, indeed! |
駿河なる打津の山べのうつゝにも夢にも人にあはぬなりけり
suruganaru utu no yamabe no ututu ni mo yume ni mo Fito ni aFanu narikeri |
In Suruga By Utsu Mount In reality And in my dreams, my love I meet no more… |
In reply:
野とならばうづらとなりて鳴きをらんかりにだにやはきみは來ざらむ
no to naraba udura to narite nakiworan kari ni dani ya Fa kimi Fa kozaramu |
If I’m abandoned in a field A quail I shall become And cry; But surely, briefly hunting me You’ll come, won’t you? |
Anonymous
See also KKS VIII 971-2 for a variant on the exchange.
Once, long ago there was a man. He abducted someone’s daughter and when they reached Musashi Plain, as he was plainly a kidnapper, he would have been seized by the provincial governor’s men. Leaving the woman in the grasses, he fled. The pursuers, saying to themselves that doubtless the abductor was hiding there, set the plain alight. The woman, panicked, cried out:
武蔵野は今日はな燒きそ若草のつまもこもれり我もこもれり
musasino Fa keFu Fa na yaki so wakakusa no tuma mo komoreri ware mo komoreri |
O, Musashi Plain Burn not this day! Fresh grass, My man is hidden there, As, too, am I… |
Hearing this, they found her and, together with the man who had been found elsewhere, took her back with them.
Topic unknown.
思ほえず袖に凑のさはぐかなもろこし舟のよりしばかりに
omohoezu sode no minato no sawagu kana morokoshibune no yorishi bakari ni |
Unexpectedly, Upon the river-mouths of my sleeves There is such commotion; A ship from far Cathay Had just made port. |
Anonymous
This poem also appears in Ise Monogatari, Chapter 26.
山城の井手の玉水手にむすびたのみしかひもなきよなりけり
yamasiro no ide no tamamidu te ni musubi tanomisi kaFi mo naki yo narikeri |
In Yamashiro In Ide’s jewelled waters Our hands entwined and Troth plighted, but to no Avail |
Long ago, a man went wandering in the province of Musashi. And, in that province lived a certain lady. Her father thought to match her with a common man, but for her mother, only a man of the highest rank would do. Her father was a man of low rank, but her mother was of the Fujiwara family. Thus it was that she wanted a man of high rank for her daughter. So, she composed a poem and sent it to the man. They lived in the district of Iruma on the Miyoshino estate.
みよし野のたのむの雁もひたふるに君がゝたにぞよると鳴くなる
miyosino no tanomu no kari mo FitaFuru ni kimi ga kata ni zo yoru to naku naru |
In fair Yoshino, Even the geese upon the rice fields, Alone For you do Yearn and cry. |
The man replied:
わが方によると鳴くなるみよし野のたのむの雁をいつか忘れん
wa ga kata ni yoru to naku naru miyosino no tanomu no kari wo ituka wasuren |
For me Yearning and crying In fair Yoshino The geese upon the rice fields: Can I ever forget them? |
In the provinces they have still not ceased to do such things.
陸奥のしのぶもぢずり誰ゆへに亂れ染めにし我ならなくに
michinoku no shinobu mojizuri tare yue ni midaresomenishi ware naranakuni |
Michinoku’s Shinobu-pattern dyes: For whom Did this confusion start? For it was not for I… |
伊勢物語