Wisteria blooming by a river bank
Left
さだめなく吹く風なれば池水のきしをめぐりてよする藤なみ
sadamenaku
fuku kaze nareba
ikemizu no
kishi o megurite
yosuru Fujinami | Inconstant is
The gusting wind, so
By the pondwater’s
Bank and all along it
Break wisteria waves… |
Fujiwara no Munenari
11
Right
藤なみのかからぬ岸のなければやこぎくる舟のよるひまのなき
fujinami no
kakaranu kishi no
nakereba ya
kogikuru fune no
yoru hima no naki | Untouched by wisteria waves
Such a bank
Is there not one?
Come rowing, the boats
Have not a moment to make shore. |
Lesser Superintendant Fujiwara no Sadamitsu
12
稲筵川沿柳水行けばおきふしすれどそのねたえせず
inamushiro
kawasoi yanagi
mizu yukeba
okifushisuredo
sono ne taesezu
|
On a rice-straw mat
Beneath a willow on the bank,
Where waters flow,
I lay me down, yet
Sleep, as ever, eludes me. |
During the same reign, when there was an imperial excursion and His Majesty commanded the composition of poems.
大井河川辺の松に事問はむかかる御幸やありし昔も
oFowigawa
kaFabe no matu ni
koto toFamu
kakaru miyuki ya
arisi mukasi mo |
At Ōigawa:
O, pine trees on the bank
I would ask you something:
Was there ever such an imperial visit
In the days of long ago? |
Ki no Tsurayuki
竜田川岸の山吹咲きぬれば影より波ぞ折りはじめける
tatsutagawa
kishi no yamabuki
sakinureba
kage yori nami zo
orihajimekeru |
On Tatsuta River’s
Bank, the kerria
Has bloomed, so
From its face
Waves have begun to weave… |
Tsunemasa
経正
'Simply moving and elegant'