Tag Archives: birds

Yōzei’in miko futari uta’awase 11

Partings at Dawn

Left

ひとしれぬわがみとおもへばあかつきのとりとともにやなきてかへらん

hito shirenu
wa ga mi to omoeba
akatsuki no
tori to tomo ni ya
nakite kaeran
No one knew
Of my sorry state, I thought, so
With the dawn
Birds’ chorus should I,
Sobbing, make my way home?

20

Right

ひとしれずあかでわかるるあかつきにうちなきそふるをしのこゑかな

hito shirezu
akade wakaruru
akatsuki ni
uchinaki souru
oshi no koe kana
No one knows
How unsatisfied I am to part
With the dawn
Sobs overlaying
The cries of the mandarin ducks!

21

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 80

Left

ふくみあへず消えなむ雪を冬の日の花と見ればや鳥のとむらん

fukumiaezu
kienamu yuki o
fuyu no hi no
hana to mireba ya
tori no touran
Unable enter in
The vanishing snow
On a winter’s day,
Mistaking it for blossom, is that why
The birds do seek it out?

155

Right

This poem is missing from extant texts of the competition.

MYS II: 153

A poem by Her Majesty, the Dowager Empress.

鯨魚取り 近江の海を 沖放けて 漕ぎ来る船 辺付きて 漕ぎ来る船 沖つ櫂 いたくな撥ねそ 辺つ櫂 いたくな撥ねそ 若草の 夫の 思ふ鳥立つ

isana tori
opomi no umi wo
oki sakete
kogikitaru pune
pe tu kite
kogikuru pune
oki tu kai
itaku na pane so
pe tu kai
itaku na pane so
wakakusa no
tuma no
omopu tori tatu
In the whale-hunting
Sea of Ōmi
From far off in the offing
Boats come rowing;
Nearing the shore,
Boats come rowing;
Off in the offing, oars
Beat not so hard!
By the shore, oars
Beat not so hard!
A fresh blade of grass –
My husband’s
Beloved birds you’ll start to flight!

Yamato Hime no Ōkimi
倭皇后