Tag Archives: branches

GSIS XVIII: 1063

Composed on the instructions of His Majesty, on the way back from Sumiyoshi, when he had accompanied him there in the Third Month, Enkyū 5 [April 1073].

おきつかぜふきにけらしな住吉の松のしづえをあらふしらなみ

okitsukaze
fukinikerashi na
sumiyoshi no
matsu no shizue o
arau shiranami
The wind in the offing
Is gusting, it seems, for
At Sumiyoshi
The pines’ low branches
Are washed by whitecaps.

Minister of Justice Tsunenobu

Teiji-in uta’awase 01

Spring

Ten Poems on the Second Month

Left

あをやぎのえだにかかれるはるさめはいともてぬけるたまかとぞみる

aoyagi no
eda ni kakareru
harusame wa
ito mo te nukeru
tama ka to zo miru
Upon the green willow
Branches hang
Spring raindrops—
As if each frond were hand-threaded
With gems do they appear.

Ise
1

Right

あさみどりそめてみだれるあをやぎのいとをばはるのかぜやよるらむ

asamidori
somete midareru
aoyagi no
ito oba haru no
kaze ya yoruramu
Pale green
Dyes the tangled
Willow
Fronds—do spring’s
Breeze they seem to beckon?

Korenori
2

I’d say both of these are good—a tie.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 15

These are poems which His Majesty had everyone in attendance compose on the day.

わがやどをみなへしひとのすぎゆかばあきのくさばはしぐれざらまし

wa ga yado o
mina heshi hito no
sugiyukaba
aki no kusaba wa
shigurezaramashi
Should my house
By all the passing folk
Be passed by, then
Would not the autumn grasses
Scatter showers?

Minamoto no Tsuruna
29

をしめどもえだにとまらぬもみぢばをみなへしおきてあきののちみむ

oshimedomo
eda ni tomaranu
momijiba o
mina heshi okite
aki no nochi mimu
I regret it, yet
On the branches have not lingered
Scarlet leaves—
I will press them, every one,
To gaze on after autumn’s passing.

Muneyuki
30

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 10

Left

をみなへしうつろふあきのほどをなみねさへうつしてをしむけふかな

ominaeshi
utsurou aki no
hodo o nami
ne sae utsushite
oshimu kyō kana
The maidenflower
With the autumn will fade
Soon away;
Being shifted here root and all
She must regret, today!

19[1]

Right

うつらずはふゆともわかじをみなへしときはのえだにさきかへらなむ

utsurazu wa
fuyu to mo wakaji
ominaeshi
tokiwa no eda ni
sakikaeranamu
Ever unfading and
All unknowing of the winter,
O, maidenflower,
On evergreen branches
I would you returned to bloom!

20


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 514

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 74

Left 白雪の降りつもれる山里は人さへやおもひ消ゆらむ[1]

shirayuki no
furitsumoreru
yamazato wa
sumu hito sae ya
omoikiyuramu
White snow
Has fallen, drifted high around
The mountain home;
Might even he who lives there
Be buried in melancholy?

This poem is missing from some texts of the contest and thus is unnumbered.

Right

ひかりまつ枝にかかれる雪をこそ冬の花とはいふべかりけれ

hikari matsu
eda ni kakareru
yuki o koso
fuyu no hana to wa
iubekarikere
Awaiting the light
Upon the branches clings
Snow:
Winter’s blossom—that’s what
It should be called!

144


[1] Kokinshū VI: 328, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.