Left
秋のせみさむき声にぞきこゆなる木のはの衣を風やぬぎつる
aki no semi
samuki koe ni zo
kikoyunaru
ko no ha no kinu o
kaze ya nugitsuru | In the autumn, the cicadas’
Chill song
I hear;
Has the trees’ garb of leaves
Been stripped from them by the wind? |
112[1]
Right
あきの夜の月の影こそ木の間よりおちてはきぬとみえわたりけれ
aki no yo no
tsuki no kage koso
ko no ma yori
ochite wa kinu to
miewatarikere | On an autumn night
The moon’s light, truly,
From between the trees
Does come a’falling
Everywhere, it seems. |
113
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 109/Fubokushō XIII: 5422
Left
夏の月ひかりをしまず照る時はながるる水にかげろふぞたつ
natsu no tsuki
hikari o shimazu
teru toki wa
nagaruru mizu ni
kagerō zo tatsu | When summer moon’s
Light lightly
Shines
From the running waters
Haze arises! |
74
Right
琴の音にひびきかよへる松風はしらべても鳴く蝉の声かな
koto no ne ni
hibikikayoeru
matsukaze wa
shirabetemo naku
semi no koe kana | A zither’s strains
Echoing back and forth:
The wind through the pines,
In tune with the cries
In the cicadas’ song! |
75[1]
[1] Shinshūishū III: 303/Shinsen man’yōshū 73/Kokin rokujō I: 398/Fubokushō IX: 3584
Left
なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき
natsu no hi no
kururu mo shirazu
naku semi o
toi mo shiteshika
nani goto ka uki | Of the summer sun’s
Setting unaware are
The singing cicadas:
Had I but asked them of it,
What would they despise? |
70
Right
あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ
ayamegusa
ikura no satsuki
aikuramu
kuru toshigoto ni
wakaku miyuramu | O, sweet flags!
In how many Fifth Months
Have you come to meet me?
With every turning year
You seem younger to me! |
71
Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
natsu no hi o
kurashiwabinuru
semi no ma ni
wa ga nakisouru
koe wa kikoyu ya | The summer sun
They know not how to endure,
So with the cicadas
My sobbing
Voice do you hear? |
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
uramitsutsu
todomuru hito no
nakereba ya
yama hototogisu
ukaredete naku | How I constantly despise
The one who’s staying here
If he were gone, would
The mountain cuckoo
Have aimlessly left his home to sing? |
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
秋のせみさむき声にぞきこゆなる木のはの衣を風やぬぎつる
aki no semi
samuki koe ni zo
kikoyunaru
ko no ha no kinu o
kaze ya nugitsuru | In the autumn, the cicadas’
Chill song
I hear;
Has the trees’ garb of leaves
Been stripped from them by the wind? |
Anonymous
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
琴の音にひびきかよへる松風をしらべてもなく蝉のこゑかな
koto no ne ni
hibikikayoeru
matsukaze wa
shirabetemo naku
semi no koe kana | A zither’s strains
Echoing back and forth:
The wind through the pines,
In tune with the cries
In the cicadas’ song! |
Anonymous
Composed when he presented a hundred poem sequence, during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.
山ざとはさびしかりけりこがらしのふく夕ぐれのひぐらしのこゑ
yamazato Fa
sabisikarikeri
kogarasi no
Fuku yuFugure no
higurasi no kowe | A mountain retreat is
Lonely, indeed;
The biting wind
Blows of an evening with
The sundown cicadas’ cries. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
あきのよにたれをまつとかひぐらしのゆふぐれごとになきまさるらん
aki no yo ni
tare o matsu to ka
higurashi no
yūgure goto ni
nakimasaruran | On an autumn night
Who is it that you await, I wonder?
The sundown cicadas
With each evening
Cry ever louder… |
41
あき風のふきくるよひはきりぎりす草のねごとにこゑみだれけり[1]
akikaze no
fukikuru yoi wa
kirigirisu
kusa no ne goto ni
koe midarekeri | The autumn wind
Comes gusting late at night, when
The crickets
From every single blade of grass
Let out confused cries. |
42
[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (V: 257).
ひぐらしのなくあき山をこえくればことぞともなくものぞかなしき[1]
higurashi no
naku aki yama o
koekureba
koto zo tomonaku
mono zo kanashiki | The sundown cicadas
Sing in the autumn mountains
Passing by,
Everything is somehow
All the more sad… |
17
あきののとなりぞしにける草むらの見るひごとにもまさるつゆかな
aki no no to
nari zo shinikeru
kusamura no
miru hi goto ni mo
masaru tsuyu kana | The autumn fields
Have all turned to
Tangled clumps of grass—
Every day I sight them,
How finer is the dewfall! |
18
[1] This poem was included in two later anthologies: Fubokuwakashu (6015) and Shūfū wakashū 秋風和歌集 (307).
Right
夏なれば木高き枝になく蟬のかげにかくせる風を恋ふとか
natu nareba
kodakaki eda ni
naku semi no
kage ni kakuseru
kaze wo koFu to ka | When the summer comes,
In the topmost branches of the trees
In the singing cicadas’
Shadows have you hidden
The breeze I love? |
5
'Simply moving and elegant'