Topic unknown.
ひぐらしの鳴くゆふぐれぞうかりけるいつもつきせぬ思ひなれども
| higurashi no naku yūgure zo ukarikeru itsumo tsukisenu omoi naredomo | The sundown cicadas Crying in the evening, truly, Is so hard to bear, for Always endless Gloom does fill me, yet… |
Fujiwara no Nagayoshi
Topic unknown.
こめやとは思ふものからひぐらしのなくゆふぐれはたちまたれつつ
| kome ya to Fa omoFu mono kara Figurasi no naku yuFugure Fa tatimataretutu | Wondering if you’ll come Gloom fills my thoughts, so when The sundown cicadas’ Cry in the evening So do I, ever awaiting you… |
Anonymous
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