When a man who had come to see her around the Eighth Month left behind his fan, which was decorated with a picture of bamboo leaves spotted with dewdrops, after some time had passed, she returned it, with this.
しののめにおきてわかれし人よりはひさしくとまる竹の葉の露
shinonome ni okite wakareshi hito yori wa hisashiku tomaru take no ha no tsuyu At the break of dawn He rose and left— That man, but Much longer lingered Dewdrops on the bamboo leaves.
Izumi Shikibu
山寺のあか月がたの鐘のおとをわがおもふことなるときかばや
yamadera no akatsukigata no kane no oto o wa ga omou koto naru to kikaba ya At a mountain temple Toward the edge of dawn The tolling of the bell Becomes the focus of my thoughts— Is that what I hear?
Fujiwara no Sadayori
しぐれ降る暁月夜紐解かず恋ふらむ君と居らましものを
sigure puru akatokidukuyo pimo tokazu kopuramu kimi to woramasi mono wo Showers fall At a night’s moonlit dawn, with No-one to undo my belt, If only a loving man Were with me now!
Anonymous
From the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds.
ima wa tote haru no ariake ni chiru hana ya tsuki ni mo oshiki mine no shirakumo Is now the time—that In the spring dawn With the blossom scattering The moon, too, regrets leaving The white clouds round the peaks?
Sanuki from the Nijō Palace 二条院讃岐
Topic unknown.
心あらむひとのためとやかすむらんなにはのみつのはるのあけぼの
kokoro aramu hito no tame to ya kasumuran naniwa no mitsu no haru no akebono For sensitive Folks’ sake—do you Seem to haze? At Mitsu in Naniwa The dawn in springtime.
Former Emperor Gotoba
A spring poem, from when he composed a fifty-poem sequence at the residence of Cloistered Prince Shukaku.
山のはもそらもひとつに見ゆるかなこれやかすめるはるのあけぼの
yama no ha mo sora mo hitotsu ni miyuru kana kore ya kasumeru haru no akebono The mountains’ edge and The sky, too, as one Do seem! This is the hazy Dawn in springtime!
Minamoto no Moromitsu 源師光
Round 8
Left
花の色はかすみのひまにほのみえて山のはにほふ春の暁
hana no iro wa kasumi no hima ni honomiete yama no ha niou haru no akebono The blossoms’ hues Between the shifting haze I briefly glimpse, and The mountains’ edges glow With the dawn in springtime.
325
Right
あだし夜の花にとききてゆく雁の名残もいとど有明のそら
adashiyo no hana ni toki kite yuku kari no nagori mo itdodo ariake no sora To fleeting night’s Blossoms has the time come, and The departing geese leave A keepsake more brief In the skies at dawn.
326
This round, again, it seems difficult to distinguish between the the two poems.
Former Emperor Gosukō (1372-1456) 後崇光院
Left
おしなべて五月のそらを見渡せば草葉も水もみどりなりけり
oshinabete satsuki no sora o miwataseba kusaba mo mizu mo midori narikeri When the entire Fifth Month sky I gaze across, Blades of grass and water, too, Are green.
72[1]
Right
くるるかとみれば明けぬる夏の夜をあかずとや鳴く山郭公
kururu ka to mireba akenuru natsu no yo o akazu to ya naku yamahototogisu Did you think ’twas sunset? When a glance would show the breaking dawn Of this summer night- Unsated by your song, do you sing on, Cuckoo in the mountains?
73[2]
[1] Shinchokusenshū III: 152/Kokin rokujō I: 89
[1] Kokinshū III: 157, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine/Shinsen man’yōshū 57/Kokin rokujō VI: 4437
The winter moon.
木の葉なき梢のかぜは音さびて村雲たかき有明のかげ
ko no ha naki kozue no kaze wa oto sabite muragumo takaki ariake no kage In the leafless Treetops the wind’s Sound is lonely, indeed, while Above the high, crowding clouds is The light at dawn.
Topic unknown.
しののめにあかで別れした本をぞつゆやわけしと人はとがむる
sinonome ni akade wakaresi tamoto wo zo tuyu ya wakesi to Fito Fa togamuru At the dawn Still unsated, did we part- Was it that your sleeves Pressed through the dew? That left you weighing on my mind…
Anonymous
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'Simply moving and elegant'