Tag Archives: face

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 99

Left

人しれずしたにながるる涙川せきとどめなむかげは見ゆると

hito shirezu
shita ni nagaruru
namidagawa
seki todomenamu
kage wa miyuru to
Unknown to all
Beneath there flows
A river of tears;
O, for a dam to halt it, that
I could glimpse her face…

192[1]

Right

もえもあはぬこなたかなたの思ひかな涙の河の中にゆけばか

moe mo awanu
konata kanata no
omoi kana
namida no kawa no
naka ni yukeba ka
Burning, unmatched, are
My multitude of
Passion’s fires!
For into a river of tears
Have I plunged?

Tsurayuki
193


[1] Shokugosenshū XI: 640/Shinsen man’yōshū 227.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 83

Left

白玉のきえて涙と成りぬれば恋しきかげを袖にこそ見れ

shiratama no
kiete namida to
narinureba
koishiki kage o
sode ni koso mire
Pearls
Vanish and to tears
Have turned, so
Her beloved face
I will see upon my sleeves.

160

Right

人を見ておもふ事だに有るものを空にこふるぞはかなかりける

hito o mite
omou koto dani
aru mono o
sora ni kōru zo
hakanakarikeru
I saw her, and
Thoughts simply
Filled me, but
In the skies, love is
Fleeting, indeed!

161

ShGSS IV: 214

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.

夏の夜は水まさればやあまのがはながるる月のかげもとどめぬ

natsu no yo wa
mizu masareba ya
ama no kawa
nagaruru tsuki no
kage mo todomenu
On a summer night
Perhaps, because the waters are so fine
Of the River of Heaven?
Drifting, the moon’s
Face, too, tarries not.

Anonymous

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

冬の夜の月はとほくやわたりけんかげみしみづのまづしこほれば

fuyu no yo no
tsuki wa tōku ya
watariken
kage mishi mizu no
mazu shi kōreba
On a winter’s night
Does the moon distantly
Pass by? For
The waters where I saw its face
Are the first to freeze…

22

Right

ながれくるみづこほりぬる冬さへやなほうき草のあとはさだめぬ

nagarekuru
mizu kōrinuru
fuyu sae ya
nao ukikusa no
ato wa sadamenu
Flowing down
The waters have frozen
With the winter, so will
The drifting waterweed still
Leave little trace?

23

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 34

あきのむしなどわびしげにこゑのするたのめしかげに露やもりくる

aki no mushi
nado wabishige ni
koe no suru
tanomeshi kage ni
tsuyu ya morikuru
Why do the autumn insects
And more let out plaintive
Cries;
Is your trustworthy face
Drenched in dew?

67

もみぢばのながれてゆけば山がはのあさきせだにもあきはふかみぬ

momijiba no
nagareteyukeba
yamagawa no
asaki se dani mo
aki wa fukaminu
The scarlet leaves
Have come flowing, so
The mountain stream’s
Shallow rapids—even they
Are deep in autumn!

68