Left
たまくしげ二上山のほととぎす今ぞあけくれなきわたるなる
tamakushige futakamiyama no hototogisu ima zo akekure nakiwataru naru On the jewelled comb of Futakami Mountain The cuckoos Now, indeed, both night and day Do fill with their constant song.
78
Right
時鳥のちのさ月もありとてやながくうづきをすぐしはてつる
hototogisu nochi no satsuki mo ari tote ya nagaku uzuki o sugushihatetsuru O, cuckoo! A further Fifth Month There is, so Leisurely, the Fourth Month Have you completely spent?
79
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
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
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
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.
Anonymous
Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
あひみての後も五月をいむとてやみそかにだにも音せざるらん
aimite no nochi mo satsuki o imu tote ya misoka ni dani mo otosezaruran We met and Then for the Fifth Month Would refrain, did you say? Yet even now the thirtieth day has come, There’s not a sound from you!
Tadafusa
Topic unknown.
郭公鳴くやさ月の短夜も一人し寝れば明しかねつも
Fototogisu
naku ya satuki no
mizika yo mo
Fitori si nureba
akasikanetu mo
A cuckoo
Calls on a Fifth Month’s
Brief night;
Sleeping alone, yet
The dawn brings only pain…
Anonymous
鵜川には皐月の闇もなかりけりくだればくだす舟の篝火
ukawa ni wa
satsuki no yami mo
nakarikeri
kudareba kudasu
fune no kagaribi
To the cormorant river
The Fifth Month’s dark
Has not come;
For when it falls, also do
The boats’ torches!
Shunzei
'Simply moving and elegant'