Tag Archives: fire

SKKS XI: 1032

Composed on the conception of summer love, when the Regent and Palace Minister held a poetry contest at his residence.

おもひあれば袖にほたるをつつみてもいはばや物をとふ人はなし

omoi areba
sode ni hotaru o
tsutsumite mo
iwaba ya mono o
tou hito wa nashi
I am filled with passion’s fire, but
Even should my sleeves fireflies
Wrap up,
‘What do you ponder on?’—
There’s no one to enquire of me…[1]

Monk Jakuren

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] An allusive variation on Gosenshū IV: 209; and a poem which Kenshō cites in his judgement of the poems in Round 1310 of Sengohyakuban uta’awase 千五百番歌合 (‘Poetry Contest in 1500 Rounds’): あめふればのきのたま水つぶつぶといはばやものを心ゆくまで ame fureba / noki no tamamizu / tsubutsubu to / iwaba ya mono o / kokoro yuku made ‘The rain falls and / Jewelled droplets from my eaves / Drip one by one: / Should I ponder on that / Until my heart is eased?’

Uda-in uta’awase 12

Regretting the Day of the Rat

Left

むねのひををしもぬかねばみだれおつるなみだのたまにかつぞけちつる

mune no hi o
o shimo nukaneba
midare’otsuru
namida no tama ni
katsu zo kechitsuru
The fire within my breast
Will not thread upon a string, but
My disorderly dripping
Gemstone tears will
Yet extinguish it.

Tsurayuki
23

Right (Win)

くらきよにともすほたるのむねのひををしもとけたるたまかとぞ見る

kuraki yo ni
tomosu hotaru no
mune no hi o
o shimo toketaru
tama ka zo zo miru
On a night so dark,
The kindled fireflies of
The fire within my breast;
Loosened from their string
As scattered gemstones they appear.

Tadamine
24

Uda-in uta’awase 1

The Day of the Rat (ne no hi 子日)

Left

ほのぼのとみねのひのまづさしつればむすばぬはるのゆきぞとけける

honobono to
mine no hi no mazu
sashitsureba
musubanu haru no
yuki zo tokekeru
Faintly,
Upon the peaks the sun first
Shines, then
Not fully frozen, the spring
Snow melts.

Tsurayuki
1

Right (Win)

かたこひをするがのふじのやまよりもむねのひのまづもえまさるかな

katakoi o
suruga no fuji no
yama yori mo
mune no hi no mazu
moemasaru kana
In love and unrequited,
More than Suruga’s Fuji
Mountain does
The fire in my breast, first
Burn all the greater!

Tomonori
2