Tag Archives: gate

Kinkai wakashū 338

わが門のいた井のし水冬ふかみ影こそ見えね氷りすらしも

wa ga kado no
itai no shimizu
fuyu fukami
kage koso miene
kōri sura shimo

By my gate
The fresh waters of my board-bound well
Are deep in winter—
No reflection shows at all
How icy they must be!

338

Composed on the moon at dawn at a mountain retreat.

やまざとのかどたのいねのほのぼのとあくるもしらず月を見るかな

yamazato no
kadota no ine no
Fonobono to
akuru mo sirazu
tuki o miru kana

At a mountain retreat, that
The rice seedlings in the paddy ‘fore my gate
Are dimly
Brightening, I know not, for
My gaze is on the moon!

Middle Counsellor Akitaka
中納言顕隆

Expressing true feelings.

恋ひ死なば恋ひも死ねとか我妹子が我家の門を過ぎて行くらむ

kopisinaba
kopi mo sine to ka
wagimoko ga
wagipe no kadeo wo
sugite yukuran

“If one can die of love, then
Do so!” says
My darling girl
As before my dwelling’s gate
She seems to go by!

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
柿本人麻呂歌集

Two poems composed on birds.

我が門ゆ鳴き過ぎ渡る霍公鳥いやなつかしく聞けど飽き足らず

wa ga kado yu
nakisugiwataru
pototogisu
iya natukasiku
kikedo akitarazu

By my gate,
Singing, passes
The cuckoo;
O, but he does move me so –
I listen, yet can never get my fill…

Ōtomo no Yakamochi

When the house of Bishop Mokuban burnt down, I sent a message, with this, to his mother.

出でにける門のほかをし知らぬ身は問ふべき程もさたすきにけり

idenikeru
kado no Foka wo si
siranu mi Fa
toFubeki Fodo mo
sada suginikeri

Departed
Through that other gate have you, while
In ignorance, I,
When I should have known,
Have passed my time.

Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部