Warblers
草ふかき霞の谷にはぐくもるうぐひすのみやむかしこふらし
| kusa fukaki kasumi no tani ni hagukumoru uguisu nomi ya mukashi kourashi | Deep within the grasses of The haze-filled valley, Wing-wrapped does The warbler fledgling, alone, Think fondly of times long gone? |
Haze
おしなべて春は来にけりつくばねのこのもとごとに霞たなびく
| oshinabete haru wa kinikeri tsukubane no ko no moto goto ni kasumi tanabiku | To everywhere and anywhere Spring has come! On Tsukuba peak Around the base of every tree, Drifts haze. |
Haze
み冬つぎ春しきぬれば青柳のかづらき山に霞たなびく
| mifuyu tsugi haru shikinureba aoyagi no kazuragiyama ni kasumi tanabiku | After deep winter’s passing Spring has come, so Across willow-green Kazuragi Mountain The haze does trail. |
Poems on the beginning of spring
九重の雲ゐに春ぞ立ちぬらしおほうちやまに霞たなびく
| kokonoe no kumoi ni haru zo tachinurashi ōuchiyama ni kasumi tanabiku | In ninefold layers of Cloud does springtime Seem to rise; Across Ōuchi Mountain[i] Trails haze. |
2
[i] Ōuchi Mountain (ōuchiyama 大内山) lies to the north of the Ninnaji 仁和寺 temple in the north-west of Kyoto, and was the site of a detached palace belonging to Emperor Uda 宇多 (866-931; r. 887-897).
Left (Tie)
ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ
| furusato ni kasumi tobiwake yuku kari wa tabi no sora ni ya haru o suguramu | Above an ancient estate Flying through the parting haze Go the geese: In the skies they journey through, I wonder, will they pass the springtime? |
Mitsune
19
Right
ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ
| chiru hana o nukishi tomeneba aoyagi no ito wa yoru tomo kai ya nakaramu | The scattered blossom Has been pierced, but not stayed, so, The green willow’s Threaded fronds are spun together, yet It useless seems… |
20
‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’
Left (Tie)
ふりはへてはなみにくればくらぶやまいとどかすみのたちかくすらむ
| furihaete hana mi ni kureba kurabuyama itodo kasumi no tachikakusuramu | When with many trials The blossom have I come to see Upon Kurabu Mountain Already does the haze Seem to rise to conceal them. |
Okikaze
17
Right
いもやすくねられざりけりはるのよははなのちるのみゆめにみえつつ
| imo yasuku nerarezarikeri haru no yo wa hana no chiru nomi yume ni mietsutsu | My darling, uneasily, Does sleep; On a night in springtime Scattering blossom, alone, In her dreams does she ever see… |
18
‘These are just about amusing,’ they tied.
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