On the conception of forgotten love.
袖の露もあらぬ色にぞ消えかへるうつればかはるなげきせしまに
| sode no tsuyu mo aranu iro ni zo kiekaeru utsureba kawaru nagekiseshi ma ni | The dewdrops on my sleeves now Lack any hue at all Fading once more, Revealing the change To my lengthy sorrow…[1] |
The Senior Retired Emperor
[1] An allusive variation on: KKS II: 113; and Genji monogatari 463.
When she presented a hundred-poem sequence.
ちりかかるもみぢの色はふかけれどわたればにごる山川の水
| chirikakaru momiji no iro wa fukakeredo watareba nigoru yamakawa no mizu | The fallen, scattered Scarlet leaves’ hue is Deep, indeed, yet In crossing it, I muddy The waters of a mountain stream. |
Sanuki, from the Nijō Palace
For a folding screen showing snow falling and clinging to a plum tree.
梅のはな色はそれともわかぬまで風にみだれて雪はふりつつ
| ume no hana iro wa sore tomo wakanu made kaze ni midarete yuki wa furitsutsu | The plum blossoms’ Hue is such that I cannot tell them apart— The wind creates confusion as The snow falls on and on… |
Spring Blossom
Left (Tie)
としかはるのはなほことになりぬらししかのこまだらにゆきもけにけり
| toshi kawaru no wa naho koto ni narinurashi shika no ko madara ni yuki mo kenikeri | With the changing of the year, The meadows, particularly, more different Seem to do be— Dappled as a fawn, The snow, too, vanishes away. |
Tsurayuki
3
Right
しらゆきのきえてみどりにかはるのはながれていろのうつらざらなむ
| shirayuki no kiete midori ni kawaru no wa nagarete iro no utsurazaranamu | The snow, so white, Vanishes and to green shoots Do change the meadows, with Flowing meltwater—O, that hue I would not have fade away! |
Tadamine
4
Left
みよしのの山のしら雪ふみ分けて入りにし人のおとづれもせぬ
| miyoshino no yama no shirayuki fumiwakete irinishi hito no otozure mo senu | Through fair Yoshino Mountain’s white snow fall Forging, He entered in, And not a line returned. |
Tadamine
129[1]
Right
吹く風は色も見えねど冬くればひとりぬるよの身にぞしみける
| fuku kaze wa iro mo mienedo fuyu kureba hitori nuru yo no mi ni zo shimikeru | The gusting wind Shows no hue, yet When the winter comes, Sleeping alone at night It chills me to the bone. |
130
[1] Kokinshū VI: 327/Shinsen man’yōshū 183/Kokin rokujō I: 712.
Left
秋の月草むらわかずてらせばややどせる露を玉とみすらん
| aki no tsuki kusamura wakazu teraseba ya yadoseru tsuyu o tama to misuran | Does the autumn moon Not forge through the grassy thickets As it shines? For The dewdrops it lodges there It seems to display as jewels. |
114
Right
なほざりに秋のみやまに入りぬれば錦のいろの衣をこそきれ
| naozari ni aki nomi yama ni irinureba nishiki no iro no kinu o koso kire | Easily, indeed, Does autumn, simply, to the mountains Enter in, so In garb the hue of Brocade do they clothe themselves! |
115
Left
春がすみあみにはりこめ花ちらばうつろひぬべし鶯とめよ
| harugasumi ami ni harikome hana chiraba utsuroinubeshi uguisu tomeyo | The spring haze Spreads its net to catch The blossom—should they scatter, And then, for sure, decline, O, warbler, tarry a while! |
15[1]
Right
春雨の色はこくしもみえなくに野辺のみどりをいかでそむらん
| harusame no iro wa koku shimo mienaku ni nobe no midori o ikade somuran | The spring rain’s Hue great depths Does not seem to have, but How are the meadows with green So deeply dyed? |
16[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 9; Fubokushō II: 464: ‘Haze’
[2] A minor variant of the poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, and attributed to Ki no Tomonori, appears in Shokusenzaishū (I: 62): 春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん harusame no / iro wa koshi tomo / mienaku ni / nobe no midori o / ikade somuran ‘The spring rain’s / Hue no great depths / Does seem to have, but / How are the meadows with green / So deeply dyed?’
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん
| harusame no iro wa koshi tomo mienaku ni nobe no midori o ikade somuran | The spring rain’s Hue no great depths Does seem to have, but How are the meadows with green So deeply dyed? |
Ki no Tomonori