Tag Archives: insects

Yōzei-in uta’awase (Engi jūsan-nen kugatsu kokonoka) 15

Left

秋すぐとねをもなくかなふか草のかげとたのめるむしならなくに

aki sugu to
ne o mo naku kana
fukakusa no
kage to tanomeru
mushi naranaku ni
‘Autumn passes by!’
Goes the cry—though
Upon the deep grasses’
Shade relying
Are there no insects at all…

29

Right

いづかたに心をやらんあかずしてすぎゆく秋ををしみとどめで

izukata ni
kokoro o yaran
akazushite
sugiyuku aki o
oshimi todomede
Whither
Should I incline my heart?
Unsatisfied,
With autumn’s passing
Regrets linger on…

30

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 18

をみなへしあきののをわけをりつればやどあれぬとてまつむしぞなく

ominaeshi
aki no no o wake
oritsureba
yado arenu tote
matsumushi zo naku
O, maidenflower,
Through the autumn meadows did I press
To pick you, so
My home has gone to ruin where
The pine crickets sing.

Yasuki
35

むしのねになきまどはせるをみなへしをればたもとにきりのこりゐる

mushi no ne ni
naki madowaseru
ominaeshi
oreba tamoto ni
kiri nokori’iru
The insects’ cries
With her sobs are confused, that
Maidenflower,
I pluck her, and within my sleeve
Traces of the mists do linger.

Amane
36

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 54

Left

雁がねにおどろく秋のよを寒み虫のおりだす衣をぞきる

kari ga ne ni
odoroku aki no
yo o samumi
mushi no oridasu
koromo o zo kiru
The goose cries are
Startling on an autumn
Night so chill
The insects’ woven
Robes I will put on!

106[1]

Right

あき風はたがたむけとか紅葉ばをぬさにきりつつ吹きちらすらん

akikaze wa
ta ga tamuke to ka
momijiba o
nusa ni kiritsutsu
fukichirasuran
The autumn wind:
To whom does it make its offering
Of scarlet leaves?
Ever cutting them to streamers, and
Seeming to scatter them with its gusts…

107


[1] Fubokushō XII: 4881

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 42

Left

おく山に紅葉ふみわけ鳴く鹿の声きく時ぞ秋はかなしき

okuyama ni
momiji fumiwake
naku shika no
koe kiku toki zo
aki wa kanashiki
Deep within the mountains
Forging through the scarlet  leaves
When a belling stag’s
Cry I hear, indeed,
Autumn is so sad.

82

Right

わがために来る秋にしもあらなくに虫の音聞けば先ぞかなしき

wa ga tame ni
kuru aki ni shimo
aranaku ni
mushi no ne kikeba
saki zo kanashiki
Not for my sake
Has autumn come
And yet,
When the insects’ cries I hear
What lies ahead is sad, indeed.

83

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 24

Left

かりそめのみやたのまれぬ夏の日をなど空蝉のなきくらしつる

karisome no
mi ya tanomarenu
natsu no hi o
nado utsusemi no
nakikurashitsuru
Is my transient
Flesh untrustworthy?
On a summer day
Why does the cicada, an empty shell,
Cry the day away?

47[1]

Right

はかもなき夏のくさ葉におく露を命とたのむ虫のはかなさ

haka mo naki
natsu no kusaba ni
oku tsuyu o
inochi to tanomu
mushi no hakanasa
Fleetingly
Upon the blades of summer grass
Falls the dew—
A lifetime, I expect, for
The short-lived insects.

48


[1] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, occurs in Shokugosenshū (XVI: 1058): かりそめの世やたのまれぬ夏の日をなどうつせみのなきくらしつる karisome no / yo ya tanomarenu / natsu no hi o / nado utsusemi no / nakikurashitsuru ‘Is this transient / World untrustworthy? / On a summer day / Why does the cicada, an empty shell, / Cry the day away?’

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 34

あきのむしなどわびしげにこゑのするたのめしかげに露やもりくる

aki no mushi
nado wabishige ni
koe no suru
tanomeshi kage ni
tsuyu ya morikuru
Why do the autumn insects
And more let out plaintive
Cries;
Is your trustworthy face
Drenched in dew?

67

もみぢばのながれてゆけば山がはのあさきせだにもあきはふかみぬ

momijiba no
nagareteyukeba
yamagawa no
asaki se dani mo
aki wa fukaminu
The scarlet leaves
Have come flowing, so
The mountain stream’s
Shallow rapids—even they
Are deep in autumn!

68

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 17

あきくればむしとともにぞなかれぬるひとも草ばもかれぬと思へば[1]

aki kureba
mushi to tomo ni zo
nakarenuru
hito mo kusaba mo
karenu to omoeba
When the autumn comes
Together with the insects
Do I weep,
That both folk and grass and leaves
Have withered, is in my thoughts…

33

からにしきみだれるのべとみえつるはあきのこのはのふるにざりける

karanishiki
midareru nobe to
mietsuru wa
aki no ko no ha no
furu ni zarikeru
For Cathay brocade
Confused the meadows
Do seem, for
In autumn, the leaves from the trees
Have truly fallen!

34


[1] This poem also occurs in Fubokushō (5580).

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 13

秋のよにひとまつことのわびしきはむしさへともになけばなりけり

aki no yo ni
hito matsu koto no
wabishiki wa
mushi sae tomo ni
nakeba narikeri
On an autumn night
Awaiting him is so
Sad and lonely,
When even the insects with me
Are crying…

25

ちりまがふあきのもみぢをみるごとにそでにしぐれのふらぬ日はなし[1]

chirimagau
aki no momiji o
miru koto ni
sode ni shigure no
furanu hi wa nashi
Confusedly scattering are
The scarlet leaves of autumn;
Seeing them,
Upon my sleeves the drizzle
Never fails to fall each day.

26


[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (6273), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata,

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 12

わびひとのとしふるさとはあきのののむしのやどりのなるぞわびしき[1]

wabibito no
toshi furu sato wa
aki no no no
mushi no yadori no
naru zo wabishiki
For one sunk in sadness
In an ancient dwelling
Among the autumn fields, where
The insects take their lodging,
Their cries are more heartbreaking.

23

あきのよのつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりのなみだやのべをそむらん[2]

aki no yo no
tsuyu oba tsuyu to
okinagara
kari no namida ya
nobe o somuramu
On Autumn nights
The dew as dewdrops
Falls, but,
Perhaps goose tears
Stain the fields?

24


[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (5579), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata

[2] This poem also appears in Kokinshū (V: 258) and Kokin rokujō (584). In both collections it is attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.