On an old woman wiping her face with chrysanthemum dew on the ninth day of the Ninth Month.
けふまでに我をおもへば菊の上の露は千年の玉にざりける
kyō made ni ware o omoeba kiku no ue no tsuyu wa chitose no tama nizarikeru | Up until this day Have you thought of me, so Upon the chrysanthemums These dewdrops, thousand year Jewels do not seem to be. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
A summer poem, from a hundred poem sequence.
百敷の玉のみぎりのみ川水まがふ蛍も光そへけり
momoshiki no tama no migiri no mikawamizu magau hotaru mo hikari soekeri | A hundredfold the palace walls, Where jewels by the edges of Moat waters Tangle with the fireflies Trailing lights. |
Teika
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
秋のよのあまてる月の光にはおく白露を玉とこそ見れ
aki no yo no ama teru tsuki no hikari ni wa oku shiratsuyu o tama to koso mire | On an autumn night The heaven-shining moon’s Light upon The fallen silver dewdrops Truly, makes them seem as jewels. |
98[1]
Right
あきののにおける露をばひとりぬる我が涙とも思ひしれかし
aki no no ni okeru tsuyu oba hitori nuru wa ga namida to mo omoishire kashi | Upon the autumn fields Drop dewdrops; Sleeping alone, My tears— Think on them, why don’t you! |
99
[1] Shinchokusenshū V: 281/Shinsen man’yōshū 95
Left
白露に風のふきしく秋の野はつらぬきとめぬ玉ぞちりける
shiratsuyu ni kaze no fukishiku aki no no wa tsuranukitomenu tama zo chirikeru | Silver dewdrops are Blown by the wind Across the autumn meadows; No longer threaded, The jewels are scattered. |
90
Right
いつのまに秋穂たるらむ草と見しほどいくかともへだたらなくに
itsu no ma ni akiho taruramu kusa to mishi hodo ikuka to mo hedataranaku ni | In an instant The autumn ears seem to droop down; Though as grasses they looked With no more than a few short days Standing in between… |
91
Left
なつの夜の露なとどめそ蓮葉のまことの玉と成りしはてずは
natsu no yo no tsuyu na todome so hasu no ha no makoto no tama to narishihatezu wa | On a summer night, Tarry not, o, dewdrops, for On the lotus leaves True jewels, I would not you cease to become… |
55
Right
夏山にこひしき人や入りにけむ声ふりたてて鳴く郭公
natsuyama ni koishiki hito ya irinikemu koe furitatete naku hototogisu | Into the summer mountains Has my darling Gone, I wonder? Spilling out your song, O, calling cuckoo! |
Ki no Akimine
56[1]
[1] Kokinshū III: 158/Shinsen man’yōshū 71/Kokin rokujō VI: 4447
玉だれのこ末のまどほしみてしより君に心をかけぬ日ぞなき
tamadare no kozue no madō shimiteshi yori kimi ni kokoro o kakenu hi zo naki | Strung with jewels, The distant treetops Have frozen and since then Upon you my heart Is hung without fail, every day. |
Chamberlain Ietoki
47
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
秋のよのあまてる月の光にはおく白露を玉とこそ見れ
aki no yo no ama teru tsuki no hikari ni wa oku shiratsuyu o tama to koso mire | On an autumn night The heaven-shining moon’s Light upon The fallen silver dewdrops Truly, makes them seem as jewels. |
Anonymous
Spring
Round 1
Left
やま風にとくる氷のひまごとにうち出づる浪や春の初花
yamakaze ni tokuru kōri no hima goto ni uchi’izuru nami ya haru no hatsuhana | With the mountain breeze The melting ice from Every crack Bursts out in waves, perhaps These are the first blooms of spring? |
Minamoto no Maszumi
1[1]
Right (Win)
春霞たつひの風のいとなれや滝のをとけて玉とみだるる
harugasumi tatsu hi no kaze no ito nare ya taki no o tokete tama to midaruru | The haze of spring Arises with the breeze this day, so Will its streamers with The melting waterfall’s threaded Jewels become confused? |
2
[1] Kokin rokujo I: 5
久方の天照る月のにごりなく君が御代をばともにとぞ思ふ
hisakata no ama teru tsuki no nigorinaku kimi ga miyo oba tomo ni to zo omou | The eternal Heaven-shining moon is So clear that My Lord’s reign Lives together with it in my thoughts! |
9
宵よひに秋の草葉におく露の玉にぬかむととれば消えつつ[1]
yoiyoi ni aki no kusaba ni oku tsuyu no tama ni nukamu to toreba kietsutsu | Night after night Upon the blades of autumn grass Fall dewdrops; I would thread those jewels, but At a touch, ever do they vanish away… |
10
[1] This poem is also Shinsenzaishū 316, where it is attributed to Ōshikōchi no Mitsune.
'Simply moving and elegant'