A poem from a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period.
霞立春の山辺はとをけれど吹くる風は花の香ぞする
| kasumi tatu Faru no yamabe Fa towokeredo Fukikuru kaze Fa Fana no ka zo suru | Hazes rise Round the mountains’ sides, So far away, and yet The gusting breeze comes Bearing the scent of blossom. |
Ariwara no Motokata
Composed as a Spring poem.
三輪山をしかも隠すか春霞人に知られぬはなやさくらむ
| miwayama wo sikamo kakusu ka Farugasumi Fito ni sirarenu Fana ya sakuramu | Miwa Mountain Will you thus conceal, O, haze of spring? Might, unknown to all, Blossoms be blooming there? |
Tsurayuki
Composed on returning geese.
はるかすみたつを見すててゆくかりは花なきさとにすみやならへる
| Faru kasumi tatu wo misutete yuku kari Fa Fana naki sato ni sumi ya naraeru | Spring hazes Rising do they ignore – Are the departing geese In dwellings without blossom Accustomed to reside? |
Ise
伊勢
The Path Across the Shiga Mountains (志賀山越)
しがのやま心晴にぞこえつれどかすみにさへもまよひぬるかな
| shiga no yama kokoro hare ni zo koetsuredo kasumi ni sae mo mayoinuru kana | In the Shiga Mountains How carefree I am When crossing, yet Still within the hazes Have I gone astray! |
Toshiyori
Spring Dawn
あまの戸をほのかにあけて弛屋の野の霞と友に立ちぞやすらふ
| ama no to o honoka ni akete koya no no no kasumi to tomo ni tachi zo yasurau | The door to Heaven Opens but a bit, and On the plains at Koya In company with the misty haze Do I hesitate to rise. |
Akinaka
Left
けふも猶雪はふりつつ春霞たてるやいづこ若菜つみてむ
| kyō mo nao yuki wa furitsutsu harugasumi tateru ya izuko wakana tsumitemu |
Still yet, today Is the snow falling; O, spring haze Where do you arise? For I would go and pluck fresh herbs! |
3
In no hyakushu, shodo, Eighth Month Shōji 2 [September 1200]
Right
朝氷たがため分て此川のむかへの野べに若菜つむらん
| asagōri ta ga tame wakete kono kawa no mukae no nobe ni wakana tsumuran |
This film of morning ice: For who’s sake do I break it? On this river’s Yonder side within the fields Would I pluck fresh herbs… |
4
Naidaijinke hyakushu, Ninth Month Kenpō 3 [October 1215]
Composed as a poem on haze.
見渡せばそこと印の杉もなし霞のうちや三輪の山本
| miwataseba soko to sirusi no sugi mo nasi kasumi no uti ya miwa no yamamoto |
When I gaze across As sentinels there No cedars stand; Are you within the haze, O, Miwa Mountain’s foot? |
Captain of the Middle Palace Guards, Left Division, [Fujiwara no] Takafusa
左兵衛督隆房
A poem composed after the cremation of Cloistered Retired Emperor En’yū at Murasakino, when recalling how His Majesty had travelled there for the Day of the Rat the year before.
紫野雲のかけても思ひきや春の霞になして見むとは
| murasaki no kumo no kaketemo omoFiki ya Faru no kasumi ni nasite mimu to Fa |
At Murasakino Clouds covering all Did I recall? The haze of spring Have they become when I see them now… |
Major Captain of the Left [Fujiwara no] Asamitsu
左大将[藤原]朝光
Composed on something he had seen once.
三島野に霞たなびきしかすがに昨日も今日も雪は降りつつ
| misimano ni kasumi tanabiki sikasuga ni kinopu mo kepu mo yuki pa puritutu |
Across Mishima Plain Trails haze Yet even so Yesterday, and today, too, The snow is falling. |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber in the Ninna period.[1]
花のちることやわびしき春霞たつたの山のうぐひすのこゑ
| Fana no tiru koto ya wabisiki Farugasumi tatuta no yama no uguFisu no kowe | The falling of the flowers Is sad, indeed; In the spring haze On Tatsuta Mountain A warbler cries… |
Fujiwara no Chikage
[1] It was taboo to record the personal names of noble women of high rank unless they were made empress. The Ninna 仁和 period began on the 11th day of the Third Month, 885, and lasted until the 30th day of the Fifth Month, 889. ‘Lady of the Bedchamber’ (miyasudokoro 御息所) was a title given to imperial consorts who had given birth to a prince, while ‘Middle Captain’ (chūjō 中将) was a military position in the palace guards. Contemporary readers would have been able to identify who the ‘Lady who had given birth to an imperial prince and whose father held the position of Middle Captain during the Ninna period’ was, but modern scholarship has not done so; nor have records of this poetry competition survived.