kigi | Waka Poetry

Round Twenty-One

Left (Win)

小倉山木木のもみぢのくれなゐはみねの嵐のおろすなりけり

ogurayama
kigi no momiji no
kurenai wa
mine no arashi no
orosu narikeri

On gloomy Mount Ogura
The leaves upon the trees,
So scarlet,
By the storm wind from the peak
Are tossed down.

Lord Kiyosuke
41

Right

ふかくあさきもみぢばながるあすか河ふちせは色にあらはれにけり

fukaku asaki
momijiba nagaru
asukagawa
fuchise wa iro ni
arawarenikeri

Across both depths and shallows
Flow the scarlet leaves
On the Asuka river,
Among the rapids and the pools
Have they appeared.

Shun’e
42

Neither of these is bad. The Right violates the five syllable pattern; the Left has no faults.

Winter

Left

冬くれば紅葉ふりしく神無月佐保の山辺はむべもりぬらん

fuyu kureba
momiji furishiku
kaminazuki
saho no yamabe wa
mube morinuran

When the winter comes,
Scarlet leaves, falling and scattering
In the Godless Month,
Upon the slopes of Mount Saho,
Indeed, are at their finest.

冬ごもりかれてみゆらん梅がえは今はた花の春はにほはん

fuyugomori
karete miyuran
ume ga e wa
ima hata hana no
haru wa niowan

Sealed in winter, and
All withered seeming,
The plum tree’s branches,
Now, for sure, the blossoms’
Spring will scent.

冬みれば水もまかせぬ小山田にいつすき返し種をまきけん

fuyu mireba
mizu mo makasenu
oyamada ni
itsu sukikaeshi
tane o makiken

‘Tis winter, I see, so
There’s no water to draw for
The little mountain paddies:
O, when might I till them, and
Sow my seeds, I wonder?

Right

時雨降る宿にすまへば冬の夜に錦とみゆる木木の花かな

shigure furu
yado ni sumaeba
fuyu no yo ni
nishiki to miyuru
kigi no hana kana

Showers fall
Upon the house where I do dwell, so
Upon a winter’s night
As brocade do seem
The blossoming trees!

ゆふだすき神の社にかけつればしもし降るにもたのもしきかな

yūdasuki
kami no yashiro ni
kaketsureba
shimo shi furu ni mo
tanomashiki kana

Sacred mulberry cords
Around the God’s shrine
Are hung, so
Even amidst the frost fall,
The future does seem bright!

白雲のふたへふりしくときは山うらはへとしはみどりなりけれ

shiragumo no
futae furishiku
tokiwa yama
ura hae toshi wa
midori narikere

Clouds of white
Lie scattered, twofold, upon
The unchanging mountain:
Stretching out behind, the year
Is simply green.

Waka Poetry