Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉の まにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
natsu no hi o kurashiwabinuru semi no ma ni wa ga nakisouru koe wa kikoyu ya The summer sun They know not how to endure, So with the cicadas My sobbing Voice do you hear?
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
uramitsutsu todomuru hito no nakereba ya yama hototogisu ukaredete naku How I constantly despise The one who’s staying here If he were gone, would The mountain cuckoo Have aimlessly left his home to sing?
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.
Left
春ながら年はくれなん散る花ををしと鳴くなる鶯のこゑ
haru nagara toshi wa kurenan chiru hana o oshi to nakunaru uguisu no koe ‘Tis spring, but The year draws to an end; ‘The scattering blossom I regret!’ sings The warbler’s song.
23[1]
Right
大空をおほふばかりの袖もがな春咲く花を風にまかせじ
ōzora o ōu bakari no sode mogana haru saku hana o kaze ni makaseji If only the heavens I could simply cover With my sleeves, then The blossoms blooming in springtime I’d not abandon to the wind!
24[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 35; Shinchokusenshū II: 88.
[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 263.
Left
駒なべてめも春の野にまじりなむ若菜摘みつる人は有りやと
koma nabete me mo haru no no ni majirinamu wakana tsumitsuru hito wa ari ya to Mounts all over The springtime meadows before my eyes Are mixed; A’plucking of fresh herbs, Are there folk there, I wonder?
21[1]
Right
鶯の谷よりいづる声なくは春くることを誰かつげまし
uguisu no tani yori izuru koe naku wa haru kuru koto o tare ka tsugemashi If the bush-warbler From the valleys Did not sing his song, That spring is coming Would anyone announce it at all?
22[2]
[1] Shisen manyōshū 13; Kokin rokujō II: 1137, ‘Springtime meadows’
[2] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Kokinshū (I: 14), attributed to Ōe no Chisato: 鶯の谷よりいづる声なくは春来ることを誰かしらまし uguisu no / tani yori izuru / koe naku wa / haru kuru koto o / tare ka shiramashi ‘If the bush-warbler / From the valleys / Did not sing his song, / That spring is coming / Would anyone realise at all?’; also Shinsen man’yōshū 261.
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
秋のせみさむき声にぞきこゆなる木のはの衣を風やぬぎつる
aki no semi samuki koe ni zo kikoyunaru ko no ha no kinu o kaze ya nugitsuru In the autumn, the cicadas’ Chill song I hear; Has the trees’ garb of leaves Been stripped from them by the wind?
Anonymous
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
琴の音にひびきかよへる松風をしらべてもなく蝉のこゑかな
koto no ne ni hibikikayoeru matsukaze wa shirabetemo naku semi no koe kana A zither’s strains Echoing back and forth: The wind through the pines, In tune with the cries In the cicadas’ song!
Anonymous
Round Eight
Left
秋風の吹来る声はやまながらなみ立ちかへるおとぞきこゆる
akikaze no fukikuru koe wa yama nagara nami tachikaeru oto zo kikoyuru The autumn breeze’s Cry comes gusting; And in the mountains, The sound of waves washing back and forth Comes to my ears.
15
Right
すみの江の松を秋風吹くからにこゑうちそふる沖つ白なみ
suminoe no matsu o akikaze fuku kara ni koe uchisouru oki tsu shiranami At Suminoe The pines by the autumn breeze Are blown, so The sound lies atop The whitecaps in the offing.
16
Round Six
Left
夏山のみねのこずゑのたかければなく郭公こゑかはるかな
natsuyama no mine no kozue no takakereba naku hototogisu koe kawaru kana The summer mountain Peaks have treetops So high, that The crying cuckoo’s Calls stand for them.
11
Right (Win)
おほあらきのもりの下草茂りあひてふかくも夏のなりにけるかな
ōaraki no mori no shitagusa moriaite fukaku mo natsu no narinikeru kana In Ōaraki Forest the undergrowth Has grown so thick, that Deep summer is Surely here!
Mitsune 12
Round Three
Left
氷とくはるたちくらしみよしののよしののたきのこゑまさるなり
kōri toku haru tachikurashi miyoshino no yoshino no taki no koe masarunari Ice melting Spring has come on scene, it seems; In fair Yoshino, Yoshino Falls’ Roar is fine, indeed!
5
Right (Win)
はなの色はかすみにこめてみえずともかをだにぬすめ春の山風
hana no iro wa kasumi ni komete miezu tomo ka o dani nusume haru no yamakaze The blossoms’ hues Have blended with the haze, so I see them not, yet Their very scent is plundered by Spring’s breezes from the mountains.
6
Composed when he presented a hundred poem sequence, during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.
山ざとはさびしかりけりこがらしのふく夕ぐれのひぐらしのこゑ
yamazato Fa sabisikarikeri kogarasi no Fuku yuFugure no higurasi no kowe A mountain retreat is Lonely, indeed; The biting wind Blows of an evening with The sundown cicadas’ cries.
Fujiwara no Nakazane 藤原仲実
あきかぜにすむよもぎふのかれゆけばこゑのことごとむしぞなくなる
akikaze ni sumu yomogyū no kareyukeba koe no kotogoto mushi zo nakunaru With the autumn wind, Their home, the mugwort, Begins to wither, so Every single Insect cries out.
45
みるごとにあきにもあるかたつたひめもみぢそむとや山はきるらん[1]
miru goto ni aki ni mo aru ka tatsutahime momiji somu to ya yama wa kiruran Each time I see her Is it autumn? Princess Tatsuta, I wonder, are she dying scarlet leaves, So that she may wear the mountains?
46
[1] This poem occurs in Kokin rokujō (648); and also in Tomonori-shū (27), suggesting that it may be by Ki no Tomonori.
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