Composed when Princess Nukata went to Ōmi.
三輪山をしかも隠すか雲だにも心あらなも隠さふべしや
| miwayama wo sikamo kakusu ka kumo dani mo kokoro ara na mo kakusapubesi ya |
Mount Miwa, Why are you concealed? Had the clouds but Sense, I wish They would hide you not! |
Princess Nukata
額田王
小夜更けて今ぞ法の師出でぬらむ 雲の上人名乗りすらしも
| sayo fukete ima zo nori no shi idenuramu kumo no uebito nanori surashi mo |
The brief night breaks, and Now, the recitation Does seem to emerge; Folk from above the clouds Presenting their own names… |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
空捕らぬ鷹もあらじな御狩野に雲の上人逢はずと思へば
| sora toranu taka mo araji na mikarino ni kumo no uebito awazu to omoeba |
Not hunting in the skies – Such a hawk there is not! In the imperial hunting grounds The folk from above the clouds Will never encounter one, I feel… |
五月雨は水上まさる泉川笠置の山も雲隠れつつ
| samidare wa minakami masaru izumigawa kasaki no yama mo kumogakuretsutsu |
In the drizzling rain The waters are high Upon the River Izumi; Mount Kasagi, too, Is hidden by the clouds. |
Fujiwara no Shunzei
藤原俊成
When there had been a gale, and someone had called to see how she was, in the silence later, she wrote this and sent it.
荒かりし風の後より絶えするは蜘蛛手にすがく糸にやあるらん
| arakarisi kaze no noti yori taesuru Fa kumode ni sugaku ito ni ya aruran |
Wildly The wind has gone, and Broken are The spider’s spanning Webs – is that how we are to be? |
Sagami
相模
Left (Win).
深き夜の軒の雫をかぞへても猶あまりぬる袖の雨哉
| fukaki yo no noki no shizuku o kazoetemo nao amari nuru sode no ame kana |
Late at night, From my eaves the droplets I number up, but Still much more drenching Is the rainfall on my sleeves. |
A Servant Girl.
947
Right.
雲とづる宿の軒端の夕ながめ戀よりあまる雨の音哉
| kumo tozuru yado no nokiba no yū nagame koi yori amaru ame no oto kana |
Closed in with cloud, From my dwelling’s eaves I gaze out in the evening; Overwhelming my love Is the sound of rain… |
Nobusada.
948
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults. The Left state: we do not understand the Right’s poem at all.
In judgement: the Left’s poem commences with ‘late at night’ (fukaki yo no) and then continues with mention of raindrops – this sounds extremely effective. The Right’s poem, too, starts ‘closed in with cloud’ (kumo tozuru) and concludes with ‘the sound of rain’ (ame no oto kana), which sounds charming, but because the poem is said to be ‘incomprehensible’ or ‘grating on the ear’, despite being one with both a significant conception and an unusual sound, there is no reason for me to shoehorn in my own views, even if much has been overlooked, so this round I will leave it at, the Right is entirely incomprehensible and the Left without fault. Thus, the Left wins.
百草の花のけぶりや七夕の雲の衣の袖に染むらむ
| momokusa no hana no keburi ya tanabata no kumo no koromo no sode ni shimuramu |
Are all the grasses Blooms, a smoke, that into The Weaver Maid’s Robe of cloud’s Sleeves will sink? |
Fujiwara no Shunzei
かくらくのとませの山の山際にいさよふ雲は妹にかもあらむ
| kakuraku no tomase no yama no yamagiFa ni isayoFu kumo Fa imo ni kamo aramu |
Hidden away, By Tomase Mountain’s Foothills Waver clouds: Where, perhaps, my darling is! |
When he was composing a large number of poems about the moon.
なかなかにときどき雲のかかるこそ月をもてなす飾りなりけれ
| nakanaka ni tokidoki kumo no kakaru koso tsuki o motenasu kazari narikere |
Truly On occasion the clouds Do drape In garlands on the moon And do decorate it! |
Saigyō
西行
天の川扇の風に雲晴れて空澄みわたる鵲の橋
| ama no kaFa aFugi no kaze ni kumo Farete sora sumiwataru kasasagi no Fasi |
Upon the River of Heaven, The breeze of her fan Clears the clouds, and Soaring ‘cross the skies goes A bridge of magpies. |
Kiyowara no Motosuke
This poem is also Wakan rōeishū 202.