Tag Archives: kusamura

Yōzei-in uta’awase (Engi jūsan-nen kugatsu kokonoka) 12

Left

草村の心しとともにぞわたるくれはしぬべき秋のをしさに

kusamura no
kokoro shi to tomo
ni zo wataru
kure wa shinubeki
aki no oshisa ni
A tangled patch of grass is
My heart—together
Will it cross, and with
The evening pass away
Amid autumn regrets…[i]

23

Right (Win)

こりずまにあひもみるかな女郎花とまらずかへる秋としるらし

korizu ma ni
ai mo miru kana
ominaeshi
tomarazu kaeru
aki to shirurashi
While I do not dislike her,
I will come to meet and see,
My maidenflower!
Not lingering, and returning
Having had enough—as autumn seems to do, I know…

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[i] The central part of this poem appears to have been corrupted as the division kokoro shi to tomo / ni zo wataru is anomalous as it places the bound morphemes ni zo at the beginning of a line. Given this, my translation is speculative.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 58

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

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 9

ひぐらしのなくあき山をこえくればことぞともなくものぞかなしき[1]

higurashi no
naku aki yama o
koekureba
koto zo tomonaku
mono zo kanashiki
The sundown cicadas
Sing in the autumn mountains
Passing by,
Everything is somehow
All the more sad…

17

あきののとなりぞしにける草むらの見るひごとにもまさるつゆかな

aki no no to
nari zo shinikeru
kusamura no
miru hi goto ni mo
masaru tsuyu kana
The autumn fields
Have all turned to
Tangled clumps of grass—
Every day I sight them,
How finer is the dewfall!

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[1] This poem was included in two later anthologies: Fubokuwakashu (6015) and Shūfū wakashū 秋風和歌集 (307).

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 10

Round Ten:  Insects’ songs from behind thickets of grass

Left

たづねくるかひもあるかな草村に我まつむしの声ぞきこゆる

tazunekuru
kai mo aru kana
kusamura ni
ware matsumushi no
koe zo kikoyuru
Paying a visit here—
Has some point, I think!
Among the grassy thickets
I pine crickets’
Song in my ears.

A Court Lady

19

Right

松虫のこゑもたえせぬ草むらはたづねぬ人も尋ねきにけり

matsumushi no
koe mo taesenu
kusamura wa
tazunenu hito mo
tazunekinikeri
Pine crickets’
Songs I would have ever carry on
Among the grassy thickets
The one who has not called
Has finally paid a visit!

A Court Lady

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