Tag Archives: leaves

SIS XX: 1284

In the summer, he sent this to his daughter, the Fifth Imperial Princess, attached to some lingering yellowed oak leaves.

時ならでははその紅葉ちりにけりいかにこのもとさびしかるらん

toki narade
FaFaso no momidi
tirinikeri
ika ni ko no moto
sabisikaruran
‘Tis not the season, but
The oaks’ leaves have yellowed and
Scattered;
Beneath the trunks
How lonely it must be…

His Majesty, the Tenryaku Emperor

Kinkai wakashū 664

Bamboo and Felicitations.

竹の葉にふりおほふ雪のうれをおもみしたにも千世の色はかくれず

take no ha ni
furi’ōu yuki no
ure o omomi
shita ni mo chiyo no
iro wa kakurezu
The bamboo leaves
Are covered with fallen snow,
Tips so heavy, but
Beneath, a thousand ages
Hue cannot be concealed.[i]

664


[i] See: Topic unknown. ささのはにふりつむ雪のうれをおもみ本くだちゆくわがさかりはも sasa no ha ni / furitsumu yuki no / ure o omomi / moto kudachiyuku / wa ga sakari wa mo ‘The dwarf bamboo leave are / Piled with fallen snow, / Tips so heavy that / They droop down to the roots— / So, too, my prosperity!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 891)

Dairi uta’awase – Tenryaku ku-nen 02

Round Two

Left

しらつゆのこのはをわきておくやまのふかきもみぢはいろもうつらじ

shiratsuyu no
ko no ha o wakite
okuyama no
fukaki momiji wa
iro mo utsuraji
Silver dewfall
Marks out the leaves upon the trees;
In the mountains’ heart,
Deep scarlet the autumn leaves
Hues, too, will never fade away.

3[i]

Right (Win)

くれなゐのやしほのいろはもみぢばに秋くははれるとしにざりける

kurenai no
yashio no iro wa
momijiba ni
aki kuwawareru
toshi ni zarikeru
With vermillion
Dippings eight, hue is laid
Upon the scarlet leaves with
Autumn added
To the year!

4[ii]


[i] This poem is included in Gyokuyōshū (V: 794/795) with the headnote, ‘For the scarlet leaves match during the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.

[ii] This poem is included in Gyokuyōshū (V: 795/796) with the headnote, ‘For the scarlet leaves match during the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’. It is also included in Mandaishū (V: 1223) with the headnote, ‘A poem from the autumn leaves match held at the palace in the intercalary Ninth Month, Tenryaku 9’ and in Kiyotada-shū (38), with the headnote ‘From an autumn leaves match at the palace, in a year when there were two ninth months’.

Kinkai wakashū 648

さとみこがみゆたてざさのそよそよになびきおきふしよしや世中

satomiko ga
miyu tatezasa no
soyosoyo ni
nabiki okifushi
yoshi ya yo no naka
A local shrine maiden
Purifies bamboo with sacred hot waters,
Back and forth the leaves
Trail, falling and rising—
Indeed, that’s how this world is![i]

648


[i] There was a shrine purification ritual whereby a shrine maiden (miko 巫女) would soak a branch of dwarf bamboo (sasa 笹) in water which she had heated, and then shake the water from the leaves, moving the branch up and down, scattering the droplets over both herself and pilgrims to the shrine. Sanetomo’s poem uses a description of this ritual as a preface (jo 序), before pivoting at the end of the fourth stanza to say that everyday life is just a sequence of both getting up and then going back to sleep (lying down) again and again (Higuchi 2016, 148).

Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase 17

Original

もみぢばのちりかふこまのあまたあるをいづれにのりてあきをとどめむ

momijiba no
chirikau koma no
amata aru o
izure ni norite
aki o todomemu
Scarlet leaves
Scatter becoming mounts
So many, but
Which one should I ride
To hold the autumn here?

48

Left

このはちるこのはのこまははやくともあきのかげにはいかがまさらむ

ko no ha chiru
ko no ha no koma wa
hayaku tomo
aki no kage ni wa
ikaga masaramu
Leaves from the trees scatter,
Leaves from the trees as a mount
Are swift, yet
Why is the autumn shade
Still spectacular?

49

Right

ゆくあきをとどむるこまのおそければかぜこそさきにまづさそひけれ

yuku aki o
todomuru koma no
osokereba
kaze koso saki ni
mazu sasoikere
Departing autumn
To hold here was the mount
Late arriving, so
The wind got in ahead and
Made the first invitation!

50

Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase 04

Original

あきやまはからくれなゐになりにけりいくしほしぐれふりてそめけむ

akiyama wa
karakurenai ni
narinikeri
iku shio shigure
furite somekemu
The autumn mountains
To Cathay scarlet
Have turned;
How many dippings with drizzle
Have fallen to dye them so?

9

Left

しぐれつつくれなゐふかくやまのはもあきはてゆけばかひなかりけり

shiguretsutsu
kurenai fukaku
yama no ha mo
aki hateyukeba
kainakarikeri
With every shower
The scarlet deepens
Of the leaves upon the mountain—
With autumn reaching its ending
How pointless that is…

10

Right

いくしほもしぐれはふらじさほひめのふかくそめたるいろとこそみれ

iku shio mo
shigure wa furaji
saohime no
fukaku sometaru
iro to koso mire
No matter how many dippings
With drizzle fall,
Princess Sao’s
Deeply dyed
Hues we see!

11