Autumn.
あきふかきもみぢのいろのくれなゐにふりいでてなくしかのこゑかな
| aki fukaki momiji no iro no kurenai ni furi’idete naku shika no koe kana | In autumn’s depths Upon the leaves’ hue So scarlet A clearing wash cries With a stag’s bell! |
Tag Archives: leaves
SIS XII: 702
SIS X: 577
Kinkai wakashū 688
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)
KKS 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).
