Left
しらつゆのおけるあしたのをみなへしはなにもはにもたまぞかかれる
shiratsuyu no okeru ashita no ominaeshi hana ni mo ha ni mo tama zo kakareru | Silver dewdrops Fallen in the morning on A maidenflower: Both bloom and leaves Are all hung with pearls. |
7[1]
Right
をみなへしたてるのざとをうちすぎてうらみむつゆにぬれやん
ominaeshi tateru nozato o uchisugite uramimu tsuyu ni nure ya wataran | A maidenflower Stands at a house upon the plains As I pass by; Is it her resentful dew That has drenched me on my way? |
8
[1] Gyokuyōshū 526; Shinsen man’yōshū 606; Kokin rokujō 3687
[One of] Two poems composed at the South Shrine in Minu in spring – sakaki.
をとめごがとるかみがきのさか木葉とやとせつばきはいづれ久しき
otomego ga toru kamigaki no sakakiba to yatose tsubaki wa izure hisashiki | Maidens Take from the sacred fence Leaves of sakaki and Many-years camellia: Which is older, I wonder? |
Nōin
When she presented a hundred poem sequence.
まどちかき竹のはすさぶ風のおとにいとどみじかきうたたねの夢
mado chikaki take no ha susabu kaze no oto ni itodo mijikaki utatane no yume | Close by my window The bamboo leaves rustle cheerily In the wind— How very brief Is a dream when dozing. |
Princess Shokushi
Left
雪のみぞ枝にふりしき花もはもいにけむ方もみえずも有るかな
yuki nomi zo eda ni furishiki hana mo ha mo inikemu kata mo miezu mo aru kana | The snow is simply Fallen, scattered, on the branches; The blossom and the leaves, too: Where might they have gone? I cannot see! |
133
Right
白雪の八重ふりしける帰る山かへるがへるも老いにけるかな
shirayuki no yae furishikeru kaeru yama kaerugaeru mo oinikeru kana | White snow Falls eightfold on Mount Return— Returning and returning again Is the age I feel! |
Ariwara no Muneyana
134[1]
[1] Kokinshū XVII: 902/Shinsen man’yōshū 169/Kokin rokujō II: 1393
Left
篠のはにおく霜よりもひとりぬる我が衣手ぞさえまさりける
sasa no ha ni oku simo yori mo hitori nuru wa ga koromode zo saemasarikeru | On bamboo grass leaves Settles frost, but Sleeping alone, My sleeves Are colder still by far. |
Tomonori
121[1]
Right
流れ行く水こほりぬる冬さへや猶うき草の跡はさだめぬ
nagareyuku mizu kōrinuru fuyu sae ya nao ukikusa no ato wa sadamenu | The flowing Waters have frozen With the winter, even Still the waterweed Has left no clear trace at all. |
122
[1] Kokinshū XII: 563/Shinsen man’yōshū 159/Kokin rokujō I: 668
Left
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? |
112[1]
Right
あきの夜の月の影こそ木の間よりおちてはきぬとみえわたりけれ
aki no yo no tsuki no kage koso ko no ma yori ochite wa kinu to miewatarikere | On an autumn night The moon’s light, truly, From between the trees Does come a’falling Everywhere, it seems. |
113
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 109/Fubokushō XIII: 5422
Left
ちらねどもかねてぞをしき紅葉ばは今はかぎりの色とみつれば
chiranedomo kanete zo oshiki momijiba wa ima wa kagiri no iro to mitsureba | Not fallen yet Even now is there something to regret In the scarlet autumn leaves, For already the utmost of Their hues do I see, so… |
96[1]
Right
白波に秋の木のはのうかべるはあまのながせる舟かとぞ見る
shiranami ni aki no ko no ha no ukaberu o ama no nagaseru fune ka to zo miru | Atop the whitecaps Autumn leaves Float as Divers’ drifting Boats seeming. |
97[2]
[1] Kokinshū V: 264/Shinsen man’yōshū 105.
[2] Kokinshū V: 301, attributed to Fujiwara no Okikaze/Kokin rokujō III: 1825, attributed to Kiyowara no Fukayabu.
Left
なつの夜の露なとどめそ蓮葉のまことの玉と成りしはてずは
natsu no yo no tsuyu na todome so hasu no ha no makoto no tama to narishihatezu wa | On a summer night, Tarry not, o, dewdrops, for On the lotus leaves True jewels, I would not you cease to become… |
55
Right
夏山にこひしき人や入りにけむ声ふりたてて鳴く郭公
natsuyama ni koishiki hito ya irinikemu koe furitatete naku hototogisu | Into the summer mountains Has my darling Gone, I wonder? Spilling out your song, O, calling cuckoo! |
Ki no Akimine
56[1]
[1] Kokinshū III: 158/Shinsen man’yōshū 71/Kokin rokujō VI: 4447
Summer Poems Twenty Rounds
Left
蝉のこゑ聞けばかなしな夏衣うすくや人のならむと思へば
semi no koe kikeba kanashi na natsu koromo usuku ya hito no naramu to omoeba | The cicadas’ cry: There’s a sadness in the sound; Summer clothes Are thin, as her feelings Will be, I feel. |
41[1]
Right
にほひつつ散りにし花ぞおもほゆる夏はみどりの葉のみしげりて
nioitsutsu chirinishi hana zo omohoyuru natsu wa midori no ha nomi shigerite | Ever scented, The scattered blossoms, indeed, I do recall, for In summer the green Leaves, alone, are lush… |
42
[1] Kokinshū XIV: 715, attributed to Ki no Tomonori/Shinsen man’yōshū 43/Kokin rokujō VI: 3973
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
'Simply moving and elegant'