Tag Archives: light

Tsurayuki-shū 717

Composed on the night when coming-of-age ceremonies were held for the son and daughter of the Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, in the Twelfth Month, Shōhei 5 [935].

大原やをしほの山の小松原はやこだかかれ千世のかげみん

ōhara ya
oshio no yama no
komatsubara
haya kodaka kare
chiyo no kage min
In Ōhara
On Oshio Mountain
Among the young pine groves
Fly swiftly, fledgling hawk,
For you will see the light of a thousand generations!

Ki no Tsurayuki

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 74

Left 白雪の降りつもれる山里は人さへやおもひ消ゆらむ[1]

shirayuki no
furitsumoreru
yamazato wa
sumu hito sae ya
omoikiyuramu
White snow
Has fallen, drifted high around
The mountain home;
Might even he who lives there
Be buried in melancholy?

This poem is missing from some texts of the contest and thus is unnumbered.

Right

ひかりまつ枝にかかれる雪をこそ冬の花とはいふべかりけれ

hikari matsu
eda ni kakareru
yuki o koso
fuyu no hana to wa
iubekarikere
Awaiting the light
Upon the branches clings
Snow:
Winter’s blossom—that’s what
It should be called!

144


[1] Kokinshū VI: 328, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 57

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

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 50

Left

秋のよのあまてる月の光にはおく白露を玉とこそ見れ

aki no yo no
ama teru tsuki no
hikari ni wa
oku shiratsuyu o
tama to koso mire
On an autumn night
The heaven-shining moon’s
Light upon
The fallen silver dewdrops
Truly, makes them seem as jewels.

98[1]

Right

あきののにおける露をばひとりぬる我が涙とも思ひしれかし

aki no no ni
okeru tsuyu oba
hitori nuru
wa ga namida to mo
omoishire kashi
Upon the autumn fields
Drop dewdrops;
Sleeping alone,
My tears—
Think on them, why don’t you!

99


[1] Shinchokusenshū V: 281/Shinsen man’yōshū 95

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 38

Left

夏の月ひかりをしまず照る時はながるる水にかげろふぞたつ

natsu no tsuki
hikari o shimazu
teru toki wa
nagaruru mizu ni
kagerō zo tatsu
When summer moon’s
Light lightly
Shines
From the running waters
Haze arises!

74

Right

琴の音にひびきかよへる松風はしらべても鳴く蝉の声かな

koto no ne ni
hibikikayoeru
matsukaze wa
shirabetemo naku
semi no koe kana
A zither’s strains
Echoing back and forth:
The wind through the pines,
In tune with the cries
In the cicadas’ song!

75[1]


[1] Shinshūishū III: 303/Shinsen man’yōshū 73/Kokin rokujō I: 398/Fubokushō IX: 3584

SCSS V: 281

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.

秋のよのあまてる月の光にはおく白露を玉とこそ見れ

aki no yo no
ama teru tsuki no
hikari ni wa
oku shiratsuyu o
tama to koso mire
On an autumn night
The heaven-shining moon’s
Light upon
The fallen silver dewdrops
Truly, makes them seem as jewels.

Anonymous

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 28

あきのよの月のひかりはきよけれどひとのこころのくまはてらさず[1]

aki no yo no
tsuki no hikari wa
kiyokeredo
hito no kokoro no
kuma wa terasazu
On an autumn night
The moon’s light is
So clear, yet upon
Her heart’s
Depths it fails to shine.

55

ゆふだすきかけてのみこそこひしけれあきとしなればひと

yūdasuki
kakete no koso
koishikere
aki to shi nareba
hito
Cords of mulberry cloth
Hung, are all the more
Dear;
When the autumn comes,
She…

56

The final words of this poem have not survived, so we need to use our imaginations to think of how it might have concluded.


[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (VI: 323).

Dairi uta’awase Kanna Gan-nen 1

On the tenth day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1,[1] His Majesty[2] entered the Courtiers’ Hall briefly and divided the gentlemen in attendance into teams for a poetry contest. His Majesty’s partner was Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Kintō, and he provided of the four topics. Judgements were by Koreshige.

Moon

Left (Win)

あきのよのつきにこころはあくがれてくもゐにものをおもふころかな

aki no yo no
tsuki ni kokoro wa
akugarete
kumoi ni mono o
omou koro kana
On an autumn night
By the moon is my heart
Entranced;
Things beyond the clouds
Fill my thoughts a while!

His Majesty
1

Right

いつもみるつきぞとおもへどあきのよはいかなるかげをそふるなるらん

itsumo miru
tsuki zo to omoe
aki no yo wa
ikanaru kage o
souru naruran
Every time I see
The moon it fills my thoughts, but
On an autumn night
What light is it that
Does seem to cover all?

Lord Kintō
2


[1] 28.8.985

[2] Emperor Kazan 花山 (968-1008; r. 984-986).