Tag Archives: meadows

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Spring

Spring

Left

春のたつ霞の衣うらもなく年を経てこそ花の散りけれ

haru no tatsu
kasumi no koromo
ura mo naku
toshi o hete koso
hana no chirikere
Spring does sew
A robe of haze
Without an underlay,
The year passes by in
A scattering of blossom

1

春の野の雪間をわけていつしかと君がためとぞ若菜摘みつる

haru no no no
yuki ma o wakete
itsushika to
kimi ga tame to zo
wakana tsumitsuru
Across the springtime meadows
Do I forge between the snows,
Eagerly, so eagerly,
For you, my Lord,
Have I gathered fresh herbs!

2

春霞かすみこめたる山里はこほりとくともかげはみえじを

harugasumi
kasumi kometaru
yamazato wa
kōri toku tomo
kage wa mieji o
The haze of spring
Blurs all around
A mountain retreat,
Even were the ice to melt
I could see no sign of it!

3

Right

梅枝にきゐる鶯年毎に花の匂ひをあかぬ声する

ume ga e ni
ki’iru uguisu
toshigoto ni
hana no nioi o
akanu koesuru
Upon the plum tree’s branches
Has come to rest the warbler;
Every single year, that
Of the blossoms’ scent
He cannot get his fill he sings.

4

桜色に花さく雨はふりぬとも千しほぞそめてうつろふなそで

sakurairo ni
hana saku ame wa
furinu tomo
chishio zo somete
utsurou na sode
Cherry-coloured
Blossoms flower, as the rain
Falls on, yet
Dyed a thousand times
Fade not, o, my sleeves!

5

青柳のいとはるばると緑なる行末までも思ひこそやれ

aoyagi no
ito harubaru to
midori naru
yukusue made mo
omoi koso yare
The willow’s
Branches dangle lengthily
So green
Right to the very end
Will I fondly think of you.

6

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 32

ゆめののちむなしきとこはあらじかしあきののなかもこひしかりけり

yume no nochi
munashiki toko wa
araji kashi
aki no no naka mo
koishikarikeri
After a dream of you
The emptiness of my bed
I feel not, I think, for
Amid the autumn meadows
I do love you still.

63

もみぢばのたまれるかりのなみだにはあきの月こそかげやどしけれ

momijiba no
tamareru kari no
namida ni wa
aki no tsuki koso
kage yadoshikere
The scarlet leaves
Clog the goose
Tears, where
It I the autumn moon’s
Light finds lodging.

64

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 22

あきのよにかりかもなきてわたるなる我が思ふ人のことづてやせる[1]

aki no yo ni
kari kamo nakite
watarunaru
wa ga omou hito no
kotozute ya seru
On an autumn night
Is that the geese a’crying
As they pass by?
There is one I love—
Would you take a message to her?

43

おく露にくちゆくのべのくさのはやあきのほたるとなりわたるらむ[2]

oku tsuyu ni
kuchiyuku nobe no
kusa no ha ya
aki no hotaru to
nariwataruramu
Dew falls on
The rotting meadows, where
The blades of grass with
The tired autumn fireflies
Do seem to sound…

44


[1] A minor variant of this poem is included in Gosenshū (VII: 356), where it is attributed to [Ki no] Tsurayuki.

[2] This poem is included in Fubokushō (5548), where it is attributed to [Mibu no] Tadamine.

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 17

あきくればむしとともにぞなかれぬるひとも草ばもかれぬと思へば[1]

aki kureba
mushi to tomo ni zo
nakarenuru
hito mo kusaba mo
karenu to omoeba
When the autumn comes
Together with the insects
Do I weep,
That both folk and grass and leaves
Have withered, is in my thoughts…

33

からにしきみだれるのべとみえつるはあきのこのはのふるにざりける

karanishiki
midareru nobe to
mietsuru wa
aki no ko no ha no
furu ni zarikeru
For Cathay brocade
Confused the meadows
Do seem, for
In autumn, the leaves from the trees
Have truly fallen!

34


[1] This poem also occurs in Fubokushō (5580).

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 16

しら露のおきしくのべを見るごとにあはれは秋ぞかずまさりける

shiratsuyu no
okishiku nobe o
miru goto ni
aware wa aki zo
kazu masarikeru
Silver dewdrops,
Fallen, scattered upon the meadows:
Every time I see them
The sadnesses of autumn
Increase in number.

31

あきかぜのうちふくからにはなもはもみだれてもちるのべの草きか

aki kaze no
uchifuku kara ni
hana mo ha mo
midarete mo chiru
nobe no kusaki ka
The autumn breeze
Is blowing keenly, so will
Both flowers and leaves
Scatter confusedly
From the trees and grasses on the meadow?

32

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 7

A profusion of deutzia flowers in full bloom

Left

白妙に卯花さけるかきねをばつもりし雪とおもひけるかな

shirotae ni
u no hana sakeru
kakine o ba
tsumorishi yuki to
omoikeru kana
A spread of white mulberry cloth,
The deutzias have bloomed
Along my brushwood fence
Drifting snow is piled, or
So it seems!

Minamoto no Narikata
13

Right

みわたせばたかねののべのうつぎ原みな白妙にさきにけるかな

miwatseba
takane no nobe no
utsugiwara
mina shirotae ni
sakinikeru kana
When I gaze across
The high-peak meadows
A field of deutzia,
All as white as mulberry cloth,
Have bloomed there.

Ōe no Fumi’ichi
14

Love VIII: 22

Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき

karakuni no
tora fusu nobe ni
iru yori mo
madou koiji no
sue zo ayauki
In far Cathay are
Meadows where tigers lie,
But rather than entering there,
The confusing paths of love
Are, at the end, more dangerous…

Lord Ari’ie
1063

Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず

wa ga yado wa
hito mo kareno no
asajiwara
kayoishi koma no
ato mo todomezu
At my home
Is only a withered field
Of cogon grass;
The mount who once did cross it
Has left no lingering tracks…

Ietaka
1064

The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.

In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.