From a Poetry Match held during the Reign of the Engi Emperor.
さみだれはちかくなるらしよど河のあやめの草もみくさおひにけり
samidare Fa
tikaku narurasi
yodogaFa no
ayame no kusa mo
mikusa oFinikeri | The summer showers
Closer must be coming, for
Along the Yodo River
Both sweet-flags and
Waterweed have grown lush, indeed! |
Anonymous
Ponds 池
吹く風にみくさかたよる池水はなかばくもれるかがみなりけり
fuku kaze ni
mikusa katayoru
ikemizu wa
nakaba kumoreru
kagami narikeri | With the gusting wind
The waterweeds trail through
The pondwater, turning
What lies within into a clouded
Mirror. |
Kanemasa
Composed as a love poem when a hundred poem sequence was presented to former Emperor Sutoku.
恋をのみ菅田の池に水草ゐてすまでやみなむ名こそ惜しけれ
koFi wo nomi
sugata no ike ni
mikusa wite
sumade yaminamu
na koso woshikere |
Our love is simply
Form – Sugata Pond
Fills with waterweed, and
Grows stagnant – such an ending
Leaves only regret… |
Ikuhōmon’in no Aki
郁芳門院安芸
This poem is also Kyūan hyakushu 1266.
Frogs (蛙)
いかばかりいぶせかるらんこやの池の水草のもとにすだく蛙は
ika bakari
ibusekaruran
koya no ike no
mikusa no moto ni
sudaku kawazu wa |
How very
Depressed they seem
At Koya Pond
At the grasses’ roots:
The swarming frogs. |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
'Simply moving and elegant'
