Composed on blossom fallen on the water.
はなさそふあらしやみねをわたるらんさくらなみよるたにがはのみづ
| Fana sasoFu arasi ya mine wo wataruran sakuranami yoru tanigaFa no midu | Enticing the blossom Is it the storm wind upon the peak That passes o’er The cherry waves breaking In the waters of a valley stream? |
Lord Minamoto no Masakane
Winter.
たつた山みねのしぐれの糸よわみぬけどみだるるよもの紅葉葉
| tatsutayama mine no shigure no ito yowami nukedo midaruru yomo no momijiba | Upon Mount Tatsuta The showers on the peak Are fragile threads, indeed— They tug, yet leave confused The scarlet leaves everywhere… |
Putting the syllables of ‘maidenflower’ (ominaFesi) at the beginning of each line.
をぐら山みね立ちならしなくしかのへにける秋をしる人ぞなき
| wogurayama mine tatinarasi naku sika no Fenikeru aki wo siru Fito zo naki | Ogura Mountain’s Peak seems trampled down by The belling stags: Many autumns’ passing— No one knows it as they do! |
Tsurayuki
Autumn
秋のよを吹あげの峰の木がらしによこ雲しらぬ山のはの月
| aki no yo o fukiage no mine no kogarashi ni yokogumo shiranu yama no ha no tsuki | On an autumn night Above Fukiage peak To the chill wild wind’s Streaming clouds paying no heed is The moon upon the mountain’s edge. |
Ietaka
[One of] Five love poems in a Twenty Poem Sequence composed in his retreat in Kenryaku 2 [1212].
あらち山やた野の浅茅色付きぬ人の心の峰の淡雪
| arachiyama yatano no asaji irozukinu hito no kokoro no mine no awayuki | By Arachi Mountain, In Yata meadow the cogon grass Has taken on passion’s hues, but My lady’s heart is A peak covered in snow-spume. |
Ietaka
On the conception of hidden love, when he held a poetry match in one hundred rounds at his house, while he was Major Captain of the Left.
もらすなよ雲ゐるみねのはつしぐれ木葉は下にいろかはるとも
| morasu na yo kumo’iru mine no hatsushigure ko no ha wa shita ni iro kawaru tomo | O, don’t drip down, Peak-clinging clouds First shower! For under you the trees’ leaves Will yet change their hues…[i] |
The Regent and Grand Minister
[i] An allusive variation on KKS V: 260.
Left
いまはとてすぎゆく秋のかたみにはかぜのおくれにもみぢをやみん
| ima wa tote sugiyuku aki no katami ni wa kaze no okure ni momiji o ya min | Might now be when Departing autumn’s Keepsake is Presented on the breeze: A glimpse of scarlet leaves? |
41
Right
あきながらとしはくれなん紅葉ばをぬさとちらせる山のみねより
| aki nagara toshi wa kurenan momijiba o nusa to chiraseru yama no mine yori | It’s autumn, so The year has reached its dusk; Scarlet leaves for A garland are made to scatter From the mountain peaks… |
42
Left
みにそへてもたらぬ秋ををしむとてくれん事こそわびしかりけれ
| mi ni soete motaranu aki o oshimu tote kuren koto koso wabishikarikere | It mounts up, Unreliable, autumn Fills me with regret, and That it fades into dusk, indeed, Is truly sad. |
39
Right
もみぢつつしぐれふりいでてゆく秋をみねの朝霧たちもとめなん
| momijitsutsu shigure furi’idete yuku aki o mine no asagiri tachi mo tomenan | Ever marked with autumn hues The showers fall on Autumn as it goes; The morning mist around the peak Arises, then lingers on. |
40
Left
くれぬべきあきををしめばをぐら山みねのもみぢもいろづきにけり
| kurenubeki aki o oshimeba ogurayama mine no momiji mo irozukinikeri | Pass into dusk must Autumn, so I regret when On Ogura Mountain The scarlet leaves on the peak Have taken on deeper hues! |
33
Right
をしめども秋はとまらず女郎花野べにおくれてかれぬばかりを
| oshimedomo aki wa tomarazu ominaeshi nobe ni okurete karenu bakari o | I regret it, yet Autumn will not linger; O, maidenflower, Within the meadows tarry and Simply do not wither away… |
34
Left
さかざらむものならなくにさくらばなおもかげにのみまだきみゆらむ
| sakazaramu mono naranaku ni sakurabana nao mo kage ni nomi madaki miyuramu | Wishing not to bloom Will not remain The cherry blossom, but Even so their shape alone Swiftly, I would wish to see! |
Mitsune
3
Right
やまざくらさきぬるときはつねよりもみねのしらくもたちまさりけり
| yamazakura sakinuru toki wa tsune yori mo mine no shirakumo tachimasarikeri | When the mountain cherry Has bloomed, Earlier than usual Clouds of white around the peak Do rise spectacularly! |
Tsurayuki
4[i]
The Left uses ‘wish’[ii] twice; the Right places the mountain cherries at a distance—that make the round a tie.
[i] This poem is included in Gosenshū (I: 118), with the headnote, ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
[ii] Uda is objecting to Mitsune’s double usage of the auxiliary verb -ramu in his judgement here.