In the Tenryaku period, when the Ichijō Regent [Fujiwara no Koretada] was Head Chamberlain, His Majesty lost his belt to him while playing go. The games continued, and Koretada’s losses mounted, so His Majesty composed this poem to ask for the return of his belt.
白浪の打ちやかへすと待つほどに浜の真砂の数ぞ積もれる
siranami no
uti ya kaFesu to
matu Fodo ni
Fama no masago no
kazu zo tumoreru |
Wondering when the whitecaps
Will return, and
While waiting
The grains of sand upon the beach
Increase in number! |
Emperor Murakami
Sent to the Saigû Junior Consort.
あまのはらそこともしらぬおほぞらにおぼつかなさをなげきつるかな
ama no hara
soko tomo shiranu
ozora ni
obotsukanasa o
nagekitsuru kana |
The plain of heaven:
Never to find the roof
Of the endless sky-
My loneliness
Is such a source of grief. |
The Tenryaku Emperor [Murakami]
村上
His Majesty had something made in the shape of Mt Fuji, and sent it with this poem to the Lady of the Wisteria Pavilion.
世の人の及ばぬ物は富士の嶺の雲居に高き思ひなりけり
yo no Fito no
woyobanu mono Fa
Fuzi no ne no
kumowi ni takaki
omoFinarikeri |
A man of the mundane world
Can never reach so far:
Around the peak of Fuji
The clouds rise higher
As does my passion for you. |
The Tenryaku Emperor [Emperor Murakami]
During the Tenryaku period, His Majesty sent this poem to the Hirohata Miyasudokoro when she had not visited him for some considerable time.
山がつの垣ほに生ふる撫子に思よそへぬ時の閒ぞなき
yama gatu no
kakiFo ni oFuru
nadesiko ni
omoFi yosoFenu
toki no ma zo naki |
The mountain folk
Have growing in their fence
Some pinks-sweet thing
My thoughts dwell on you
With no space in-between. |
Emperor Murakami (926-967; r. 946-967)
'Simply moving and elegant'