Tag Archives: night

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

冬の夜の月はとほくやわたりけんかげみしみづのまづしこほれば

fuyu no yo no
tsuki wa tōku ya
watariken
kage mishi mizu no
mazu shi kōreba
On a winter’s night
Does the moon distantly
Pass by? For
The waters where I saw its face
Are the first to freeze…

22

Right

ながれくるみづこほりぬる冬さへやなほうき草のあとはさだめぬ

nagarekuru
mizu kōrinuru
fuyu sae ya
nao ukikusa no
ato wa sadamenu
Flowing down
The waters have frozen
With the winter, so will
The drifting waterweed still
Leave little trace?

23

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 4

Summer

Round Four

Left

匂ふよりここちあだなる花ゆゑにのどけきはるの風もうらみじ

niou yori
kokochi adanaru
hana yue ni
nodokeki haru no
kaze mo uramiji
From their fragrance
Fickle feelings
Do these blossoms have, so
Peaceful spring’s
Breezes I would likely not resent.

7

Right (Win)

夏の夜のぬるほどもなく明けぬればあしたのまをぞかこちよせつる

natsu no yo no
nuru hodo mo naku
akenureba
ashita no ma o zo
kakochiyosetsuru
On a summer night
I’ve lacked time to sleep, and
Dawn has come, so
I’ll do it on the morrow—
That is my excuse!

8

Horikawa-in Enjo Awase 11

Later, on the second day of the Fifth Month, it appears that everyone, quite losing their composure, decorated their replies extravagantly and even painted pictures beneath them; later, on the seventh day of the same month, because His Majesty sent instructions to the ladies who had been present to compose love poems and attend him, on that day they attended him to present their poems.

ほととぎす待つにつけてもささがにのいづれの世にかしる時ぞ思ふ

hototogisu
matsu ni tsukete mo
sasagani no
izure no yo ni ka
shiru toki zo omou
A cuckoo
I do await, and yet
The tiny crab—
On which night is it?—
Will know the time, I hope!

Echizen
21

しるし有りてこぬよもあれや時鳥中中かけしくものふるまひ

shirushi arite
konu yo mo are ya
hototogisu
nakanaka kakeshi
kumo no furumai
Should there be a sign,
Would there really be a night he failed to come,
That cuckoo?
Truly to be trusted was
The spider’s spinning…

The Major Counsellor
22

A picture of a spider spinning a web.
Image by Ada K from Pixabay

GSIS VI: 398

Composed on the conception of being buried in frosty fallen leaves.

落ちつもる庭の木の葉を夜のほどにはらひてけりと見する朝霜

otitumoru
niwa no ko no Fa wo
yo no hodo ni
FaraFitekeri to
misuru asasimo
Fallen, piled high at
My estate, the leaves from the trees
Within the space of a single night
Have been swept away,
It seems, by the morning frost.

Anonymous

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Winter

Winter

Left

冬くれば紅葉ふりしく神無月佐保の山辺はむべもりぬらん

fuyu kureba
momiji furishiku
kaminazuki
saho no yamabe wa
mube morinuran
When the winter comes,
Scarlet leaves, falling and scattering
In the Godless Month,
Upon the slopes of Mount Saho,
Indeed, are at their finest.

19

冬ごもりかれてみゆらん梅がえは今はた花の春はにほはん

fuyugomori
karete miyuran
ume ga e wa
ima hata hana no
haru wa niowan
Sealed in winter, and
All withered seeming,
The plum tree’s branches,
Now, for sure, the blossoms’
Spring will scent.

20

冬みれば水もまかせぬ小山田にいつすき返し種をまきけん

fuyu mireba
mizu mo makasenu
oyamada ni
itsu sukikaeshi
tane o makiken
‘Tis winter, I see, so
There’s no water to draw for
The little mountain paddies:
O, when might I till them, and
Sow my seeds, I wonder?

21

Right

時雨降る宿にすまへば冬の夜に錦とみゆる木木の花かな

shigure furu
yado ni sumaeba
fuyu no yo ni
nishiki to miyuru
kigi no hana kana
Showers fall
Upon the house where I do dwell, so
Upon a winter’s night
As brocade do seem
The blossoming trees!

22

ゆふだすき神の社にかけつればしもし降るにもたのもしきかな

yūdasuki
kami no yashiro ni
kaketsureba
shimo shi furu ni mo
tanomashiki kana
Sacred mulberry cords
Around the God’s shrine
Are hung, so
Even amidst the frost fall,
The future does seem bright!

23

白雲のふたへふりしくときは山うらはへとしはみどりなりけれ

shiragumo no
futae furishiku
tokiwa yama
ura hae toshi wa
midori narikere
Clouds of white
Lie scattered, twofold, upon
The unchanging mountain:
Stretching out behind, the year
Is simply green.

24

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Autumn

Autumn

Left

秋の夜の有明にみれど久堅の月のかつらはうつろはぬかな

aki no yo no
ariake ni miredo
hisakata no
tsuki no katsura wa
utsurouwanu kana
An autumn night’s
Dawn I see, yet
The eternal
Moon’s silver trees
Show no sign of fading!

13

秋萩の花咲く比の白露は下ばのためとわきて置くべし

aki hagi no
hana saku koro no
shiratsuyu wa
shitaba no tame to
wakite okubeshi
In autumn, the bush clover
Flowers bloom—just then
Silver dewdrops
For the under-leaves
Do fall, marking every one.

14

秋風はいなばもそよとふきつめりかりみる程と成りやしぬらん

akikaze wa
inaba mo soyo to
fukitsumeri
kari miru hodo to
nari ya shinuran
The autumn breeze
Seems to rustle the rice stalks
As it blows;
Seeing if ‘tis time to reap them—
Is that what it is, I wonder?

15

Right

銀河とわたる舟は花薄ほにいづるほどぞかげもみゆべき

ama no kawa
towataru fune wa
hanasusuki
ho ni izuru hodo zo
kage mo miyubeki
Across the River of Heaven
A boat goes ferrying:
When the silver grass
Ears burst into bloom,
Can its shape be seen.

16

女郎花さがの花をば色ながら秋をさかりといはれずもがな

ominaeshi
saga no hana oba
iro nagara
aki o sakari to
iwarezu mogana
Maidenflowers:
Blossoms from Saga
Reveal their hues, and
In autumn are most fine—that
Goes without saying!

17

小男鹿の朝たつ霧にうりふ山嶺の梢は色こかりけり

saoshika no
asa tatsu kiri ni
urifuyama
mine no kozue wa
iro kokarikeri
Stags
Within the rising morning mist on
Urifu Moutain, where
The treetops on the peak
Have taken darker hues.

18

Akishino gesseishū III: 1304

Winter moonlight at a mountain retreat.

やまおろしのけしきばかりやふゆならむみやこなりせば秋のよの月

yama’oroshi no
keshiki bakari ya
fuyu naramu
miyako nariseba
aki no yo no tsuki
The wind howling down the mountain
Simply sets a scene of
Seeming winter, but
Were I in the capital,
An autumn night’s moon, would this be…