Love and tales.[i]
| wakarenishi mukashi wa tsuyu ka asajiwara ato naki nobe ni akikaze zo fuku | Since they were parted, Were those ancient times dewdrop brief? Across the cogon grass Upon the trackless plain The autumn wind is blowing! |
546
[i] The ‘tale’ here is the Song of Everlasting Woe about the doomed love between Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong
Left – Rani
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆる物かな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru mono kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Does all appear! |
15a
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆるのべかな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru nobe kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Do the meadows appear! |
15b
Right
きる人をのべやしるらんふぢばかまいたづらにのみつゆのおきつつ
| kiru hito o nobe ya shiruran fujibakama itazura ni nomi tsuyu no okitsutsu | Folk wearing them Do the meadows know, perhaps? For upon these violet trousers In mischief alone Does the dew keep falling! |
16
Rani is a generic term for ‘orchid’ but in waka it was usually equated with eupatorium (a type of aster), which was also called fujibakama, the literal meaning of which was ‘wisteria [coloured] trousers’.
Left — Maidenflowers
うつろへるところありともをみなへしのべのふるさとわすれざらなむ
| utsuroeru tokoro ari tomo ominaeshi nobe no furusato wasurezaranamu | Faded Spots they have, yet, Maidenflowers At an old estate among the fields Never will I forget! |
7
Right
あきののにあだなのみたつをみなへし花さかぬまはしる人ぞなき
| aki no no ni adana nomi tatsu ominaeshi hana sakanu ma wa shiru hito zo naki | In the autumn plains Faithless rumours, alone, arise Of my maidenflower— But while she is not in bloom, There’s no one knows, at all! |
8
Maidenflowers
Left
あきかぜはふかずもあらなむをみなへししるもしらぬもおもふこころは
| akikaze wa fukazu mo aranamu ominaeshi shiru mo shiranu mo omou kokoro wa | Even should the autumn breeze Fail to blow, O, maidenflower, still Those who know you and know you not, Would hold you in their hearts… |
Taira no Yasū
5
Right (Win)
をみなへしおひたるのべにふきかかるあきののかぜにみをやそへまし
| ominaeshi oitaru nobe ni fukikakaru aki no nokaze ni mi o ya soemashi | Maidenflowers Growing in the meadows Brushed by the blowing Autumn wind o’er the fields— O, how I wish it trailed over me, too… |
Tomo no Tadanori
(or in some texts Toshizane)
6
The bodyguards of the Former Former Crown Prince composed on autumn matters and matched them.
Bush Clover
Left (Win)
つゆむすぶあきはきにけりむべこそはうちとけぬねにむしのなきけれ
| tsuyu musubu akihaginikeri mube koso wa uchitokenu ni mushi no nakikere | All tangled with dewdrops The autumn bush-clover has ta’en on scarlet hues Truly, indeed, There’s no relaxing, while The insects cry. |
Sakanoue no Kuzusuke
1
Right
のべごとにこころをやらむあきはぎのさくをりかねてちらさせじとて
| nobe goto ni kokoro o yaramu akihakgi no saku orikanete chirasaseji tote | To every single meadow Is my heart a’drawn— The autumn bush-clover Blooms and I cannot pluck it, Thinking not to make it scatter… |
Tomo no Toshizane
2
