Tag Archives: orange blossom

Kinkai wakashū 160

Orange blossom at an ancient estate.

いにしへをしのぶとなしにふる里のゆふべの雨ににほふたち花

inishie o
shinobu to nashi ni
furusato no
yūbe no ame ni
niou tachibana
Bygone days
I do not recall, but
At an ancient estate
In the evening rain
Comes the scent of orange blossom.[i]
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.

[i] This poem functions as a reply to: Topic unknown. さつきまつ花橘のかをかげば昔の人の袖のかぞする satsuki matsu / hana tachibana no / ka o kageba / mukashi no hito no / sode no ka zo suru ‘Awaiting the Fifth Month / The orange blossoms’ / Scent fills the air, and / Folk from long ago / With their perfumed sleeves come back to me.’ Anonymous (KKS III: 139).

SZS III: 176

At a time when he produced a Hundred Poem Sequence, His Majesty composed this as a poem on orange blossoms.
五月雨にはなたちばなのかをる夜は月すむ秋もさもあらばあれ

samidare ni
hanatachibana no
kaoru yo wa
tsuki sumu aki mo
sa mo araba are
Early summer showers fall, and
Orange blossom
Scents the night;
The clear, bright moon of autumn
Hardly seems to match it…

Emperor Sutoku