Composed when people stopped to view the wisteria blooming at his house.
わが宿にさけるふぢなみ立帰すぎがてにのみ人の見る覧
wa ga yado ni
sakeru Fudinami
tatikaFeri
sugigate ni nomi
Fito no miruran | At my house
Bloom wisteria waves,
Breaking and returning;
Simply impossible to pass by
Folk find the sight, it seems. |
Mitsune
Composed on a bush warbler singing in a blossoming tree.
しるしなき音をもなく哉うぐひすの今年のみちる花ならなくに
sirusi naki
ne wo mo naku kana
uguFisu no
kotoshi nomi tiru
Fana naranaku ni | No effect
Does your cry have at all,
O, warbler!
For this year alone scatter
The blossoms do not… |
Mitsune
Composed after seeing some faded flowers.
花見れば心さへにぞうつりける色には出でじ人もこそしれ
Fana mireba
kokoro saFe ni zo
uturikeru
iro ni Fa ideji
Fito mo koso sire | When I see these blooms
Even my heart
Does droop
No tint must show upon my face, yet
Others surely know… |
Mitsune
Composed on the scattering of cherry blossoms.
雪とのみふるだにあるをさくら花いかにちれとか風のふく覧
yuki to nomi
Furu dani aru wo
sakurabana
ika ni tire to ka
kaze no Fukuran | Simply as snow
Do fall the
Cherry blossoms:
So why to scatter them
Does the wind seem to blow? |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
Composed on plum blossoms on a spring night.
春の夜の闇はあやなし梅花色こそ見えね香やはかくるる
Faru no yo no
yami Fa ayanasi
ume no Fana
iro koso miene
ka ya Fa kakururu | On nights in springtime
How strange the darkness is!
The plum blossoms’
Hues do go unseen, but
Can their scent still be concealed? |
Mitsune
On a moonlit night, when someone said they were going to pick plum blossoms, he composed this to say, ‘Pluck them.’
月夜にはそれとも見えず梅花香をたづねてぞしるべかりける
tukiyo ni Fa
sore to mo miezu
ume no Fana
ka wo tadunete zo
sirubekarikeru | On a moonlit night
Indistinguishable is
The plum blossom –
By scent, then seek it,
And you shall know it well. |
Mitsune
Composed when hearing the geese calling and thinking of someone who had gone to Koshi.
春くればかりかへるなり白雲の道行ぶりにことやつてまし
Faru kureba
kari kaFerunari
shirakumo no
mitiyukiburi ni
koto ya tutemasi | When spring does come,
The geese head home;
Among clouds of white
Upon their way, O,
I would they’d take a message with them! |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
Topic unknown.
夏虫をなにかいひけむ心から我も思ひにもえぬへらなり
natumusi o
nani ka iFikemu
kokoro kara
ware mo omoFi ni
moenuberanari | About the summer insects
What is there to say?
From deep within my heart
I, too, with fires of passion
Can only burn! |
Mitsune
五月雨の－黄昏時は－月影の－朧けにやは－我が人を待つ
samidare no
tasogaredoki Fa
tukikage no
oboroke ni ya Fa
wa ga Fito o matu |
Drizzle at
The hour of dusk
Makes the moonlight
Mistily uncertain
As I await my man… |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
凡河内躬恒
Composed on the topic of monkeys howling from the mountain passes on a day when the Cloistered Emperor had gone to the Western River.
わびしらにましらな鳴きそ足引きの山のかひある今日にやはあらぬ
wabisira ni
masira na naki so
asiFiki no
yama no kaFi aru
keFu ni ya wa aranu |
So sadly,
O Monkeys, howl not!
Leg-wearying
The mountain valleys are, yet
Today, there is no point! |
Mitsune
'Simply moving and elegant'