Left (Tie)
あきの夜は雲もこころやありあけのかたぶくまでもすめる月かな
aki no yo wa
kumo mo kokoro ya
ariake no
katabuku made mo
sumeru tsuki kana | On an autumn night
Do the clouds, too, have feelings?
Until at dawn
Sets
The moon, so clear? |
Lord Takanobu
1427
Right
月見ばとたのめかおきし人はこであさぢが露にまつむしぞなく
tsuki miba to
tanome’okishi
hito wa kode
asaji ga tsuyu ni
matsumushi zo naku | ‘When we see the moon…’
Did he promise, before, but
That man has failed to come, and
From the dewy cogon grass
The pine crickets cry! |
Lord Ietaka
1428
Judgement:
日かずへぬとやまのつゆにしをるそできつつなれこしから衣かは
hikazu henu
toyama no tsuyu ni
shioru sode
kitsutsunarekoshi
karakoromo ka wa | Days have passed, and
The familiar mountains’ dew
Weighs down my sleeves,
So used am I to wearing
A Cathay robe, no doubt! |
まつむしのたえず鳴くなる女へし千歳の秋はたのもしきかな
matsumushi no
taezu nakunaru
ominaeshi
chitose no aki wa
tanomoshiki kana | Pine crickets
Cry endlessly;
The maidenflowers
For a thousand years of autumns
On them can rely! |
7[i]
[i] Motozane-shū (66) with the headnote ‘Pine crickets’ (matsumushi 松虫).
小ざさはらおく露さむみ秋されば松虫のねになかぬよぞなき
ozasawara
oku tsuyu samumi
aki sareba
matsumushi no ne ni
nakanu yo zo naki | When, upon the dwarf bamboo grove
The falling dew cold
With autumn has become,
The pine crickets’ cries
Cease on no nights at all… |
560
里はあれて宿は朽ちにし跡なれやあさぢが露に松むしのなく
sato wa arete
yado wa kuchinishi
ato nare ya
asaji ga tsuyu ni
matsumushi no naku | The estate is overgrown, and
The house has rotted away—
Are the only traces
Among the dewy cogon grass
The pine crickets’ cries? |
555
荒れにけりたのめしやどは草のはら露の軒ばに松むしの鳴く
arenikeri
tanomeshi yado wa
kusa no hara
tsuyu no nokiba ni
matsumush no naku | All gone to ruin,
While she trusted, is this house,
Overgrown with grass, with
Dewdrops falling from the eaves,
As the pine-crickets cry. |
554
Pine crickets
Left (Win)
いまこむとたれたのめけむあきのよをあかしかねつつまつむしのなく
ima komu to
tare tanomekemu
aki no yo o
akashikanetsutsu
matsumushi no naku | ‘I’m coming now’—
Who might I trust to say that,
On an autumn night
Ever unable to greet the dawn
The pine crickets cry. |
Tachibana no Yasūdoki
7
Right
あききてはほどへにけるをあやしくもわがまつむしのおとづれもせぬ
aki kite wa
hodo henikeru o
ayashiku mo
wa ga matsumushi no
otozure mo senu | Autumn comes, and
Time has passed, but
How strange it is
I pine for the crickets
That never come to call. |
Minamoto no Satake
8
をみなへしあきののをわけをりつればやどあれぬとてまつむしぞなく
ominaeshi
aki no no o wake
oritsureba
yado arenu tote
matsumushi zo naku | O, maidenflower,
Through the autumn meadows did I press
To pick you, so
My home has gone to ruin where
The pine crickets sing. |
Yasuki
35
むしのねになきまどはせるをみなへしをればたもとにきりのこりゐる
mushi no ne ni
naki madowaseru
ominaeshi
oreba tamoto ni
kiri nokori’iru | The insects’ cries
With her sobs are confused, that
Maidenflower,
I pluck her, and within my sleeve
Traces of the mists do linger. |
Amane
36
あきくともみどりのかへであらませばちらずぞあらましもみぢならねど
aki ku tomo
midori no kaede
aramaseba
chirazu zo aramashi
momiji naranedo | Autumn comes, yet
The maples in green
Do display themselves, so
I would you not scatter,
For your leaves have not turned scarlet… |
65
しづはたにこひはすれどもこぬ人をまつむしのねぞあきはかなしき
shizu wa ta ni
koi wa suredomo
konu hito o
matsumushi no ne zo
aki wa kanashiki | Peasants in the rice-fields
Do fall in love, yet
For a man who fails to come, I
Pine crickets cries make
Autumn all the more sad. |
66
A poem from the Poetry Contest held in the first year of Shōtai by former emperor Uda.[1]
wominaFesi
woritoru goto ni
matumusi no
yado Fa karenu to
naku ga kanashiki | O, maidenflowers,
Each and every time I pick you,
The pine crickets, that
Their lodging should not fade away
Do cry, and that is sad, indeed. |
Anonymous
[1]The headnote is mistaken, as this poem actually comes from another maidenflower contest held by Uda, the year of which is unknown.
Round Ten: Insects’ songs from behind thickets of grass
Left
たづねくるかひもあるかな草村に我まつむしの声ぞきこゆる
tazunekuru
kai mo aru kana
kusamura ni
ware matsumushi no
koe zo kikoyuru | Paying a visit here—
Has some point, I think!
Among the grassy thickets
I pine crickets’
Song in my ears. |
A Court Lady
19
Right
松虫のこゑもたえせぬ草むらはたづねぬ人も尋ねきにけり
matsumushi no
koe mo taesenu
kusamura wa
tazunenu hito mo
tazunekinikeri | Pine crickets’
Songs I would have ever carry on
Among the grassy thickets
The one who has not called
Has finally paid a visit! |
A Court Lady
20
'Simply moving and elegant'
