Tag Archives: plum blossom

Teiji-in uta’awase 03

Left (Win)

きつつのみなくうぐひすのふるさとはちりにしむめのはなにざりける

kitsutsu nomi
naku uguisu no
furusato wa
chirinishi mume no
hana ni zarikeru
Ever coming, simply
To sing—the warbler’s
Ancient home
The scattered plum
Blossoms is not.

Mitsune

5[i]

Right

みちよへてなるてふももはことしよりはなさくはるにあひぞしにける

michiyo hete
naru chō momo wa
kotoshi yori
hana saku haru ni
ai zo shinikeru
Three thousand generations enduring,
They say, are the peaches:
From this year
Blossom blooming spring
Have they encountered.

Korenori

6[ii]

This poem says ‘generation’ when it should be composed about a year—it loses.


[i] This poem is included in Shinchokusenshū (I: 36), attributed to Sakanoue no Korenori, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] A minor variant of this poem, which changes the first phrase to ‘For three thousand years’ (michi tose ni), is included in Shūishū (V: 288), attributed to Mitsune, with the headnote ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

GSS I: 38

He had paid a visit to the house of an acquaintance where there was a plum tree. ‘When it blooms, I will certainly invite you to come,’ he was told, but when no letter arrived…

梅花今は盛りになりぬらんたのめし人のをとづれもせぬ

mume no Fana
ima Fa sakarini
narinuran
tanomesi Fito no
wotodure mo senu
The plum blossom
Is now profusely
Blooming, it seems, but
From the man I trusted
Comes no note, at all…

The Suzakuin Prince and Minister for War [Atsukata/Atsumoto]