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]
Left
| Mibu no Tadamine | Ariwara no Motokata | Taira no Sadafun |
Right
| Sakanoue no Korenori | Ki no Tsurayuki | Ōshikōchi no Mitsune |
The Beginning of Spring
Left (Tie)
はるたつといふばかりにやみよしののやまもかすみてけさはみゆらむ
| haru tatsu to iu bakari ni ya miyoshino no yama mo kasumite kesa wa miyuramu | Spring is here They simply say, but Is fair Yoshino Mountain, too, all hazed In view this morning, I wonder? |
Tadamine
1
Right
はるたちてなほふるゆきはむめのはなさくほどもなくちるかとぞみる
| haru tachite nao furu yuki wa mume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru | Spring is here, yet Still the snow falls—does, as Plum blossoms’ Brief flowering then Scattering, it truly seem? |
Mitsune
2
Bird cherry.
ゆきふかきかきねのむめのいかにしてなほうづもれぬかにはさくらん
| yuki fukaki kakine no mume no ika ni shite nao uzumorenu ka ni wa sakuran | Deep with the snow is The plum blossom by my brushwood fence: O, what will become of it— Still buried Will its fragrance bloom forth? |
The Former Kinugasa Minister of the Centre [Kinugasa no Ieyoshi 衣笠家良 (1192-1264)]
衣笠前内大臣
Poems composed for a folding screen for the Minister of the Right in Jōhei 7 [937]: Women gazing at the scarlet plum blossom they had picked beneath the trees.
雪とのみあやまたれつつ梅花くれなゐにさへかよひけるかな
| yuki to nomi aya mataretsutsu mume no hana kurenai ni sae kayoikeru kana | For the snow alone, O, have we ever waited, while The plum blossom Simply in scarlet Has scattered back and forth. |