道すがらなぐさむやとてひくことのをごとに玉をぬくなみだかな
michi sugara nagusamu ya tote hiku koto no ogoto ni tama o nuku namida kana | On the road and Thinking it might console me Plucking upon My lute, where gemstone Teardrops were strung! |
Daishin
道すがらなぐさむやとてひくことのをごとに玉をぬくなみだかな
michi sugara nagusamu ya tote hiku koto no ogoto ni tama o nuku namida kana | On the road and Thinking it might console me Plucking upon My lute, where gemstone Teardrops were strung! |
Daishin
Groves 原
道とほみ日も夕ぐれになりぬればそのはらまでとさしてこそゆけ
michi tōmi hi mo yūgure ni narinureba sonohara made to sashite koso yuke | My road is yet long, and The sun toward twilight Does go, so Just as far as Sonohara Let it still shine on! |
Daishin
Love Separated by Distant Roads 隔遠路恋
おもひあまりゆけばはるけき玉ぼこの道のそらにもまどふ比かな
omoiamari yukeba harukeki tamaboko no michi no sora ni madou koro kana | Love-driven to desperation, When I go, upon the distant Jewelled-spear straight Road within the skies Will I ever lose my way! |
Daishin
Love Separated by Distant Roads 隔遠路恋
恋ひしなでいきの松原いきたりとつげだにやらぬ道のはるけさ
koishinade iki no matsubara ikitari to tsuge dani yaranu michi no harukesa | I’ll not die of love, but As the pine groves at Iki Live on – Even that, I cannot proclaim, So long is the road between us… |
Akinaka
Preparing Tribute 貢調
いやしきや民のいとなく道もせにつきせず運ぶみつぎ物かな
iyashiki ya tami no itonaku michi mo se ni tsukisezu hakobu mitsukimono kana | How humble are The folk busily On every single road Ceaselessly transporting Their tributes! |
Daishin
Left (Tie)
いかにしてつれなき中を渡るべき足の音もせぬ駒のありとも
ika ni shite tsurenaki naka o watarubeki ashi no oto mo senu koma no aritomo |
How, indeed, To one so heartless Can I make my way across? Even a silent-footed Steed had I to ride… |
Lord Suetsune
1059
Right (Win)
道遠み妹がりがりいそぐその駒に草取り飼はんなづみもぞする
michi tōmi imogari isogu sono koma ni kusa torikawan nazumi mo zo suru |
Long is the road To go swiftly seek my darling, so For my steed I’ll go gather grasses That he not tire along the way… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1060
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of making one’s way across when there is no ‘bridge’? The Gentlemen of the Left state: there are no faults to indicate in the Right’s poem.
In judgement: the gentleman of the Left has composed his poem referring to the conception of the Man’yō poem ‘A silent-footed / Colt I’d have: / In Kashitsuka, / The clapper bridge at Mama / To ceaselessly traverse!’, but must have misplaced the bridge somewhere. Truly, I do wonder how it is possible to make one’s way across in the absence of a bridge. Although to say ‘for my steed I’ll go gather grasses’ (sono koma ni kusa torikawan) is something commonplace, doing it to prevent one’s mount getting tired, despite the length of the journey, seems better than lacking a bridge.
玉鉾の道行きつかれ稲筵敷きても君か恋ひらるる哉
tamahoko no michi yukitsukare inamushiro shikite mo kimi ga koiraruru kana |
Jewel spear straight The road I travel; Though a blanket of straw I spread, will you Yet love me? |
[One of] two poems about Kumanori, Lord Ōtomo.
国遠き道の長手をおほほしく今日や過ぎなむ言どひも
kuni topoki miti no nagate wo opoposiku kepu ya suginamu kotodopi mo naku |
In a distant land At the long road’s end In heavy sorrow Will you spend your last day? With no word with them… |
Asada no Yasu
麻田陽春
人行かぬ道ならなくに何しかも板田の橋のふみかへすらむ
Fito yukanu miti naranakuni nani sikamo itada no Fasi no FumikaFesuramu |
An untravelled Road this is not, yet For some reason Upon the bridge of Itada I have once more set foot, it seems… |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed when he had gone to Michinoku, and saw the flowers blooming at the barrier of Nakoso.
吹く風を勿来の関と思へども道もせに散る山桜かな
Fuku kaze wo nakoso no seki to omoFedomo mitimose ni tiru yamazakura kana |
The gusting wind Comes not to the barrier of Nakoso, I thought, yet The road is blocked with fallen Mountain cherry blossom. |
Minamoto no Yoshi’ie (1039-1106)
源義家