Summer rain
五月雨は心あらなん雲間より出でくる月をまてばくるしも
samidare wa kokoro aranan kumoma yori idekuru tsuki o mateba kurushi mo | O, summer rain, Show me some pity! That from between your clouds To emerge, the moon I await, and suffer so… |

When the moon was shining brightly, when a shower-filled sky had cleared.
五月雨の空だにすめる月影に涙の雨ははるるまもなし
samidare no sora dani sumeru tsukikage ni namida no ame wa haruru ma mo nashi | Showers filled The sky, yet even they end with bright Moonlight, yet The rainfall of my tears Clears for not a moment. |
Akazome Emon
Composed on summer rain for a poetry match, after the Thirty Day Sutra Recitation[1] held at the residence of the Uji Former Grand Minister[2].
さみだれにみづのみまきのまこも草かりほすひまもあらじとぞおもふ
samidare ni midu no mimaki no makomogusa kariFosu Fima mo arazi to zo omoFu | In the summer rain At Mizu, the royal pasture grows Wild rice, but To reap and dry it no time There is at all, I feel! |
Sagami
[1] The Thirty Day Sutra Recitation (Sanjikkō 三十講)was an event where the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (Ananta Nirdeśa Sūtra; Jp. Muryōgi-kyō 無量義経), the twenty-eight fascicles of the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram; Jp. Hokke-kyō 法華経) and the Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra (Jp. Kanfugen-kyō 観普賢経) were read aloud over thirty consecutive days, or occasionally over fifteen consecutive days with readings each morning and evening.
[2] Fujiwara no Yorimichi 藤原頼通 (992-1074)
The End of Summer
Left
なくこゑはするものからに身はむなしあなおぼつかなうつせみのよや
naku koe wa suru mono kara ni mi wa munashi ana obotsukana utsusemi no yo ya | Their voices sing And yet Their flesh is empty— O, how strange is A cicada shell world! |
Tadamine
9
Right (Win)
ほととぎすをちかへりなけうなゐこがうちたれがみのさみだれのこゑ
hototogisu ochikaeri nake unaiko ga uchitaregami no samidare no koe | A cuckoo Calls again and again; A child’s shoulder-brushing Hair dangling down: The song of a summer shower. |
Mitsune
10
Around the last day of the Fifth Month, when she had been lying awake all night, filled with gloomy thoughts.
限りあればこよひにつきぬさみだれも身をしるあめはいつかをやまん
kagiri areba koyoi ni tsukinu samidare mo mi o shiru ame wa itsuka o yaman | All things have an end, so This night’s endless Showers— The rainfall of my misery— O, when might they cease to fall? |
Lady Aki, in service to the Empress Ikuhōmon’in
郁芳門院安芸