Left
秋のせみさむき声にぞきこゆなる木のはの衣を風やぬぎつる
aki no semi
samuki koe ni zo
kikoyunaru
ko no ha no kinu o
kaze ya nugitsuru | In the autumn, the cicadas’
Chill song
I hear;
Has the trees’ garb of leaves
Been stripped from them by the wind? |
112[1]
Right
あきの夜の月の影こそ木の間よりおちてはきぬとみえわたりけれ
aki no yo no
tsuki no kage koso
ko no ma yori
ochite wa kinu to
miewatarikere | On an autumn night
The moon’s light, truly,
From between the trees
Does come a’falling
Everywhere, it seems. |
113
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 109/Fubokushō XIII: 5422
Left
夏の月ひかりをしまず照る時はながるる水にかげろふぞたつ
natsu no tsuki
hikari o shimazu
teru toki wa
nagaruru mizu ni
kagerō zo tatsu | When summer moon’s
Light lightly
Shines
From the running waters
Haze arises! |
74
Right
琴の音にひびきかよへる松風はしらべても鳴く蝉の声かな
koto no ne ni
hibikikayoeru
matsukaze wa
shirabetemo naku
semi no koe kana | A zither’s strains
Echoing back and forth:
The wind through the pines,
In tune with the cries
In the cicadas’ song! |
75[1]
[1] Shinshūishū III: 303/Shinsen man’yōshū 73/Kokin rokujō I: 398/Fubokushō IX: 3584
Left
なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき
natsu no hi no
kururu mo shirazu
naku semi o
toi mo shiteshika
nani goto ka uki | Of the summer sun’s
Setting unaware are
The singing cicadas:
Had I but asked them of it,
What would they despise? |
70
Right
あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ
ayamegusa
ikura no satsuki
aikuramu
kuru toshigoto ni
wakaku miyuramu | O, sweet flags!
In how many Fifth Months
Have you come to meet me?
With every turning year
You seem younger to me! |
71
Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
natsu no hi o
kurashiwabinuru
semi no ma ni
wa ga nakisouru
koe wa kikoyu ya | The summer sun
They know not how to endure,
So with the cicadas
My sobbing
Voice do you hear? |
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
uramitsutsu
todomuru hito no
nakereba ya
yama hototogisu
ukaredete naku | How I constantly despise
The one who’s staying here
If he were gone, would
The mountain cuckoo
Have aimlessly left his home to sing? |
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
秋のせみさむき声にぞきこゆなる木のはの衣を風やぬぎつる
aki no semi
samuki koe ni zo
kikoyunaru
ko no ha no kinu o
kaze ya nugitsuru | In the autumn, the cicadas’
Chill song
I hear;
Has the trees’ garb of leaves
Been stripped from them by the wind? |
Anonymous
Right
夏なれば木高き枝になく蟬のかげにかくせる風を恋ふとか
natu nareba
kodakaki eda ni
naku semi no
kage ni kakuseru
kaze wo koFu to ka | When the summer comes,
In the topmost branches of the trees
In the singing cicadas’
Shadows have you hidden
The breeze I love? |
5
Composed on the conception of changing into summer clothes, when a Hundred Poem Sequence was presented to His Majesty, Emperor Horikawa.
けふかふるせみの羽ごろもきてみればたもとに夏はたつにぞ有りける
kyō kauru
semi no hagoromo
kitemireba
tamoto ni natsu wa
tatsu ni zo arikeru | With the change today,
A robe of cicada wings
I do put on and see
Upon my sleeves that summer
Has, indeed, arrived! |
Fujiwara no Mototoshi
禊する瀬見の小川の清き瀬に君が齢を猶祈るかな
misogisuru
semi no wogaFa no
kiyoki se ni
kimi ga yoFaFi wo
naFo inoru kana |
In cleansing
Semi Stream’s
Pure rapids
For my Lord’s long life
I will ever pray! |
Minamoto no Shitagō
源順
おくるてふ蟬の初声聞くよりもいまはと麦の秋を知りぬる
okuru teFu
semi no Fatugowe
kiku yori mo
ima Fa to mugi no
aki o sirinuru |
It is late, they say:
The cicadas’ first call –
But now I hear it
Now is barley’s
Autumn – that I know! |
蟬の羽の薄き衣は着たれども恋にあつさやそはむとすらむ
semi no Fa no
usuki koromo Fa
kitaredomo
koFi ni atusaya
soFamu to suramu |
Cicada wing
Thin robes
I wore, yet
Is it love that in the heat
Would draw ever nearer? |
'Simply moving and elegant'