木のはちる秋の山べはうかりけりたへでや鹿のひとりなくらん
ko no ha chiru
aki no yamabe wa
ukarikeri
taede ya shika no
hitori nakuran | Leaves scattering from the trees
On the autumn mountainside
Is so depressing—
Unable to endure it, does the stag
Cry out all alone? |
Stags in the evening
鳴くしかのこゑより袖におくかつゆ物おもふ比の秋のゆふぐれ
naku shika no
koe yori sode ni
oku ka tsuyu
mono’omou koro no
aki no yūgure | Is it the belling stag’s
Cry that upon my sleeves
Drops dewdrops?
Sunk in gloomy thought now
On an autumn evening… |
秋はぎのむかしの露に袖ぬれてふるき籬に鹿ぞ鳴くなる
akihagi no
mukashi no tsuyu ni
sode nurete
furuki magaki ni
shika zo nakunaru | Upon the autumn bush-clover
The dewfall of bygone days does
Soak my sleeve, as
By the ruins of a lattice fence
A stag bells out! |
あさなあさな露にをれふす秋はぎの花ふみしだき鹿ぞなくなる
asana asana
tsuyu ni orefusu
akihagi no
hana fumishidaki
shika zo nakunaru | Each and every single morn
The dewfall burdens to breaking
The autumn bush clover
Blooms, crushed under foot by
The belling stags. |
萩がはなうつろひ行けば高砂の尾上の鹿のなかぬ日ぞなき
hagi ga hana
utsuroiyukeba
takasago no
onoe no shika no
nakanu hi zo naki | As the bush-clover blooms
Are fading away,
On Takasago’s
Peak, a stag
Fails to cry on not a single day. |
朝まだきをのの露霜さむければ秋をつらしと鹿ぞ鳴くなる
asa madaki
ono no tsuyujimo
samukereba
aki o tsurashi to
shika zo nakunaru | In the early morn
The meadows’ frosted dew
Is cold, so
At the cruelty of autumn
A stag bells out! |
月をのみあはれと思ふをさよ更けてみ山がくれに鹿ぞなくなる
tsuki o nomi
aware to omou o
sayo fukete
miyamagakure ni
shika zo nakunaru | With the moon but
A feeling has
Brief night fallen, as
Hidden in the mountain’s depths
A stag bells out. |
雲のゐるこずゑはるかに霧こめてたかしの山に鹿ぞなくなる
kumo no iru
kozue haruka ni
kiri komete
takashi no yama ni
shika zo nakunaru | From within the cloud-covered,
Distant treetops,
Wrapped by mists
Upon Takashi Mountain,
A stag is belling! |
夕されば霧たちくらしをぐら山やまのとかげに鹿ぞ鳴くなる
yū sareba
kiri tachikurashi
ogurayama
yama no tokage ni
shika zo nakunaru | When the evening comes, and
Mists seem to rise across
Gloomy Ogura Mountain
Within the mount’s eternal shade
A stag is belling. |
As a stag poem.
妻こふる鹿ぞなくなる小倉山やまの夕霧たちにけむかも
tsuma kouru
shika zo nakunaru
ogurayama
yama no yūgiri
tachinkemu kamo | Loving his mate
A stag cries out upon
Gloomy Ogura Mountain, where
Around the peak the evening mists
Have arisen, it seems! |
'Simply moving and elegant'
