Composed to accompany a picture on a folding screen of a traveller at the Bay of Tako, picking wisteria blooms.
たこのうらの岸の藤なみ立ちかへりをらではゆかじ袖はぬるとも
| tako no ura no kishi no fujinami tachikaeri orade wa yukaji sode wa nuru tomo | At the Bay of Tako Upon the shore wisteria waves Break, returning Never would I go without picking them Though it wet my sleeves. |
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
住の江のきしによる波夜さへや夢のかよひ路人めよくらむ
| suminoe no kisi ni yoru nami yoru saFe ya yume no kayoFidi Fitome yokuramu | On Suminoe’s Shore break waves; Even at night Upon the path of dreams Can we avoid others’ prying eyes? |
Lord Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Composed as a love poem, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
あら磯の岩にくだくる浪なれやつれなき人にかくる心は
| ara’iso no iFa ni kudakuru nami nare ya turenaki Fito ni kakuru kokoro Fa | Along the stony shore Upon the rocks shattering Are the waves—just like That cruel man does Break my heart, perhaps? |
Taikenmon’in Horikawa
Round One Hundred and Sixteen
Left
ひとりぬる人やしるらん秋の夜をながしとたれか君につげつる
| hitori nuru hito ya shiruran aki no yo o nagashi to tareka kimi ni tsugetsuru | Sleeping alone I know it all too well—that An autumn night is Long to someone You’ve been telling! |
231[1]
Right
こふれどもみぬめの浦のうき枕なみにのみやは袖のぬれける
| kouredomo minume no ura no ukimakura nami ni nomi ya wa sode no nurekeru | I love him, yet Unnoticed at Minume shore Drifting with a sorry pillow By the waves, alone, Are my sleeves left drenched? |
232[2]
[1] Goshūishū XVI: 906: Around the time the Naka Chancellor had begun visiting her, on the morning following a night when he had failed to call, she composed this to say that this night’s dawn had been particularly hard to bear.
[2] This poem does not appear in any other collection in the canon.
From the Hundred Poem Sequences presented for former Emperor Horikawa.
うらかぜに吹上のはまの浜千鳥浪たちくらし夜半になくなり
| urakaze ni fukiage no hama no hamachidori nami tachikurashi yowa ni naku nari | Beach breezes Blow up Fukiage shore, where The plovers on the beach As the waves break in the darkness, Cry out with midnight. |
Kii, from the Residence of Imperial Princess Sukeko
The beginning of spring by the sea.
しほがまの浦の松風かすむなりやそしまかけて春や立つらん
| shiogama no ura no matsukaze kasumu nari yasoshima kakete haru ya tatsuran | At Shiogama Shore the wind through the pines Carries haze over Countless islets— Has spring arrived, I wonder? |
8
Left (Tie)
はるふかきいろこそなけれやまぶきのはなにこころをまづぞそめつる
| haru fukaki iro koso nakere yamabuki no hana ni kokoro o mazu zo sometsuru | In the depths of spring, Their hues, indeed, are lacking: The kerria Blooms have my heart Dyed first! |
Mitsune
31
Right
かぜふけばおもほゆるかなすみのえのきしのふぢなみいまやさくらむ
| kaze fukeba omohoyuru kana suminoe no kishi no fujinami ima ya sakuramu | When the wind blows—that Is when I wonder if at Suminoe’s Shore the wisteria waves Are blooming now? |
Prince Kaneyuki
32
