Tag Archives: sode

Teiji-in uta’awase 34

Left

みにこひのあまりにしかばしのぶれどひとのしるらんことのわびしさ

mi ni koi no
amari nishikaba
shinoburedo
hito no shiruran
koto no wabishisa
Being in love
Beyond all measure,
I kept it secret, yet
That folk seem to know
Is heartbreaking, indeed.

68[i]

Right

きみこふるわがみひさしくなりぬればそでになみだもみえぬべらなり

kimi kouru
wa ga mi hisashiku
narinureba
sode ni namida mo
mienuberanari
Loved you
Long have I
Indeed, so
The tears upon my sleeves
Have been spotted, it seems.

69


[i] This poem is practically identical to poem 60.

Ise-shū 348

From the Master of the Right Capital Office, when the pinks were blooming in profusion.

我がそでにうつらばうつれてもやまずつみやいれましなでしこのはな

wa ga sode ni
utsuraba utsure
te mo yamazu
tsumi ya iremashi
nadeshiko no hana
If, to my sleeves
It is to shift, then let it!
My hand will not cease
To pick and I would tuck within
A flowering pink!

Minamoto no Muneyuki

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 25

やをとめのそでかとぞみるをみなへしきみをいはひてなではじめてき

yaotome no
sode ka to zo miru
ominaeshi
kimi o iwaite
nadehajimeteki
As eight sacred maidens’
Sleeves do they appear,
The maidenflowers,
Celebrating our Lord’s reign
With a first gentle touch.

49

うゑながらかつはたのまずをみなへしうつろふあきのほどしなければ

uenagara
katsu wa tanomazu
ominaeshi
utsurou aki no
hodo shi nakereba
I planted them, yet
Still unreliable are
The maidenflowers, for
They fade and autumn
Is nothing but brief…

50

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 07

Left

ひとのみることやくるしきをみなへしあきぎりにのみたちかくるらむ

hito no miru
koto ya kurushiki
ominaeshi
akigiri ni nomi
tachikakururamu
For man to gaze on you,
Is it so painful,
O, Maidenflower,
That simply in the autumn mists
You must hide yourself away?

Tadamine
13[1]

Right

とりてみばはかなからんやをみなへしそでにつつめるしらつゆのたま

torite miba
hakanakaran ya
ominaeshi
sode ni tsutsumeru
shiratsuyu no tama
If I pick and look
How fleeting are
Upon a maidenflower,
Enveloped in my sleeves
Silver dewdrop pearls.

14


[1] KKS IV: 235

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 02

Left

あきののをみなへしるともささわけにぬれにしそでやはなとみゆらむ

aki no no o
mina heshiru to mo
sasa wake ni
nurenishi sode ya
hana to miyuramu
Through the autumn meadows
Everyone knows to pass, yet
Forging through the dwarf bamboo
Will my sleeves, so drenched,
Appear as the flowers do?[1]

3

Right

をみなへしあきののかぜにうちなびきこころひとつをたれによすらん

ominaeshi
aki no nokaze ni
uchinabiki
kokoro hitotsu o
tare ni yosuran
The maidenflower,
With a breeze across the autumn fields,
Waves back and forth;
Having but a single heart,
To whom does she incline, I wonder?

The Minister of the Left[2]
4[3]


[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.

[2] Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871-909).

[3] Kokinshū IV: 230; Shinsen man’yōshū 532; Kokin rokujō 3660