Composed on plum blossom.
わが袖に香をだにのこせ梅花あかで散りぬるわすれがたみに
| wa ga sode ni ka o dani nokose ume no hana akade chirinuru wasuregatami ni | Upon my sleeves Your scent, at least, leave behind, O, plum blossom! That, unsated, when you have scattered I’ll have a keepsake to forget you not… |
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.
When he had begun to live with the Katsura Princess, and felt that she did not wish to see him.
人知れず物思頃の我が袖は秋の草葉に劣らざりけり
| Fito sirezu mono’omoFu koro no wa ga sode Fa aki no kusaba ni otorazarikeri | When unknown to all I am sunk in gloomy thought My sleeves To blades of grass in autumn Lack nothing! |
Prince Sadakazu
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
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
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
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