Topic unknown.
こよひこむ人にはあはじたなばたのひさしきほどにまちもこそすれ
koyoFi komu
Fito ni Fa aFazi
tanabata no
Fisasiki Fodo ni
mati mo koso sure |
Tonight should come
Someone, yet we’ll not meet, lest
As the Weaver Maid,
A lengthy stretch
We’ll wait to meet again. |
The Monk Sosei (Active 859-897)
素性法師
Composed at the Iso no Kami temple in Nara on hearing the cuckoo sing.
いその神ふるき宮この郭公聲ばかりこそむかしなりけれ
iso no kami
Furuki miyako no
Fototogisu
kowe bakari koso
mukasi narikere |
Here at Iso no Kami
In the ancient capital
The cuckoo’s
Call alone
Is as of old. |
The Monk Sosei (859-897)
素性法師
Composed on hearing the first cuckoo of the year.
郭公はつこゑきけばあぢきなくぬしさだまらぬこひせらるはた
Fototogisu
Fatsukowe kikeba
adikinaku
nusi sadamaranu
koFiseraru Fata |
The cuckoo’s
First call comes to me and,
Foolishly,
With no one in mind
I think of love. |
The Monk Sosei (859-897)
素性法師
Composed while watching the cherry blossoms fall.
花ちらす風の宿りは誰かしる我におしへよ行てうらみむ
Fana tirasu
kaze no yadori Fa
tareka siru
ware ni osiFeyo
yukite uramimu |
The blossom scattering
Breeze’s lodging –
Does anyone know it?
Tell me!
For I would go and curse it! |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed as a Spring Poem.
いつまでか野邊に心のあくがれむ花しちらずは千世もへぬべし
itu made ka
nobe ni kokoro no
akugaremu
Fana si tirasu Fa
tiyo mo Fenu besi |
How long
Will my heart among the fields
Go a wandering?
Should the blossoms remain unscattered,
For a thousand passing years, I’d say. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
A poem composed at a poetry competition held by Her Majesty the Empress during the Kanpyō period [889-898].
はなの木も今はほりうゑじ春たてばうつろふ色に人ならひけり
Fana no ko mo
ima Fa Foriuweji
Faru tateba
uturoFu iro ni
Fito naraFikeri |
Trees full of blossom:
Too late now to transplant them
And with spring’s passing
So their colours fade
A lesson learned by men. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed while gazing at the capital, filled with a profusion of blossom,
みわたせば柳櫻をこぎまぜて宮こぞ春の錦なりける
miwataseba
yanagi zakura wo
kogimazete
miyako zo Faru no
nisiki narikeru |
Looking out across
The willows and the cherries
All intermingled in
The capital: this spring
They are a fine brocade. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed on seeing cherry trees in the mountains.
見てのみや人にかたらむさくら花てごとにおりていへづとにせん
mite nomi ya
Fito ni kataramu
sakurabana
tegotoni orite
iFeduto ni sen |
Should I this simple sight
Describe to folk?
Cherry blossoms
Plucked by hand
Would be taken as a gift. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed on the snow resting on the trees.
春立てば花とや見らむ白雪のかかれる枝にうぐひすぞなく
Faru tateba
Fana to ya miramu
sirayuki no
kakareru eda ni
uguFisu zo naku |
Spring is swelling
Is that blossom I see?
White snow
Hanging on the branches
Where the warbler sings. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
'Simply moving and elegant'