Topic unknown.
あし引の山郭公けふとてやあやめの草のねにたててなく
asiFiki no yamaFototogisu keFu tote ya ayame no kusa no ne ni tatete naku | Leg wearying, The mountain cuckoo, Knowing today, perhaps, On the sweet-flag Roots does perch and sing. |
A composition by the Engi Emperor [Daigo]
Left
なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき
natsu no hi no kururu mo shirazu naku semi o toi mo shiteshika nani goto ka uki | Of the summer sun’s Setting unaware are The singing cicadas: Had I but asked them of it, What would they despise? |
70
Right
あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ
ayamegusa ikura no satsuki aikuramu kuru toshigoto ni wakaku miyuramu | O, sweet flags! In how many Fifth Months Have you come to meet me? With every turning year You seem younger to me! |
71
Spiders 蜘蛛
かれのこる軒のあやめをたよりにてくり返しひくくものいとすぢ
kare nokoru noki no ayame o tayori nite kurikaeshi hiku kumo no itosuji | On the withered remnants of Sweet-flags on my eaves Shall I rely, and Time and time again draw upon The spider’s thread. |
Kanemasa
五月雨は宿につく間の菖蒲草軒の雫に枯れしとぞ思ふ
samidare wa
yado ni tsuku ma no
ayamegusa
noki no shizuku ni
kareshi to zo omou |
When the showers
Touch my roof
The sweet-flags by
Droplets on the eaves
Are all dried up, I feel! |
Ōe no Masafusa
Two poems composed on birds.
霍公鳥今来鳴きそむあやめぐさかづらくまでに離るる日あらめや
pototogisu
ima kinakisomu
ayamegusa
kaduraku made ni
karuru pi arame ya |
The cuckoo
Has now begun to sing;
Until sweet-flags
Garland all
Will there be any days he flies away? |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
My reply:
あやめ草寢ぬ夜の空のほとゝぎすまづ曙の聲を聞かばや
ayamegusa
nenu yo no sora no
Fototogisu
madu akebono no
kowe wo kikaba ya |
Sweet flag
Roots: long as a sleepless night sky;
O, Cuckoo!
Dawn’s first
Call would I hear! |
By the Major Captain, when the Kōshin Rite fell upon the fifth Day of the Fifth Month.
夜のほどのつまとのみなるあやめをもまだ見ぬほどはいつかとぞ思ふ
yo no Fodo no
tuma to nomi naru
ayame wo mo
mada minu Fodo Fa
ituka to zo omoFu |
All night long
To the eaves wedded is
A sweet-flag,
Still unseen,
But for how long, on this the fifth, I wonder? |
In reply, the Major Captain:
祝ふなる岩のあやめも今日よりは千代のはじめに引きはじむべき
iFaFu naru
iFa no ayame mo
keFu yori Fa
tiyo no Fazime ni
FikiFazimubeki |
All good things, I pray, for
This rock-top sweet flag:
From this day forth
Let a thousand years of fortune
Begin to flow. |
When the Imperial Consort from the Koichijō Estate gave birth to her first son, the third night fell upon he fifth day of the Fifth Month.
岩の上のあやめや千代を重ぬらむ今日も五月の五日と思へば
iFa no uFe no
ayame ya tiyo wo
kasanuramu
keFu mo satuki no
ituka to omoFeba |
Atop the rocks,
The sweet-flag will a thousand years
Endure, no doubt;
For this day is the Fifth Month’s
Fifth day, I’m sure. |
On the fifth day of the month, when I had last met her on the second.
逢はぬまのみぎはに生ふるあやめ草ねのみなかるゝ昨日今日かな
aFanu ma no
migiFa ni oFuru
ayamegusa
ne nomi nakaruru
kinoFu keFu kana |
Time is a marsh without you;
Sprouting by the water’s edge
The sweet flags,
Roots washed—in sobs alone
Did I pass yesterday, and today, too. |
'Simply moving and elegant'