[One of] Ten poems on winter.
やどもなし今朝わびしらにこえきつるあらちの山の雪のゆふ暮
| yado mo nashi kesa wabishira ni koekitsuru arachi no yama no yuki no yūgure | Lacking any home This morning forlorn and lonely Have I come to cross through Arachi Mountain’s Twilight snows. |
Jien
Topic unknown.
けさはしもおきけんかたもしらざりつおもひ出づるぞきえてかなしき
| kesa Fa simo okiken kata mo sirazaritu omoFi’iduru zo kiete kanasiiki | This morning of all mornings To where I headed on arising I paid no mind at all, for Filling my thoughts was passion’s Fading sadness! |
Ōe no Chisato
Spring
Composed on the First day of the First Month
今朝みれば山もかすみて久かたのあまのはらより春は来にけり
| kesa mireba yama mo kasumite hisakata no ama no hara yori haru wa kinikeri | Gazing out this morning The mountains are all hazed From the eternal Plains of Heaven[i] Spring has come, at last! |
1
[i] The reference to the ‘plains of Heaven’ (ama no hara 天の原) being ‘eternal’ (hisakata 久方) implies that the poet has been long awaiting the arrival of spring—a nuance which I have attempted to capture with the final ‘at last’.
Left
| Mibu no Tadamine | Ariwara no Motokata | Taira no Sadafun |
Right
| Sakanoue no Korenori | Ki no Tsurayuki | Ōshikōchi no Mitsune |
The Beginning of Spring
Left (Tie)
はるたつといふばかりにやみよしののやまもかすみてけさはみゆらむ
| haru tatsu to iu bakari ni ya miyoshino no yama mo kasumite kesa wa miyuramu | Spring is here They simply say, but Is fair Yoshino Mountain, too, all hazed In view this morning, I wonder? |
Tadamine
1
Right
はるたちてなほふるゆきはむめのはなさくほどもなくちるかとぞみる
| haru tachite nao furu yuki wa mume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru | Spring is here, yet Still the snow falls—does, as Plum blossoms’ Brief flowering then Scattering, it truly seem? |
Mitsune
2
Orchids
Left
はるきてはきのふばかりをあさみどりなべてけさこくのはなりにけり
| haru kite wa kinō bakari o asamidori nabete kesa koku no wa narikeri | Spring’s coming means, though Yesterday was simply Pale green, Everywhere, this morning deeper-hued Have the meadows become. |
Tsurayuki
19
Right
はるさめにしべゆるぶらし春のくさこくのはなべてさきみちにけり
| harusame ni shibe yuruburashi haru no kusa koku no wa nabete sakimichinikeri | In the springtime rain, The flowers’ hearts seem loosened, so With spring plants’ hues Deepening, the meadows everywhere Have filled with blossom. |
20
Left
あきごとにさきはくれどもをみなへしけふをまつとのなにこそありけれ
| aki goto ni saki wa kuredomo ominaeshi kyō o matsu to no na ni koso arikere | Every single autumn Does her time to bloom arrive, yet This maidenflower Has been waiting for this day Or so the rumour goes! |
5[1]
Right
さやかにもけさはみえずやをみなへしきりのまがきにたちかくれつつ
| sayaka ni mo kesa wa miezu ya ominaeshi kiri no magaki ni tachikakuretsutsu | Clearly This morning I cannot glimpse That maidenflower In the mists along the brushwood fence Ever does she hide herself away. |
6[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 518
[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 540
Left
恋しきに侘びてたましひまどひなば空しきからの名にやのこらむ
| koishiki ni wabite tamashii madoinaba munashiki kara no na ni ya nokoramu | If, for love of you and Suffering, my soul Should wander in confusion, As an empty husk— Would that be my reputation? |
190[1]
Right
あかずして今朝のかへりぢおもほえず心をひとつおきてこしかば
| akazushite kesa no kaeriji omohoezu kokoro o hitotsu okitekoshikaba | Still hungering for you On my way home this morning, I felt nothing In my heart, but that one feeling Placed there, so… |
191
[1] Kokinshū XII: 571/Shinsen man’yōshū 219/Kokin rokujō IV: 1983