Tag Archives: thousand years

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 15

Original

こまなべてきみがみにくるかすがのはまつかさしげしあめにさはるな

koma nabete
kimi ga mi ni kuru
kasugano wa
matsukasa shigeshi
ame ni sawaru na
Mounts aligned,
My Lord has come to see
Kasuga Plain, where
The plentiful pinecones mean
He’ll be untroubled by rain!

43

Left (Win)

ぬれつつもあめにはゆかむまつかさのちとせのはるをもらさざらなむ

nuretsutsu mo
ame ni wa yukamu
matsukasa no
chitose no haru o
morasazaranamu
Even dampened
By the rain, let us go!
For the pinecones
Over a thousand years of springtimes
Will surely not allow a single drip!

44[1]

Right

かすがののまつかさだにもなかりせばあめふるさとにわれこましやは

kasugano no
matsukasa dani mo
nakariseba
ame furu sato ni
ware komashi ya wa
If on Kasuga Plain
Even pinecones
Were there not, then,
To the rainswept ancient capital
Why would I come at all?

45


[1] This poem is included in Ise-shū (107) with the headnote ‘From the time of the Kasuga Poetry Match’, implying that this is Ise’s work, even if she is not identified as the poet in the text here.

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 11

Original

かすがののけふのみゆきをまつばらのちとせのはるはきみがまにまに

kasugano no
kyō no miyuki o
matsubara no
chitose no haru wa
kimi ga manimani
On Kasuga Plain
Today’s progress
Awaited have the pine groves,
A thousand years of springtimes,
Just as my Lady’s thoughts. [1]

Mitsune
31

Left

ゆくさきのはるをとほくしまかすればいまはちとせのうたがひもなし

yukusaki no
haru o tōkushi
makasureba
ima wa chitose no
utagai mo nashi
Future
Springtimes to distant times
May we entrust, for
Now that she will live a thousand years more
There is no doubt, at all.

32

Right (Win)

むれたちてわれをまつてふかすがののみどりふかくやおもひそめけむ

muretachite
ware o matsu chō
kasugano no
midori fukaku ya
omoisomekemu
Growing crowded together, and
Awaiting me are the pines
On Kasuga Plain—
Why should their green so deeply
Seem to think of me?

33


[1] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Mitsune-shū (325) with the same headnote as for poem (22), above.

MYS XIX: 4232

A poem by Kamō, the dancing girl.

雪嶋 巌尓殖有 奈泥之故波 千世尓開奴可 君之挿頭

ゆきのしま いはほにうゑたる なでしこは ちよにさかぬか きみがかざしに

yuki no sima
ipapo ni uwetaru
nadesiko pa
tiyo ni sakanu ka
kimi ga kazasi ni
Snow lies heavy on the garden’s
Rocks where grow
The pinks:
O, won’t you bloom a thousand years?
That my Lord may wear you in his hair…

Gō no sochi-shū 156

On the shape of a pine tree floating in the pond at the Asuka Mansion.

いけみづにまつのみどりをうつしてぞちとせのかげもいろまさりける

ikemizu ni
matsu no midori o
utsushite zo
chitose no kage mo
iro masarikeru
In the pond’s waters
The pine trees’ green
Is reflected;
The face of a thousand years in
Superlative hues!

Ōe no Masafusa

SSIS X: 726

Composed at the Kameyama mansion, in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [September 1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the colour of pines floating on a pond’.

池水に松のちとせをうつしても君にふたたびあふがうれしさ

ikemizu ni
matsu no chitose o
utsushitemo
kimi ni futatabi
au ga ureshiki
In the pond waters
The pine’s thousand years
Are reflected, yet
Once more, my Lord,
To meet you brings me joy!

The Regent and Former Prime Minister
摂政前太政大臣

KYS I: 46

Composed for Her Majesty, to say that this year, she had the liberty to bond with the blossoms.

しらくもにまがふさくらのこずゑにてちとせの春をそらにしるかな

sirakumo ni
magaFu sakura no
kodue nite
titose no Faru wo
sora ni siru kana
The clouds, so white
Blend with the cherry blossom
Treetops—
Are a thousand years of springtimes
Known in the skies, I wonder!

Chūnagon, in service to Empress Taikenmon’in
待賢門院中納言

Tsurayuki-shū 321

On an old woman wiping her face with chrysanthemum dew on the ninth day of the Ninth Month.

けふまでに我をおもへば菊の上の露は千年の玉にざりける

kyō made ni
ware o omoeba
kiku no ue no
tsuyu wa chitose no
tama nizarikeru
Up until this day
Have you thought of me, so
Upon the chrysanthemums
These dewdrops, thousand year
Jewels do not seem to be.

Ki no Tsurayuki

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 16

Cranes in a garden (庭上鶴馴)

Left

庭の面に人になれたるあしたづはよはひをきみにゆづるなるべし

niwa no omo ni
hito ni naretaru
ashitazu wa
yowai o kimi ni
yuzurunarubeshi
Upon this garden’s face stands,
Accustomed to folk,
A crane;
His years to my Lord
Will he bestow, no doubt!

A Court Lady
31

Right

千とせふるやどのけしきやしるからん汀のたづのなれにけるかな

chitose furu
yado no keshiki ya
shirukaran
migiwa no tazu no
narenikeru kana
Is it that a thousand years old
This dwelling does appear?
For to the muddy
Water’s edge the cranes
Have become accustomed!

A Court Lady
32