New Year’s Day
よきことをますみの鏡今日見ればかねて千年のかげぞうかべる
yoki koto o
masumi no kagami
kyō mireba
kanete chitose no
kage zo ukaberu | When pleasant things
In the clearest of glasses
Today I see,
Already a thousand years’
Sights have floated there… |
Higo
The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
をるきくの露にぬれたるけふよりやちとせの秋にあはむとすらん
oru kiku no
tsuyu ni nuretaru
kyō yori ya
chitose no aki ni
awamu to suran | Picked chrysanthemums’
Dew dampens us
Today – will we
For a thousand years of autumns
Decide to meet together? |
Higo, from the Residence of the Kyōgoku Regent
京極関白家肥後
The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
けふごとに菊を薬とする人はちとせのなかは過ぐといふなり
kyō goto ni
kiku o kusuri to
suru hito wa
chitose no naka wa
sugu to iu nari | Every year today
Chrysanthemums for medicine
Do people take, that
A thousand years together
And more will they have, they say. |
Minamoto no Nakazane
源仲実
'Simply moving and elegant'