霍公鳥鳴く声聞くや卯の花の咲き散る岡に葛引く娘女
pototogisu
naku kowe kiku ya
unopana no
sakitiru woka ni
kuzu piku wotome |
The cuckoos’
Echoing call, did you hear?
Where deutzia
Bloom and scatter on the hill
You maidens gathering arrowroot… |
Composed on a fence, covered with deutzia blooms.
いづれをか分きて問はまし山里の垣根続きに咲ける卯の花
idure wo ka
wakite toFamasi
yamazato no
kakine tsuduki ni
sakeru u no Fana |
Where
Do they part, I wonder?
This mountain dwelling’s
Fence, joined with
Deutzia… |
Ōe no Motofusa
When I had been conversing with a lady for some time, I said this to her around the Fourth Month:
卯花の垣根がくれのほとゝぎすわが忍び音といづれほどへぬ
u no Fana no
kakinegakure no
Fototogisu
wa ga sinobine to
idure Fodo Fenu |
Among the scattered, white deutzia blooms
Along the fence concealed is
A cuckoo;
My plaintive cry, or his,
Which has lasted longer? |
Deutzia.
袖ぬらすわが身のためや山里の世をうの花も波とみゆらん
sode nurasu
wa ga mi no tame ya
yamazato no
yo no unohana mo
nami to miyuran |
Sleeves soaked,
Is it for me that
My mountain dwelling’s
Deutzia blooms – how cruel the world –
Do seem as waves? |
On deutzia.
卯の花やくらき柳の及ごし
u no hana ya
kuraki yanagi no
oyobigoshi |
Above the white deutzia flowers
The dark willow tree
Seems to be stooping. |
(1694)
Topic unknown.
さ月山うの花月よほとゝぎすきけどもあかず又なかんかも
satsuki yama
u no hana zuku yo
hototogisu
kikedomo akazu
mata nakan ka mo |
Summer rain in the mountains,
The moon white as deutzia blooms:
Cuckoo calls
I hear, yet never get my fill;
I wonder, will he call again? |
Anonymous.
Topic unknown.
なくこゑをえやはしのばぬほとゝぎすはつうの花のかげにかくれて
naku koe o
e yawa shinobanu
hototogisu
hatsu u no hana no
kage ni kakurete |
A breath of song:
You cannot let it slip,
O, cuckoo,
In the early deutzia blooms’
Shade concealed. |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
柿本人麻呂
Topic unknown.
うの花のさきぬるときはしろたへのなみもてゆへるかきねとぞみる
u no hana no
sakinuru toki wa
shirotae no
nami moteyueru
kakine to zo miru |
The deutzia
When in bloom,
White cords
Of breakers bound
Upon the brushwood fence, do seem. |
Senior Assistant Governor General of the Dazaifu [Fujiwara no] Shige’ie (1128-1180)
Composed when feeling that it was the end of the Fourth Month.
うの花のむらむらさけるかきねをば雲まの月のかげかとぞみる
u no hana no
muramura sakeru
kakine o ba
kumo ma no tsuki no
kage ka to zo miru |
The deutzia
Blooming in profusion
Along the brushwood fence
Through the cloud-breaks moon
Light do appear to be. |
Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129) (r. 1072-1086)
'Simply moving and elegant'