Love Waiting for Someone 待人恋
たのめしはさしもあらじにあぢきなく人待つかぜの身にもしむかな
| tanomeshi wa sashimo araji ni ajikinaku hito matsu kaze no mi ni mo shimu kana | When trustworthiness Seems to be in such short supply, Bored I await him with the wind Cutting me more deeply! |
Daishin
Love Waiting for Someone 待人恋
風さへもおどろかすかなたのめずはまたて中中ねなましものを
| kaze sae mo odorokasu kana tanomezu wa matate naka naka nenamashi mono o | Even the wind Starts me from sleep! You made me no promises, So, while waiting, desultorily Will I make my bed… |
Higo
A poem from a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period.
吹風と谷の水としなかりせば深山がくれの花を見ましや
| Fuku kaze to tani no midu to si nakariseba miyama gakure no Fana wo mimasi ya | The gusting wind and The valley’s waters Were there none, then Hidden in the mountains’ depths These blossoms – would any wish to see them? |
Tsurayuki
Topic unknown.
うぐひすのなく野べごとに来てみればうつろふ花に風ぞ吹ける
| uguFisu no naku nobe goto ni kitemireba uturoFu Fana ni kaze zo fukikeru | The warblers Sing from every field, and When I arrive I see, Faded flowers blown By the gusting wind. |
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
吹風にあつらへつくるものならばこの一本は避きよと言はまし
| Fuku kaze ni aturaFetukuru mono naraba kono Fitomoto Fa yokiyo to iFamasi | Should the gusting wind Take orders, Then, ‘This single spray Avoid!’ – that’s what I would say! |
Anonymous
Composed on returning from an ascent of Mount Hiei.
山たかみ見つつわが来しさくら花風は心にまかすべらなり
| yama takami mitutu wa ga kosi sakurabana kaze Fa kokoro ni makasuberanari | On the mountain’s heights, Did I ever see, when homeward bound, Cherry blossoms, where Now the wind will Do as it wants! |
Tsurayuki
Composed on the scattering of cherry blossoms.
雪とのみふるだにあるをさくら花いかにちれとか風のふく覧
| yuki to nomi Furu dani aru wo sakurabana ika ni tire to ka kaze no Fukuran | Simply as snow Do fall the Cherry blossoms: So why to scatter them Does the wind seem to blow? |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
Composed on the scattering of cherry blossoms, while in the guard post for the Crown Prince’s Palace.
春風は花のあたりをよきてふけ心づからやうつろふとみむ
| Farukaze Fa Fana no atari wo yokite Fuke kokorodukara ya uturoFu to mimu | O, winds of Spring, While the blossoms bloom Refrain from blowing! Does their own heartbreak Fade them I would wonder. |
Fujiwara no Yoshikaze
On the moonlight flooding over a ruined place
かくばかり風は吹けども板の間もあはぬは月の影さへぞもる
| kaku bakari kaze Fa Fukedomo ita no ma mo aFanu Fa tuki no kage saFe zo miru | So strongly Blows the wind, yet From between the boards, where They fail to meet, it is the moon’s Light that I do see! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Left (Win)
住みなれし人はこずゑに絶えはてて琴の音にのみ通ふ松風
| suminareshi hito wa kozue ni taehatete koto no ne ni nomi kayou matsukaze |
Accustomed to his being here, Now, he comes not and from the treetops All that endures Are my zither’s strains, Blending with the pines. |
Lord Ari’ie
1103
Right
聞かじただつれなき人の琴の音にいとはず通ふ松の風をば
| kikaji tada tsurenaki hito no koto no ne ni itowazu kayou matsu no kaze o ba |
I will listen no more! To that cruel man’s Zither strains Heedlessly blending With the wind from off the pines… |
Nobusada
1104
The Right state: it sounds as if the man is enduring on the treetops. The Left state: ‘I will listen no more!’ (kikaji tada) is extremely coarse.
In judgement: while it may sound as if the man is enduring on the treetops in the Left’s poem, this is no more than a standard use of metaphorical expression, and the configuration of ‘accustomed to his being here, now, he comes not and from the treetops’ (suminareshi hito wa kozue ni) sounds fine, with the latter part of the poem also being elegant. The initial line of the Right’s poem has a conception of closing up the ears to block one’s auditory sense, which seems excessive. Clearly, the Left’s ‘my zither’s strains’ (koto no ne ni nomi) must win.