Blankets
重ねねば寒げなりけり冬の夜に独衾は風もとまらず
| kasaneneba samuge narikeri fuyu no yo ni hitori fusuma kaze mo tomarazu | If I fail to pile them high, How cold I feel! On a winter’s night A single sheet And a never-ending draft! |
Daishin, Lady-in-Waiting from the Rokujō Palace
六条院女房大進
Left. Spring
あら玉の年もかはらぬふるさとの雪のうちにも春はきにけり
| aratama no toshi mo kawaranu furusato no yuki no uchi ni mo haru wa kinikeri |
To the fresh jeweled Year the change has yet to come, yet Around my familiar home Even within the snows The spring is here! |
1
Ninnaji gojūshu, Kenkyū 1 [1190]
Right
冬ながら花ちる空のかすめるは雲のこなたに春やきつらむ
| fuyu nagara hana chiru sora no kasumeru wa kumo no konata ni haru ya kitsuramu |
It’s winter now, yet Are the blossom-scattering skies Hazed Beneath the clouds by The arrival of spring, perhaps? |
2
冬こもり春咲く花を手折り持ち千たびの限り恋ひわたるかも
| puyu komori paru saku pana wo tawori moti titabi no kagiri kopiwataru kamo |
Sealed in winter Springtime’s blooming blossoms Do I take in hand – A thousand times and more Does love for you fill my thoughts. |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
柿本人麻呂歌集
A poem presented to Prince Osakabe, composed on viewing the image of a sage.
とこしへに夏冬行けや裘扇放たぬ山に住む人
| tokosipe ni natu puyu yuke ya kapagoromo apugi patanu yama ni sumu pito |
Not eternally, As summer and winter’s passage, yet His coat of fur, and Fan, never will he release This mountain-dwelling man… |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
柿本人麻呂歌集
A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.
朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは
| asapi sasi sogapi ni miyuru kamu nagara mina ni obasesu sirakumo no tipe wo osiwake ama sosori takaki tatiyama puyu natu to waku koto mo naku sirotape ni yuki pa puri okite inisipe yu arikinikereba kogosikamo ipa no kamusabi tama kiparu ikuyo penikemu tatiwite miredomo ayasi minedakami tani wo pukami to otitagitu kiyoki ka puti ni asa sarazu kiri tati watari yupu sareba kumowi tanabiki kumowi nasu kokoro mo sino ni tatu kiri no omopi sugusazu yuku midu no woto mo sayakeku yoroduyo ni ipitugi yukamu kapa si taezu wa |
The morning sun shines At my back,and Divine Your great name links: Clouds of white In a thousand layers, you pierce, and Tower into the heavens, Tall Tachiyama! In winter and, in summer both Indistinguishably are you Clad in mulberry white Fallen drifts of snow; Since ancient days Ever has been your estate, Fastened round with Crags divine； ‘til all souls end Have countless ages passed! Standing here, I see you, yet am awed by Your lofty peak and Valley’s deep, where Plunge seething cataracts of Waters pure to pools where Morning never leaves – Mists rise and roll across, and When the evening comes Clouds trail in and Cover all, Even, with sadness, my heart, so The rising mists Never leave my thoughts, and of Your running waters’ Clear, pure sound Through ten thousand ages Will I ever tell Unending as a river’s flow… |
Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主
秋果てて冬はとなりになりぬとて飽かねば菊を匂ひくはふる
| aki Fatete Fuyu Fa tonari ni narinu tote akaneba kiku wo nioFi kuFaFuru |
Autumn is done, and Winter is close At hand, they say; When I am left wanting more, the chrysanthemums’ Scent grows thicker. |
18
From the shore at Fukehi in Izumi.
けふけふと霜おきまさる冬立たば花移ろふとうらみにゆかむ
| keFu keFu to simo okimasaru Fuyu tataba Fana uturoFu to urami ni yukamu |
On this day, this day Of most heavy fallen frost Should winter arrive, That the flowers fade Will be a source of my despite… |
7
葉かへせぬ歎の杜は冬来れど常にもかもな常しなへなり
| Fa kaesenu nageki no mori Fa Fuyu kuredo tune ni mo kamo na tokosinaFe nari |
The leaves never turn In Nageki’s sacred groves, where Winter comes, yet It is always that They are ever unchanging. |
Minamoto no Toshiyori
源俊頼
君さらば山にかへりて冬毎に雪踏み分けておりよとぞ思ふ
| kimi saraba yama ni kaFerite Fuyugoto ni yuki Fumiwakete oriyo to zo omoFu |
If you should Return to the mountains, then With every winter Forge through the snow And descend, I beg you! |
Blankets
冬寒み霜冴ゆる夜は明けぬれど麻の衾ぞぬがれざりける
| fuyu samumi shimo sayu yo wa akenuredo asa no fusuma zo nugarezarikeru |
How cold the winter, and Chill the frost this night; It lightens, yet My hempen bedding I have not stripped off… |
Minamoto no Akinaka
源顕仲