On hearing that a certain lady had been being visited by another man, I put on a show of ignorance and wrote this upon his fan beside a drawing of Matsushima.
まつにこそ思ひかゝるときゝしまにねにあらはれて見ゆる藤なみ
| matu ni koso omoFikakaru to kikisi ma ni ne ni araFarete miyuru fudi nami |
On these pines, indeed, Do you think fondly, I did hear; Their slumbering roots washed Plainly by wisteria waves. |
藤波の影なす海の底清み沈く石をも玉とぞ我が見る
| pudi nami no kage nasu umi no soko kiyomi siduku isi wo mo tama zo zo wa ga miru |
Wisteria waves Reflected on the waters, So clear, that The sunked pebbles Seem like gems to me. |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
大伴家持
On wisteria: when he was walking through Yamato.
草臥て宿かる比や藤の花
| kudabirete yado karu koro ya fuji no hana |
When, quite exhausted, I would find lodging, Wisteria blooms. |
(1688)
From a folding screen in the palace of His Majesty, former Emperor En’yū (959-991; r. 969-984).
| murasaki no Fudi saku matu no kozuwe ni Fa moto no midori mo miezu zo arikeru |
The violet Wisteria blooms upon the pine’s Treetops: The green beneath Has quite vanished. |
On a day at the end of the Third Month when it was raining, he plucked a spray of wisteria blossom and sent it to someone.
ぬれつつぞしひてをりつる年の内に春はいくかもあらじと思へば
| nuretutu zo siFite worituru tosi no uti ni Faru Fa ikukamo arazi to omoFeba |
Soaked through, and Heedless of it, I plucked this: For this year Spring, is all but Gone: or so I felt. |
Ariwara no Narihira
在原業平