Among the courtiers in service to His Majesty, former Emperor Uda, it was possible to pick out those who had some sensitivity and those who did not, so in a certain year, when the kōshin rite came around on the 7th day of the Seventh Month, those gentlemen who were thought to have this sensitivity spent the day composing poems on the topic of ‘feelings after meeting at Tanabata’ which were divided into teams and matched.
Left
としごとにこりずやあるらんたなばたのあひてこひしきわかれのみする
toshigoto ni korizu ya aruran tanabata no aite koishiki wakare nomi suru Every single year Does she never learn, I wonder? The Weaver Maid Meets and then with love Does simply part.
1
Right (Win)
おもひやる心のそらにしらるればたなばたつめのわかれかなしな
omoiyaru kokoro no sora ni shirarureba tanabatatsume no wakare kanashiki Yearning fills The heavens of her heart— How well she knows it, for The Weaver Maid’s Parting is so sad.
2
On hearing a cuckoo call in a year where there were two First Months.
きかざりきやよひのやまの郭公春くははれるとしはありしかど
kikazariki yayoi no yama no hototogisu haru kuwawareru toshi wa arishikado I have yet to hear In the Third Month mountains A cuckoo, though Spring has been added to This year…
Composed when remembering someone who had passed away in the autumn.
としごとにむかしはとほくなりゆけどうかりし秋はまたもきにけり
tosi goto ni mukasi Fa toFoku nariyukedo ukarisi aki Fa mata mo kinikeri Every single year That long-gone day more distant Grows, yet Despised autumn Has come round once more.
Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Composed on the conception of the beginning of autumn.
秋はきぬ年もなかばにすぎぬとやをぎ吹くかぜのおどろかすらん
aki wa kinu toshi mo nakaba ni suginu to ya ogi fuku kaze no odorokasuran Autumn, indeed, has come; and The year, too, has its midpoint Reached, perhaps? The gusting wind upon the silver grass Seems to startle me awake.
Monk Jakunen
Created with Soan .
Left
をしめどもとまらぬ秋は常盤山もみぢはてぬとみてもゆるさじ
oshimedomo tomaranu aki wa tokiwayama momiji hatenu to mite mo yurusaji I regret it, yet Autumn lingers not Upon the evergreen mountains The scarlet leaves have yet to end, I see and would not let them go.
43
Right
としごとにとまらぬ秋とおもひなばてもろき人もをしまざらまし
toshigoto ni tomaranu aki to omoinaba temoroki hito mo oshimazaramashi If, that every single year Autumn lingers not, I did not think, then Tear-filled folk I would not have regret it.
44
Regretting the passage of autumn
Left (Win)
としごとにとまらぬ秋としりながらをしむ心のこりずもあるかな
toshigoto ni tomaranu aki to shirinagara oshimu kokoro no korizu mo aru kana Every single year Autumn will not linger I know, yet That my heart regrets this Is something I do not dislike!
1
Right
をしといひてうみへもさそへとびわたるいづれかあきのわたりなるらん
oshi to iite umie mo sasoe tobiwataru izure ka aki no watarinaruran Filled am I with regret, for The seashore beckons, and ‘Twill fly across— When will autumn Pass by, I wonder?
2
The Beginning of Autumn
Left (Win—in a certain book Tie)
しぐれにもあめにもあらぬはつぎりのたつにもそらはさしくもりけり
shigure ni mo ame ni mo aranu hatsugiri no tatsu ni mo sora wa sashikumorikeri Neither a shower Nor rain, The first mists Simply rise into the skies And cover all with cloud.
11
Right
としごとにあふとはすれどたなばたのぬるよのかずぞすくなかりける
toshi goto ni au to suredo tanabata no nuru yo no kazu zo sukunakarikeru Every year She meets him, yet The Weaver Maid’s Nights of passion Are few indeed.
Mitsune 12
Spring Blossom
Left (Tie)
としかはるのはな ほことになりぬらししかのこまだらにゆきもけにけり
toshi kawaru no wa na ho koto ni narinurashi shika no ko madara ni yuki mo kenikeri With the changing of the year, The meadows, particularly, more different Seem to do be— Dappled as a fawn, The snow, too, vanishes away.
Tsurayuki 3
Right
しらゆきのきえてみどりにかはるのはな がれていろのうつらざらなむ
shirayuki no kiete midori ni kawaru no wa na garete iro no utsurazaranamu The snow, so white, Vanishes and to green shoots Do change the meadows, with Flowing meltwater—O, that hue I would not have fade away!
Tadamine 4
Composed on the conception of love as a year passes when people were at the residence of the Regent and former Minister of the Left.
われがみはとがへるたかとなりにけりとしはふれどもこゐはわすれず
ware ga mi Fa togaFeru taka to narinikeri tosi Fa Furedomo kowi Fa wasurezu My flesh as A hawk returning to its mews Has become; A year has passed, yet This love I will not forget.
The Minister of the Left [Minamoto no Toshifusa]
Left
紅の色にはいでじかくれぬのしたにかよひてこひはしぬとも
kurenai no iro ni wa ideji kakure nu no shita ni kayoite koi wa shinu tomo The crimson Of passion I’ll not display, Beneath this hidden marsh Flow waters back and forth, Though I die of this love.
Tomonori 162[1]
Right
契りけむ心ぞつらき織女の年に一たびあふはあふかは
chigirikemu kokoro zo tsuraki tanabata no toshi ni hito tabi au wa au ka wa To be bound is Hard on the heart, indeed! Does the Weaver Maid But once a year Truly have a meeting?
Okikaze 163
[1] Kokinshū XIII: 661/Shinsen man’yōshū 199/Kokin rokujō III: 1683
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