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San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 9

Round Nine: Quiet thoughts at Tanabata

Left

八重葎しげる軒ばをかき分けて星合の空をながめつるかな

yae mugura
shigeru nokiba o
kakiwakete
hoshiai no sora o
nagametsuru kana
Eightfold thickets
Grow lushly beneath my eaves;
Pulling them apart upon
The sky of trysting stars
Will I turn my gaze!

Taira no Sadatsugu[1]

17

Right

七夕のあふよの程は思ひやる心さへこそ空にすみけれ

tanabata no
au yo no hodo wa
omoiyaru
kokoro sae koso
sora ni sumikere
Tanabata is
A night for meeting—throughout it
I am filled with longing:
Even my very heart
Does dwell among the skies.

Fujiwara no Kaneyuki[2]

18


[1] Taira no Sadatsugu 平貞継. The identity of this individual is unclear. This poem is his sole appearance in a poetry contest.

[2] 藤原兼行

SZS III: 176

At a time when he produced a Hundred Poem Sequence, His Majesty composed this as a poem on orange blossoms.
五月雨にはなたちばなのかをる夜は月すむ秋もさもあらばあれ

samidare ni
hanatachibana no
kaoru yo wa
tsuki sumu aki mo
sa mo araba are
Early summer showers fall, and
Orange blossom
Scents the night;
The clear, bright moon of autumn
Hardly seems to match it…

Emperor Sutoku