On the conception of ‘love, having once met, but no longer’ for the Poetry Match held at the Poetry Office.
ゆめかとよみし面影もちぎりしもわすれずながらうつつならねば
| yume ka to yo mishi omokage mo chigiri shi mo wasurezu nagara utsutsu naraneba | Was it a dream? Or not? That face I saw, and His promises, too, I cannot forget, Though real they were not… |
The Daughter of Toshinari, Assistant Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office
都べに夢にもゆかむ便あらばうつの山風ふきもつたへよ
| miyakobe ni yume ni mo yukamu tayori araba utsu no yamakaze fuki mo tsuteyo | If towards the capital, Even to her dreams would you go, and Be my messenger, O, Utsu Mountain breeze, Blow, and tell her…[i] |
599
[i] See: While at Utsu Mountain in Suruga, he thought of someone he had been meeting and sent this to the capital. するがなるうつの山邊のうつゝにも夢にも人にあはぬなりけり suruga naru / utsu no yamabe no / utsutsu ni mo / yume ni mo hito ni / awanu narikeri ‘In Suruga / At the Utsu mountains / In truth and / In my dreams she / Is nowhere to be seen…’ Ariwara no Narihira (Shinkokinshū X: 904)
草枕たびにしあればいもにこひさむるまをなみ夢さへみえず
| kusamakura tabi ni shi areba imo ni koi samuru ma o nami yume sae miezu | A pillow of grass I have on my travels, so Yearning for my darling I lie awake, not even Glimpsing her within a dream.[i] |
565
[i] See: 家有者 笥尓盛飯乎 草枕 旅尓之有者 椎之葉尓盛 ie ni areba/ ke ni moru ii o / kusamakura / tabi ni shi areba / shii no ha ni moru ‘When I am at home / The pots are full of rice, but / Pillowed on the grass / On this journey now / Only the chinquapin leaves are plentiful…’ Prince Arima (Man’yōshū II: 142)
Cogon grass and the Same
Round Fifteen
Left
うき人を驚かすべき方ぞなきうらやましきは荻の上風
| ukibito o odorokasubeki kata zo naki urayamashiki wa ogi no uwakaze | That cruel girl: To make her notice me I have no way at all! How I envy The wind blowing o’er the cogon grass! |
Lecturer Kakuga
29
Right
荻原やよかぜぞつらき音せずはねてこそ人を夢にみましか
| ogiwara ya yokaze zo tsuraki oto sezu wa nete koso hito o yume ni mimashika | O, plain of cogon grass, How unkind is the wind tonight! For without your sound, then Indeed, I would sleep that she I would glimpse within my dreams… |
The Head
30
The conception of love sounds superior at present in envying the ‘wind blowing o’er the cogon grass’ than it does in the ‘unkind is the wind tonight’.
Left
こひしきにねざめてみをぞうきなみのよるぞかなしきそでのひつまで
| koishiki ni nezamete mi o zo ukinami no yoru zo kanashiki sode no hitsu made | Filled with love I do awake, but Waves of depression drift, Breaking the night with sadness Until my sleeves are drenched through… |
17
Right
うつつにもゆめにもみえずなりぬればさむるよなよなねをのみぞなく
| utsutsu ni mo yume ni mo miezu narinureba samuru yonayona ne o nomi zo naku | In both reality, and Dreams I see her not— When it comes to that, then On waking night after night Will I simply weep! |
18
Left
うちさめてこひしきひとをおもふよはわがたましひもゆきてつげなん
| uchisamete koishiki hito o omou yo wa wa ga tamashii mo yukite tsugenan | Awaking when My darling girl Filled my thoughts all night, Even my soul Has gone to let her know! |
15
Right
よはにおきてこひぞわびぬるはるのよはゆめにみえつるひとのなければ
| yowa ni okite koi zo wabinuru haru no yo wa yume ni mietsuru hito no nakereba | Arising at midnight, and Suffering love’s fire On a night in spring, For in my dreams I saw My girl, though she’s not here now… |
16
Left
いをしねばゆめにもひとをみるべきをよなよなさむるめこそつらけれ
| i o shi neba yume ni mo hito o mirubeki o yonayona samuru me koso tsurakere | When I’m deep in sleep Even in my dreams, too, her I can behold, but Waking, night after night, Is cruel to my eyes, indeed! |
9
Right
こひわびてこころまどへるねざめにはおもかげをだにあふとたのまむ
| koiwabite kokoro madoeru nezame ni wa omokage o dani au to tanomamu | Desolate with love, My heart just wanders lost; On waking, Even an image of you To meet is all I would ask. |
10
Left
ゆめにだにみるべきものをねざめつつこふるこころはゆくかたもなし
| yume ni dani mirubeki mono o nezametsutsu kouru kokoro wa yuku kata mo nashi | If even in my dreams I could but see her, but Always I awake, and My loving heart has Nowhere to go, at all… |
5
Right
あふことはゆめのうちにもうれしくてねざめののちぞわびしかりける
| au koto wa yume no uchi ni mo ureshikute nezame no nochi zo wabishikarikeru | A meeting In my dreams Brings me such joy, but After waking, truly, I am so sad and lonely. |
6
Composed on the conception of love at a famous location
とよ国の菊のながはま夢にだにまだみぬ人に恋ひやわたらん
| toyokuni no kiku no nagahama yume ni dani mada minu hito ni koi ya wataran | In the land of Toyo, in the western isle, Lies the long beach of Kiku, I hear— Even in my dreams Have I yet to see her, but Will my love for her go on and on? |
454
Left – Bellflower
ゆめのみもかよへどあらぬありきぢかうつつにいかでみるよしもがな
| yume nomi mo kayoedo aranu arikiji ka utsutsu ni ikade miru yoshi mogana | Simply in my dreams Do I go back and forth, yet have no Lover’s path to walk, so In the waking world, somehow, I wish I had a way to see her! |
21
This poem is an acrostic with ‘bellflower’ (kichikau) contained in arikiji ka utsutsu. Old Japanese was written without indicating voicing, so chi and ji would have been identical at the time.
Right – Missing