Tag Archives: yume

Kinkai wakashū 716

Composed when I heard that someone had died with the dawn, even though I had not heard they had been ill for several days.

聞きてしもおどろくべきにあらねどもはかなき夢の世にこそ有りけれ

kikiteshi mo
odorokubeki ni
aranedomo
hakanaki yume no
yo ni koso arikere
When I heard the news
Especially startled
I was not, yet
A fleeting dream
This world truly is!

716

Kinkai wakashū 712

うつつともゆめともしらぬ世にしあればありとてありとたのむべき身か

utsutsu tomo
yume tomo shiranu
yo ni shi areba
ari tote ari to
tanomubeki mi ka
Whether ‘tis reality
Or dream, I know not of
This world, so
Do I live? Is that something
Upon which to rely?[i]

712


[i] See: Topic unknown. 世の中は夢か現か現とも夢とも知らずありてなければ yo no naka wa / yume ka utsutsu ka / utsutsu tomo / yume tomo shirazu / arite nakereba ‘Is this world of ours / A dream? Or is it real? / If it be real, / Or dream, I know not; / Here, and yet not, so…’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 942)

Kinkai wakashū 709

Cherry.

うつ蝉の世はゆめなれやさくらばなさきてはちりぬあはれいつまで

utsusemi no
yo wa yume nare ya
sakurabana
sakite wa chirinu
aware itsu made
Were this cicada shell
World a dream to be, then
Would the cherry blossom,
Bloom and then scatter?
How long will such sorrow last?[i]

709


[i] See: Topic unknown. うつせみの世にも似たるか花ざくらさくと見しまにかつちりにけり utsusemi no / yo ni mo nitaru ka / hanazakura / saku to mishi ma ni / katsu chirinikeri ‘This cicada-shell / World do you resemble, / O, cherry blossom? / The moment that I see you bloom / Have you already scattered.’ Anonymous (Kokinshū II: 73)

SKKS XV: 1391

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

Kinkai wakashū 599

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)

Kinkai wakashū 565

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)

Nishinomiya uta’awase 15

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’.