夢よりぞ恋しき人を見そめつる今はあはする人もあらなん
| yume yori zo koFisiki Fito wo misometuru ima Fa aFasuru Fito mo aranan | Within my dreams For her I did yearn, and Have begun to see— Now, to arrange a meeting, I wish there was such a one! |
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
Composed and sent to a certain person’s residence to say how transient this mundane world is.
世中にかしこきこともはかなきも思ひしとけば夢にぞ有りける
| yo no naka ni kashikoki koto mo hakanaki mo omoishi tokeba yume ni zo arikeru | In this mundane world The glories and Trivialities both, When you think them over, Are but dreams… |
715
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)
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] |
[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)
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’.

