篝火のかげをうつして大堰川鵜舟くださぬよははあらじな
kagaribi no
kage o utsushite
ōigawa
ubune kudasanu
yo wa araji na |
The torches’
Light reflects from
The River Ōi:
Cormorant boats do not drift downstream
On no night at all… |
鵜舟さしよるはよるはと幾夜かはよとのわたりをおりのぼるらむ
ubune sashi
yoruwa yoruwa to
ikuyo kawa
yoto no watari o
orinoboruramu |
The cormorant boats head
Out at midnight and
Every night the river’s
Evening sounds cross with
Their rise and fall… |
鵜川には皐月の闇もなかりけりくだればくだす舟の篝火
ukawa ni wa
satsuki no yami mo
nakarikeri
kudareba kudasu
fune no kagaribi |
To the cormorant river
The Fifth Month’s dark
Has not come;
For when it falls, also do
The boats’ torches! |
Shunzei
夏の日の暮れば灯す篝火の幾夜か川にかげ浮かぶらむ
natsu no hi no
kurureba tomosu
kakaribi no
ikuyo ka kawa ni
kage ukaburamu |
When to summer days’
Dusk comes, kindled
Torches,
Every night upon the river
Do seem to float their light. |
Fujiwara no Tametada (? – 1136)
藤原為忠
篝火の見えぬ夜ぞなき大堰川おなじ鵜舟やおりのぼるらむ
kagaribi no
mienu yo zo naki
ōikawa
onaji ubune ya
orinoboruramu |
Torches
Never go unseen at night
On the River Ōi:
Is it always the same cormorant boat
That plies back and forth? |
Fujiwara no Tametada (? – 1136)
藤原為忠
まよふべき契りぞ深き鵜飼舟この夜も月のいるをまちける
mayoubeki
chigiri zo fukaki
ukaibune
kono yo mo tsuki no
iri o machikeru |
Complicated, indeed,
Are their lasting bonds:
The cormorant boats
On this night, too, moon
Set do await… |
Cormorant Fishing on the River(鵜河)
大井河う舟にともすかがり火のかかる世にあふあゆぞはかなき
ōigawa
ubune ni tomosu
kagaribi no
kakaru se ni au
ayu zo hakanaki | On the River Ōi
The cormorant boats’ kindled
Torches
Reflect off the rushing rapids;
What sorrow for the sweetfish! |
Daishin
Cormorant Fishing on the River (鵜河)
かひのぼるう舟のなはのしげければせぶしのあゆの行かたやなき
kainoboru
ubune no nawa no
shigekereba
sebushi no ayu no
yuku kata ya naki | Heading upstream
The cormorant boats’ hawsers
Are so many that
Sweetfish through the rapids
Have no path to take! |
Higo, from the Residence of the Kyōgoku Regent
Cormorant Fishing on the River (鵜河)
うかひ舟つなでくだすと見えつるはいそぎてたぐるたなはなりける
ukaibune
tsunade kudasu to
mietsuru wa
isogite taguru
tanawa narikeri | On a cormorant boat,
When the hawsers dropping
I see
Quickly roll up
The rigging! |
Kanemasa
Composed on the conception of cormorants on the river for a hundred poem sequence.
はやせ川みをさかのぼるうかひ舟まつこの世にもいかかくるしき
FayasegaFa
mi wo sakanoboru
ukaFibune
matu kono yo ni mo
ikaga kurusiki |
Upon the River Hayase
Poling upstream go
The cormorant boats:
Awaiting them tonight
Is sad beyond all measure. |
Emperor Sutoku
This poem is also Kyūan hyakushu 28.
'Simply moving and elegant'