During the Tenryaku era, when people had gathered at Ise’s house, to say that she was coming.
時雨つゝふりにし宿の言の葉は掻集むれど止らざりけり
siguretutu
Furinisi yado no
koto no Fa Fa
kakiatumuredo
tomarazarikeri |
Ever does the drizzle
Fall at my home –
My leaves of words
I sweep all together, but
Never does it end. |
Nakatsukasa (?912-?991)
中務
薦枕高瀬の淀に刈る薦の刈るとも我は知らで頼まむ
komo makura
takase no yodo ni
karu komo no
karu tomo ware Fa
sirade tanomamu |
Pillowed on a mat of rush
Where the Yodo meets Takase,
Reaped rushes
Wither, yet I,
All unknowing, will place my trust in them! |
真菰草高瀬の淀に茂れども末葉も見えぬ五月雨のころ
makomogusa
takase no yodo ni
shigeredomo
sueba mo mienu
samidare no koro |
The rushes
Where the Yodo meets Takase
Are lush, indeed, yet
The fronds are hidden
In this time of showers… |
Taikenmon’in horikawa
待賢門院堀河
いかにして真菰を刈らむ五月雨に高瀬の淀も水まさりけり
ika ni shite
makomo o karamu
samidare ni
takase no yodo mo
mizu masarikeri |
What am I to do?
I would reap rushes
In the rain
Where the Yodo meets Takase,
But the waters have risen high… |
Minamoto no Morotoki
源師時
照る月を昼かと見れば暁に羽核搔く鴫もあらじとそ思ふ
teru tuki wo
Firu ka to mireba
akatuki ni
Fane kaku sigi mo
arazi to zo omoFu |
The shining moon
Makes it seem like noon, so
With the dawn,
Beating their wings, even the snipe
Have gone, I feel. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
春まけてもの悲しきにさ夜更けて羽振き鳴く鴫誰が田にか住む
paru makete
mono kanasiki ni
sayo pukete
pabuki naku sigi
ta ga ta ni ka sumu |
I cannot wait for spring;
Somehow sad,
At the dusk,
The snipe cry and beat their wings –
I wonder, whose is the field where they take their ease? |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
大伴家持
うちわびて落穂拾ふと聞かませば我も田面にゆかましものを
uchiwabite
ochibo hirou to
kikamaseba
ware mo tazura ni
yukamashi mono o |
Sadly,
You gather fallen ears of rice –
Had I heard that,
I, too, into the paddy fields
Would have made my way… |
Topic unknown.
飛ぶ鳥の声も聞えぬ奥山の深き心を人は知らなむ
tobu tori no
kowe mo kikoenu
okuyama no
Fukaki kokoro wo
Fito Fa siranamu |
Flying birds’
Song does not reach
The mountains’ heart;
The depths of my love
I would have you know! |
Anonymous
When there had been a gale, and someone had called to see how she was, in the silence later, she wrote this and sent it.
荒かりし風の後より絶えするは蜘蛛手にすがく糸にやあるらん
arakarisi
kaze no noti yori
taesuru Fa
kumode ni sugaku
ito ni ya aruran |
Wildly
The wind has gone, and
Broken are
The spider’s spanning
Webs – is that how we are to be? |
Sagami
相模
吹亂る風のけしきに女郎花しをれしぬべき心ちこそすれ
Fukimidaru
kaze no kesiki ni
wominaesi
siworesinubeki
kokoti koso sure |
Blown into confusion in
The midst of wind
The maidenflowers
All dejected
Feel… |
'Simply moving and elegant'