Cranes in a garden (庭上鶴馴)
Left
庭の面に人になれたるあしたづはよはひをきみにゆづるなるべし
niwa no omo ni
hito ni naretaru
ashitazu wa
yowai o kimi ni
yuzurunarubeshi | Upon this garden’s face stands,
Accustomed to folk,
A crane;
His years to my Lord
Will he bestow, no doubt! |
A Court Lady
31
Right
千とせふるやどのけしきやしるからん汀のたづのなれにけるかな
chitose furu
yado no keshiki ya
shirukaran
migiwa no tazu no
narenikeru kana | Is it that a thousand years old
This dwelling does appear?
For to the muddy
Water’s edge the cranes
Have become accustomed! |
A Court Lady
32
Fulling cloth late at night (深夜擣衣)
Left
わぎもこがうつ唐衣さよふけてほのかにきこゆいづこなるらん
wagimoko ga
utsu karakoromo
sayo fukete
honoka ni kikoyu
izuko naruran | My darling girl
Is fulling my Cathay robe;
As brief night breaks
Faintly I hear
The echoes from somewhere. |
Ki no Sukezane
29
Right
手もたゆく成りやゆくらんさ夜ふかみ衣しでうつ音ののどけさ
ta mo tayuku
nari ya yukuran
sayo fukami
koromo shideutsu
oto no nodokesa | Is it that her hands so weary
Have become?
Late on a brief night
Fulling clothing—
How faint that sound… |
Taira no Sadamoto
30
First snow seen at dawn (暁見初雪)
Left
鏡山あか月方に見わたせばあまぎりあひて初雪ぞふる
kagamiyama
akatsukikata ni
miwataseba
amagiri aite
hatsuyuki zo furu | When Mirror Mountain
At the edge of dawn
I do survey
Blended with the misting rain is
The first fall of snow. |
Fujiwara no Akinobu, Secretary of Music
27
Right
あさぼらけまだふみ分けぬ初雪にいづれを道とわきぞかねつる
asaborake
mada fumiwakenu
hatsuyuki ni
izure o michi to
waki zo kanetsuru | By dawn’s first light
As yet no feet have marked
This first fall of snow;
How long can the path
Remain untrodden? |
Akichika, Ranked without office
28
Colours of chrysanthemums at the base of a fence (籬菊色色)
Left
いろいろにうつろふ風のそがぎくはしなじなよはの霜やおくらん
iroiro ni
utsurou kaze no
sogagiku wa
shinajina yowa no
shimo ya okuran | Hues
Shifting with the breeze
Are the yellow chrysanthemums:
Is it because of night’s differing
Frostfall, perhaps? |
A Court Lady
25
Right
おく霜にまがきのきくをみわたせばいろいろにこそうつろひにけれ
oku shimo ni
magaki no kiku o
miwataseba
iroiro ni koso
utsuroinikere | Frost has fallen upon
The chrysanthemums by the rough-hewn fence, and
When I gaze across them,
How their hues
Have faded away! |
A Court Lady
26
Scarlet leaves dyed with dew (露染紅葉)
Left
白露のそむる紅葉のいかなればから紅にふかくみゆらん
shiratsuyu no
somuru momiji no
ikanareba
karakurenai ni
fukaku miyuran | When silver dewdrops
Stain the autumn leaves
What happens, but
Their scarlet hues
Seem all the deeper. |
A Court Lady
23
Right
いかにおくしら露なれば紅葉ばのくれなゐふかく色をそむらん
ika ni oku
shiratsuyu nareba
momijiba no
kurenai fukaku
iro o somuran | How can they fall—
These silver dewdrops—so
The autumn leaves with
Ever deeper scarlet
Hues are dyed? |
A Court Lady
24
A mountain home concealed by haze (霞隔山家)
Left
おぼつかなとなりもみえず成りにけり霞へだつる村雲のさと
obotsukana
tonari mo miezu
narinikeri
kasumi hedatsuru
muragumo no sato | All is hidden!
My neighbours invisible
Have become;
The hazes form a barrier in
This cloud-clustered hamlet… |
Kaya no Nuki
5
Right
春霞八重立ちぬれば尋ねゆく道もわかれずくらはしのさと
harugasumi
yae tachinureba
tazuneyuku
michi mo wakarezu
kurahashi no sato | The spring hazes
Arise eightfold, so
Though I go enquire
No one knows the way to
The estate at Kurahashi. |
Koretsune
6
Being quiet in company with a bush warbler (鶯閑中友)
Left
うぐひすのこゑを友にてくらすかなひとりながむる春の山里
uguisu no
koe o tomo nite
kurasu kana
hitori nagamuru
haru no yamazato | O, with a warbler’s
Song
To spend my days!
Gazing out alone
From a mountain hut in springtime… |
3
Right
山家はなく鶯のこゑのみぞのどけき春の友ときこゆる
yama ie wa
naku uguisu no
koe nomi zo
nodokeki haru no
tomo to kikoyuru | In a dwelling in the mountains
With nothing but a singing warbler’s
Song!
Peaceful, pleasant springtime
Is in the very sound. |
Fujiwara no Kunimoto, Ranked without Office
4
Pine seedlings on the Day of the Rat (子日小松)
Left
ねの日する松の葉ごとにかぞふれば猶ぞつきせぬきみが千とせは
ne no hi suru
matsu no ha goto ni
kazoureba
nao zo tsukisenu
kimi ga chitose wa | On this Day of the Rat
Every single pine needle
I count, but
Still the number would not exhaust
The millennia of my Lord… |
A Court Lady
1
Right
はるかなる君がよはひにくらべむと子日の松をけふは引くかな
harukanaru
kimi ga yowai ni
kurabemu to
ne no hi no matsu o
kyō wa hiku kana | Distant is
My Lord’s age:
To what might it compare? Why
The Rat Day pines that
We pick today! |
A Court Lady
2
'Simply moving and elegant'