shirotae no namiji wakete ya haru wa kuru kaze fuku kara ni hana mo sakinikeri
White as mulberry cloth are The wave-wakes: forging through them does Spring come? The wind blows so, The blossom has bloomed!
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[1] Makimoku 巻目 was an alternate name for Makimuku 纏向, a place in Yamato province which was traditionally believed to be the location of the state’s capital during the reigns of the legendary emperors Suinin 垂仁 and Keikō 景行.
[2]Shinsen man’yōshū 17/An almost identical poem is also included in Kokin rokujo (I: 619), while a minor variant occurs in Fubokushō (IV: 1100), with a headnote identifying it as being included in this contest: まきもくのひばらの山にたちかへり見れども花におどろかれつつ makimoku no / hibara no yama ni / tachikaeri / miredomo hana no / odorokaretsutsu ‘In Makimoku among / The mountain cypress groves / Rising and departing, / I see it, yet the blossom / Ever does amaze me…’
[2] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Kokinshū (I: 14), attributed to Ōe no Chisato: 鶯の谷よりいづる声なくは春来ることを誰かしらまし uguisu no / tani yori izuru / koe naku wa / haru kuru koto o / tare ka shiramashi ‘If the bush-warbler / From the valleys / Did not sing his song, / That spring is coming / Would anyone realise at all?’; also Shinsen man’yōshū 261.
[1]Shinsen man’yōshū 1/Kokin rokujō I: 460/A minor variant of this poem also occurs in Shinkokinshū (I: 65), where it is attributed to Ise: 水のおもにあやおりみだる春雨や山のみどりをなべてそむらん mizu no omo ni / aya orimidaru / harusame ya / yama no midori o / nabete somuran ‘Upon the water’s surface / A confusing pattern paints / The rain of spring— / Will it now the mountains / All dye with green, I wonder?’
[1] A variant of this poem appears in Kokinshū (I: 15), with the headnote ‘A Poem from the Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor’: 春たてど花もにほはぬ山里は物うかる音に鶯ぞなく haru tatedo / hana mo niowanu / yamazato wa / mono’ukaru ne ni / uguisu zo naku ‘Spring has come, yet / The blossoms fail to shine / This mountain retreat, where / How reluctantly / Does the warbler sing…’ Ariwara no Muneyana.
[2]Kokinshū II: 101, attributed to Fujiwara no Okikaze.
[2] A minor variant of the poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, and attributed to Ki no Tomonori, appears in Shokusenzaishū (I: 62): 春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん harusame no / iro wa koshi tomo / mienaku ni / nobe no midori o / ikade somuran ‘The spring rain’s / Hue no great depths / Does seem to have, but / How are the meadows with green / So deeply dyed?’