Category Archives: Goshūishū

GSIS XII: 701

Composed when the Naka Chancellor [Fujiwara no Michitaka] returned from another woman’s residence with the dawn, but rather than coming in, remained outside and went back to his own house.

暁のつゆはまくらにおきけるを草葉のうへとなにおもひけん

akatuki no
tuyu Fa makura ni
okikeru wo
kusaba no uFe to
nani omoFiken
At the dawning
Dewdrops upon my pillow
Have fallen, but
Resting atop a blade of grass—
Is that what you think of me? [1]

The Kō Handmaid

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] An allusive variation on Izumi shikibu-shū 304/Mandaishū XVIII: 3559.

GSIS XI: 632

Composed on love at the barrier of Meeting Hill by His Majesty, when his gentlemen were drawing out the names of places and composing poems on them.

あふさかのなをもたのまじ恋すれば関のし水に袖はぬれけり

aFusaka no
na wo mo tanomazi
koFisureba
seki no simidu ni
sode Fa nurekeri
Meeting Hill—
An untrustworthy name, indeed!
My passions
Dammed, the spring waters by the barrier
Have soaked my sleeves.

Imperial Composition [Emperor Shirakawa]

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

GSIS IV: 292

Composed for the Poetry Match held at the Residence of Imperial Princess Sukeko (5/6/Eishō 5 kōshin [26.6.1050]).

をぐら山たちどもみえぬゆふぎりにつままどはせるしかぞなくなる

wogurayama
tatidomo mienu
yuFugiri ni
tuma madoFaseru
sika zo nakunaru
On gloomy Ogura Mountain
Stands unseen
Among the evening mists
Having lost his mate
A belling stag.

Gō no jijū
江侍従

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

GSIS XII: 695

At a time when she was secretly feeling very gloomy, when she was asked why she was so downcast by someone she was close to, who perhaps guessed it was due to love—she thought this in her heart.

もろともにいつかとくべきあふことのかたむすびなるよはのしたひも

morotomo ni
ituka tokubeki
aFu koto no
katamusubi naru
yoFa no sitaFimo
Together
When might we undo the mystery
Of our meeting, and
My half-knotted
Underbelt at midnight?

Sagami

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

GSIS III: 206

Composed on summer rain for a poetry match, after the Thirty Day Sutra Recitation[1] held at the residence of the Uji Former Grand Minister[2].

さみだれにみづのみまきのまこも草かりほすひまもあらじとぞおもふ

samidare ni
midu no mimaki no
makomogusa
kariFosu Fima mo
arazi to zo omoFu
In the summer rain
At Mizu, the royal pasture grows
Wild rice, but
To reap and dry it no time
There is at all, I feel!

Sagami

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] The Thirty Day Sutra Recitation (Sanjikkō 三十講)was an event where the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (Ananta Nirdeśa Sūtra; Jp. Muryōgi-kyō 無量義経), the twenty-eight fascicles of the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram; Jp. Hokke-kyō 法華経) and the Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra (Jp. Kanfugen-kyō 観普賢経) were read aloud over thirty consecutive days, or occasionally over fifteen consecutive days with readings each morning and evening.

[2] Fujiwara no Yorimichi 藤原頼通 (992-1074)

GSIS IX: 518

Composed at the Shirakawa Barrier, when he had gone to Michinoku.

宮こをばかすみとともにたちしかどあきかぜぞ吹くしらかはのせき

miyako woba
kasumi to tomo ni
tatisikado
akikaze zo Fuku
sirakaFa no seki
From the capital
Together with the haze
Did I depart, yet
The autumn wind, indeed, is blowing
At the Barrier of Shirakawa!

Monk Nōin

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

GSIS XVIII: 1063

Composed on the instructions of His Majesty, on the way back from Sumiyoshi, when he had accompanied him there in the Third Month, Enkyū 5 [April 1073].

おきつかぜふきにけらしな住吉の松のしづえをあらふしらなみ

okitsukaze
fukinikerashi na
sumiyoshi no
matsu no shizue o
arau shiranami
The wind in the offing
Is gusting, it seems, for
At Sumiyoshi
The pines’ low branches
Are washed by whitecaps.

Minister of Justice Tsunenobu

GSIS VII: 450

Composed for the Palace Poetry Match in Shōryaku 2 [1078].

君が世はつきじとぞおもふかみかぜやみもすそ川のすまむかぎりは

kimi ga yo wa
tsukiji to zo omou
kamikaze ya
mimosusogawa no
sumamu kagiri wa
My Lord’s reign
Shall never end, I feel!
While beneath the divine winds
The Mimosuso River[i]
Is clear!

Minister of Justice Tsunenobu

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[i] The Mimosuso River (mimosugawa 御裳濯川) is the name given to the Isuzu River (isuzugawa 五十鈴川) as it flows past the Grand Shrine of Ise, which is dedicated to the ancestral deity of the imperial house, Amaterasu ōmikami 天照大神.