Category Archives: Goshūishū

GSIS I: 100

She had gone on a pilgrimage to a distant place and, on her way back home, composed this gazing at some mountain cherries.

都人いかゞと問はゞ見せもせむかの山櫻ひとえだもがな

miyako Fito
ikaga to toFaba
mise mo semu
kano yamazakura
Fito eda mo gana
If capital folk
Should ask, ‘How were they?’
I would rather show them;
Of yonder mountain cherry,
A single sprig is what I need.

Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部

GSIS I: 10

Composed when she was requested for a Spring poem by some courtiers during the reign of Retired Emperor Ichijō (980-1011; r. 986-1011).

み吉野は春のけしきにかすめども結ぼゝれたる雪の下草

miyosino Fa
Faru no kesiki ni
kasumedomo
musuboForetaru
yuki no sitakusa
Fair Yoshino is
With Spring’s seeming
Hazed, yet there is
Solid
Snow around the undergrowth.

Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部