On the first day of snowfall, when she had much on her mind:
ふればかくうさのみまさる世をしらであれたる庭につもるはつ雪
| fureba kaku usa nomi masaru yo o shirade aretaru niwa ni tsumoru hatsuyuki |
As I age, you fall, the Excess of grief Within this world unknown to you, and Upon the my desolate garden, Drifting, o, first snowflakes. |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
Topic unknown.
うばたまのよのふけゆけばひさぎおふるきよきかはらにちどりなく也
| ubatama no yo no fukeyukeba hisagi ōru kiyoki kawara ni chidori naku nari |
Lily-seed dark, The night grows deeper, and Where the catalpa trees grow Along the clean-swept river banks The plovers are calling. |
[Yamabe no] Akahito
山部赤人
When he presented a fifty-poem sequence.
みなかみやたえだえこほるいはまよりきよたき河にのこる白浪
| minakami ya taedae kōru iwama yori kiyotakigawa ni nokoru shiranami |
Is the torrent’s face Only partly frozen? For between the rocks In the river Kiyotaki Remain white waters. |
The Regent and Grand Minister [Fujiwara no Yoshitsune] (1169 – 1206)
藤原良経
On the moon at dawn, during the Kasuga Poetry Contest:
霜こほる袖にもかげはのこりけりつゆよりなれしありあけの月
| shio kôru sode ni mo kage wa nokorikeri tsuyu yori nareshi ariake no tsuki |
From frost frozen Sleeves, your glitter Arises. Accustomed to rising from dewdrops, O, daybreak moon. |
Commander of the Bodyguards of the Right [Minamoto no] Michitomo (1171-1227)
In the same house, when he had winter poems composed containing place-names, this was composed on snow on the estate of Fushimi.
夢かよふみちさへたえぬくれ竹のふしみのさとの雪のしたをれ
| yume kayou michi sae taenu kuretake no fushimi no sato no yuki no shitaore | In dreams I trod A path now gone: The bamboo at Fushimi is Broken in the snow. |
Ari’ie
有家
When the Regent and Grand Minister was a Major Councillor, he had this composed on snow upon a mountain hut.
まつ人のふもとのみちはたえぬらんのきばのすぎに雪をもるなり
| matsu hito no fumoto no michi wa taenuran nokiba no sugi ni yuki o moru nari |
Awaiting one whose Path among the foothills Has vanished, I think; The cedar by my eaves Is buried deep in snow. |
Sada’ie
定家
Seeing the first snows lying upon the fallen autumn leaves, he sent this to a lady-in-waiting in the Jōtōmon Palace.
山ざとはみちもやみえずなりぬらんもみぢとゝもに雪のふりぬる
| yamazato wa michi mo yamiezu narinuran momiji to tomo ni yuki no furinuru |
To your mountain home The path is now impassable I think; Along with autumn leaves The snow has started falling. |
Fujiwara no Ietsune
藤原家經
Composed when the gentlemen of the court were composing in the conception of yearning after mountain snow just before dawn.
をとは山さやかに見ゆる白雪をあけぬとつぐるとりのこゑかな
| otowa yama sayaka ni miyuru shirayuki o akenu to tsuguru tori no koe kana |
Mount Otowa Appears clearly: Snow’s whiteness Brightening-announced by The cock’s crow. |
Retired Emperor Takakura (1161-1188; r. 1168-1180)