Composed in regret for the passage of spring.
をしめどもとどまらなくに春霞かへる道にしたちぬとおもへば
| osimedomo todomaranakuni Farugasumi kaFeru miti ni si tatinu to omoFeba |
Though sad am I, There’s no stopping it: The spring haze On its homebound path Has departed. |
Motokata
元方
Composed when, in the last week of the third month, he was travelling through the mountains and saw the blossom flowing along a mountain river.
花ちれる水のまにまにとめくれば山には春もなくなりにけり
| Fana tireru mizu no manima ni tomekureba yama ni Fa Faru mo nakunarinikeri |
The scattered petals Carried on the waters Answer but one question: In the mountains, spring Has passed completely. |
Fukayabu
Composed in the third month after not hearing the song of a bush warbler for a long time.
なきとむる花しなければうぐひすもはては物うくなりぬべらなり
| nakitomuru Fana si nakereba uguFisu mo Fate Fa mono’uku narinuberanari |
With a song he tried to keep The blossoms, yet now they’re gone, So the warbler too, At the last, in melancholy Has sunk, it seems. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
Composed on how swiftly spring passes.
あづさゆみ春たちしより年月のいるがごとくもおもほゆるかな
| adusa yumi Faru tatisi yori tosi tuki no iru ga gotoku mo omoFoyuru kana |
A catalpa bow: Pulled and released: this spring The months and years Go by like shots I feel. |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
A poem composed at a poetry competition held by Her Majesty the Empress during the Kanpyō period [889-898].
はなの木も今はほりうゑじ春たてばうつろふ色に人ならひけり
| Fana no ko mo ima Fa Foriuweji Faru tateba uturoFu iro ni Fito naraFikeri |
Trees full of blossom: Too late now to transplant them And with spring’s passing So their colours fade A lesson learned by men. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed as a Spring poem.
花の色はかすみにこめて見せずともかをだにぬすめ春の山かぜ
| Fana no iro Fa kasumi ni komete misezu to mo ka wo dani nusume Faru no yama kaze |
The colours of the flowers Lie shrouded in the mists If you can’t reveal them, then Steal their scent, at least, Mountain spring-breeze. |
Yoshimine no Munesada
良岑宗貞