For a poetry contest at Sadafun’s house.
郭公をちかへりなけうなゐこがうちたれがみの五月雨の空
Fototogisu otikaFerinake unawiko ga utitaregami no samidare no sora | A cuckoo Calls again and again; A child’s shoulder-brushing Hair dangling down: A summer shower fills the skies. |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
Topic unknown.
見わたせば松のはしろきよしの山いくよつもれる雪にかあるらん
miwataseba matsu no ha shiroki yoshinoyama iku yo tsumoreru yuki ni ka aruran | When I gaze across, The pine needles are white In the mountains of Yoshino; How many nights has it been drifting— The snow—I wonder? |
Tadami
Composed gazing at the moon.
あまの原そらさへさえや渡るらん氷と見ゆる冬の夜の月
ama no Fara sora saFe sae ya wataruran koFori to miyuru Fuyu no yo no tuki | The plain of Heaven, The sky, so coldly Does it seem to cross, Ice, it does appear, The moon upon a winter’s night. |
Egyō
For a folding screen in the residence of Lord Kōtoku.
ふゆされ嵐のこゑもたかさごの松につけてぞきくべかりける
Fuyu sareba arasi no kowe mo takasago no matu ni tukete zo kikubekarikeru | When it is winter, The storm-winds’ howling Through Takasago’s Pines is What I hear. |
[Ōnakatomi no] Yoshinobu
Topic unknown.
池水や氷とくらむあしがもの夜ぶかくこゑのさわぐなるかな
ikemizu ya kōri tokuramu ashigamo no yobukaku koe no sawagunaru kana | Above the pond waters The ice has melted, it seems, for The ducks Deep within the night are crying So noisily! |
Tachibana no Yukiyori
橘行頼
Composed for a folding screen with a picture suited to a month of the year upon it.
あふさかの関のし水に影見えて今やひくらんもち月のこま
aFusaka no seki no simidu ni kage miete ima ya Fikuran motiduki no koma | In Ausaka Barrier’s spring waters Are they reflected; Is it now they’re taken hence, The colts of Mochizuki? |
Ki no Tsurayuki
Topic unknown.
叩くとて宿の妻戸を開けたれば人も梢の水鶏なりけり
tataku tote
yado no tumado wo
aketareba
Fito mo kozuwe no
kunina narikeri |
Knocking at
My dwelling’s door, but
When I open it,
He has not come – in the treetops
It was but a water-rail! |
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
ちちわくに人はいふともおりてきむわかはた物に白き麻衣
titiwaku ni
Fito Fa iFu tomo
orite kimu
wa ga Fatamono ni
siroki asaginu |
At any rate
Folk do say,
Weave it, and we’ll try it on –
Lying on my loom,
A white coat of hemp! |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
柿本人麻呂
Topic unknown.
岩根踏み重なる山はなけれども逢はぬ日数を恋や渡らん
iFane Fumi
kasanaru yama Fa
nakeredomo
aFanu Fi kazu wo
koFi ya wataran |
Crag trodden
Layered mountains
Are there none, yet
Over the number of days we meet not
I wonder, will our love span? |
The Elder Maiden of Sakanoue
坂上郎女
Topic unknown.
人知れぬ泪に袖は朽ちにけり逢ふ夜もあらば何に包まむ
Fito sirenu
namida ni sode Fa
kutinikeri
aFu yo mo araba
nani ni tutumamu |
Unknown to all
Tears my sleeves
Have rotteed;
Should the night come we meet
With what should I wrap myself? |
Anonymous
'Simply moving and elegant'