From the Later Hundred Poem Sequence from the Reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.
たかせぶねのぼるほりえのみづあさみみくさがくれにかはづなくなり
takasebune noboru horie no mizu asami mikusagakure ni kawazu nakunari | Skips Ascend the canal’s Shallow waters; Hidden deep within the grasses, The frogs are singing. |
Fujiwara no Akinaka
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Tōin Empress.
ひとたびもこひしとおもふにくるしきはこころぞちぢにくだくべらなる
hitotabi mo koishi to omou ni kurushiki wa kokoro zo chiji ni kudakuberanaru | Briefly Did I love you, I feel, then The pain My heart a thousand, thousandfold Did surely shatter. |
Anonymous
A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress.
なつのよもしもやおけると見るまでにあれたるやどをてらすつきかな
natsu no yo no shimo ya okeru to miru made ni aretaru yado o terasu tsuki kana | Upon a summer night That frost has fallen It does appear at A ruined dwelling where The moon does shine! |
Anonymous
Composed on Love after Parting during the reign of Former Emperor Nijō (1143-1165; r. 1158-1165).
水無瀬川流れてとこそ思ひしかこはいかにしてたえはじめけむ
minasegawa nagarete to koso omoishi ka ko wa ika ni shite taehajimekemu | The River Minase Rapidly runs – did I think that once? Now what am I to do That our parting has begun? |
Minister of Justice [Fujiwara no] Norikane
刑部卿範兼
On the conception of Love on a First Meeting.
いまよりも心ながさを頼まなむつらきをだにも恨みやはせし
ima yori mo kokoro nagasa o tanomanamu tsuraki o dani mo urami ya wa seshi | From now On your faithfulness Will I rely! Or your cruelty – Will that be what I despise? |
Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai [Fujiwara no] Shige’ie
太宰大弐重家
(1128-1181)
On Love on Meeting.
もの思ひは今朝こそまされつらかりしことは事にもあらぬなりけり
mono’omoi wa kesa koso masare tsurakarishi koto wa koto ni mo aranu narikeri | My thoughts do Entirely overwhelm me this morning; For all that was hard to bear, All those things are Quite gone! |
Koben
小弁
On the conception of love despised.
恨みじと思ふ思ひのともすればもとの心にかへりぬるかな
uramiji to
omou omoi no
tomo sureba
moto no kokoro ni
kaerinuru kana |
I would not despise her
I have thought so many times,
Yet somehow
To my first feelings
I have returned. |
Fujiwara no Tadamichi
藤原忠通
見ても思ひ見捨ても思ふ大方は我が身ひとつや物思ひの山
mitemo omoi
misutemo omou
ōkata wa
wa ga mi hitotsu ya
mono’omoi no yama |
I see you, and you are in my thoughts
You neglect me, and I think on you;
Why, overall,
Is it only me who has
Mountains of gloomy thought? |
Anonymous
'Simply moving and elegant'