[1]
つゆを見てくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri As a dewdrop it appears
Izumi Shikibu
Created with Soan . [1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru , beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
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
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
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
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 The River Minase
Minister of Justice [Fujiwara no] Norikane
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 From now
Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai [Fujiwara no] Shige’ie
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 My thoughts do
Koben
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
I would not despise her
Fujiwara no Tadamichi
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
I see you, and you are in my thoughts
Anonymous
'Simply moving and elegant'
