Category Archives: Kinkai wakashū

Kinkai wakashū 210

When the bush clover was lingering in the grounds, and I was unable to see whether the blossoms had scattered with the moon shining behind them.

萩のはなくれぐれまでもありつるが月いでてみるになきがはかなさ

hagi no hana
kuregure made mo
aritsuru ga
tsuki idete miru ni
naki ga hakanasa
The bush clover blooms
Right until the evening
Did linger, but
With the rising moon they seem
Gone—how brief they are!

Kinkai wakashū 209

Bush clover at the roadside.

みちのべのをのの夕霧たちかへりみてこそゆかめ秋はぎの花

michi no be no
ono no yūgiri
tachikaeri
mite koso yukame
akihagi no hana
By the roadside
Across the meadows evening mists
Rise and fall endlessly;
Thus would I go and see
The autumn bush clover blooms.[1]

[1] An allusive variation on: For a poetry competition held in the Tenryaku era. 春ふかみゐてのかは浪たちかへり見てこそゆかめ山吹の花 haru fukami / ide no kawanami / tachikaeri / mite koso yukame / yamabuki no hana ‘In the depths of spring / Waves on the river at Idé / Rise and fall endlessly; / Thus would I go and see / The kerria blooms…’ Minamoto no Shitagō (SIS I: 68).