Left
夏草も夜の間は露にいこふらむ常にこがるる我ぞかなしき
| natsukusa mo yo no ma wa tsuyu ni ikouramu tsune ni kogaruru ware zo kanashiki | Upon the summer grasses Throughout the night do dewdrops Seem to rest, and Ever smouldering, I feel sad, indeed! |
76
Right
ながめつつ人まつをりによぶこ鳥いづかたへとか立ちかへりなく
| nagametsutsu hito matsu ori ni yobukodori izukata e to ka tachikaerinaku | Always I gaze out While waiting for him; O, songbird! Whither are you bound? Trilling back and forth… |
77
Left
夏の月ひかりをしまず照る時はながるる水にかげろふぞたつ
| natsu no tsuki hikari o shimazu teru toki wa nagaruru mizu ni kagerō zo tatsu | When summer moon’s Light lightly Shines From the running waters Haze arises! |
74
Right
琴の音にひびきかよへる松風はしらべても鳴く蝉の声かな
| koto no ne ni hibikikayoeru matsukaze wa shirabetemo naku semi no koe kana | A zither’s strains Echoing back and forth: The wind through the pines, In tune with the cries In the cicadas’ song! |
75[1]
[1] Shinshūishū III: 303/Shinsen man’yōshū 73/Kokin rokujō I: 398/Fubokushō IX: 3584
Left
おしなべて五月のそらを見渡せば草葉も水もみどりなりけり
| oshinabete satsuki no sora o miwataseba kusaba mo mizu mo midori narikeri | When the entire Fifth Month sky I gaze across, Blades of grass and water, too, Are green. |
72[1]
Right
くるるかとみれば明けぬる夏の夜をあかずとや鳴く山郭公
| kururu ka to mireba akenuru natsu no yo o akazu to ya naku yamahototogisu | Did you think ’twas sunset? When a glance would show the breaking dawn Of this summer night- Unsated by your song, do you sing on, Cuckoo in the mountains? |
73[2]
[1] Shinchokusenshū III: 152/Kokin rokujō I: 89
[1] Kokinshū III: 157, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine/Shinsen man’yōshū 57/Kokin rokujō VI: 4437
Left
なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき
| natsu no hi no kururu mo shirazu naku semi o toi mo shiteshika nani goto ka uki | Of the summer sun’s Setting unaware are The singing cicadas: Had I but asked them of it, What would they despise? |
70
Right
あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ
| ayamegusa ikura no satsuki aikuramu kuru toshigoto ni wakaku miyuramu | O, sweet flags! In how many Fifth Months Have you come to meet me? With every turning year You seem younger to me! |
71
Left
夏の日を天雲しばしかくさなむぬるほどもなく明くる夜にせん
| natsu no hi o amagumo shibashi kakusanamu nuru hodo mo naku akuru yo ni sen | The summer sun is Briefly by heaven’s clouds Concealed! No time to sleep in The bright night they’ve made! |
68
Right
郭公なきつる夏の山辺にはくつていださぬ人やすむらむ
| hototogisu nakitsuru natsu no yamabe ni wa kutsute idasanu hito ya sumuramu | A cuckoo Singing in summer On the mountainside: Does a man who will not reveal The price of shoes live there? |
69
Left
いつの間に花かれにけむながくだにありせば夏のかげとみましを
| itsu no ma ni hana karenikemu nagaku dani ariseba natsu no kage to mimashi o | In an instant The blossoms seems to wither! If but longer They were here, summer’s Shape I would see in them… |
66
Right
幾千たび鳴きかへるらむ足引の山ほととぎす声はわすれて
| ikuchi tabi nakikaeruramu ashihiki no yamahototogisu koe wa wasurete | How many thousand times, Does he return to sing? The leg-wearying Mountain cuckoo, Forgetting his song… |
67
Left
夏の夜のまつばもそよと吹く風はいづれか雨の声にかはれる
| natsu no yo no matsuba mo soyo to fuku kaze wa izure ka ame no koe ni kawareru | On a summer night The pine needles rustling With the gusting wind At some point to raindrops’ Sound has changed. |
64
Right
夜やくらき道やまどへる郭公我が宿をしもすぎがてにする
| yo ya kuraki michi ya madoeru hototogisu wa ga yado o shimo sugigateni naku | Is it night’s darkness? Or, have you lost your way, Oh, cuckoo? By my house You cannot pass, it seems, and so you sing. |
65[1]
[1] Kokinshū III: 154, attributed to Ki no Tomonori.
Left
This poem is missing from extant copies of the text of the contest.
Right
夏虫にあらぬ我が身のつれもなき人をおもひにもゆる比かな
| natsumushi ni aranu wa ga mi no tsure mo naki hito o omoi ni moyuru koro kana | A summer insect I am not, but That heartless Girl, with passion Has these days set me burning! |
63[1]
[1] Shinchokusenshū XII: 708
Left
なつの夜は水やまされる天の河ながるる月のかげもとどめぬ
| natsu no yo wa mizu ya masareru ama no kawa nagaruru tsuki no kage mo todomenu | On a summer night Is it that the waters are so fine Of the River of Heaven? Drifting, the moon’s Face, too, tarries not. |
61[1]
Right
去年の夏鳴きふるしてし郭公それかあらぬかこゑのかはらぬ
| kozo no natsu nakifurusiteshi hototogisu sore ka aranu ka koe no kawaranu | Last summer Did you sing as if there’d be no other, O, cuckoo; Is it you, or another, For your song is quite unchanged. |
62[2]
[1] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote identifying it as being from this contest, is included in Shokugosenshū (IV: 214): 夏の夜は水まさればやあまのがはながるる月のかげもとどめぬ natsu no yo wa / mizu masareba ya / ama no kawa / nagaruru tsuki no / kage mo todomenu ‘On a summer night / Perhaps, because the waters are so fine / Of the River of Heaven? / Drifting, the moon’s / Face, too, tarries not.’
[2] Kokinshū III: 159/Shinsen man’yōshū 63
Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
| natsu no hi o kurashiwabinuru semi no ma ni wa ga nakisouru koe wa kikoyu ya | The summer sun They know not how to endure, So with the cicadas My sobbing Voice do you hear? |
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
| uramitsutsu todomuru hito no nakereba ya yama hototogisu ukaredete naku | How I constantly despise The one who’s staying here If he were gone, would The mountain cuckoo Have aimlessly left his home to sing? |
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.