Round Ninety

Left

うきながらきえせぬ物は身なりけりうらやましきは水のあわかな

ukinagara kiesenu mono wa mi narikeri urayamashiki wa mizu no awa kana

How cruel it is that What remains here yet Is me— How I envy The foam upon the waters!

179[1]

Right

我が恋はいまは色にや出でなましのきのしのぶも紅葉しにけり

wa ga koi wa ima wa iro ni ya idenamashi noki no shinobu mo momijishinikeri

Does my love Now with such passionate hues Reveal itself, I wonder? Secretly beneath my eaves the ferns, too, Have turned scarlet.

180[2]

---

[1] Shūishū XX: 1313: When her grandchild passed away.

[2] A minor variant on: Sent to a lady’s house attached to a frond of fern which had taken on autumn colours. わが恋もいまは色にやいでなまし軒のしのぶも紅葉しにけり ‘Does my love, too, / Now with such passionate hues / Reveal itself, I wonder? / Secretly beneath my eaves the ferns, too, / Have turned scarlet.’ The Hanazono Minister of the Left (Shinkokinshū XI: 1027).

Round Eighty-Nine

Left

ありしだにうかりしものをあかずとていづくにそふるつらさなるらん

arishi dani ukarishi mono o akazu tote izuku ni souru tsurasa naruran

Even these past days Heartlessness is something I want more—saying that, then Where might you lay on Additional cruelty?

177[1]

Right

春はをし人はこよひとたのむればおもひわづらふ今日のくれかな

haru wa oshi hito wa koyoi to tanomureba omoiwazurau kyō no kure kana

Regretting the departure of spring, and Tonight, my man Expecting, Wracked with painful thoughts Does the day reach its dusk!

178[2]

---

[1] Gosenshū XIII: 952: Sent to the Minister of the Left.

[2] Kin’yōshū II: 91 (2)/ Kin’yōshū II: 93 (3) / Kin’yōshū I: 135 (1): Composed on the conception of love at the end of the Third Month.

Round Eighty-Eight

Left

秋かぜの吹くにつけてもとはぬかなをぎの葉ならばおとはしてまし

akikaze no fuku ni tsuketemo towanu kana ogi no ha naraba oto wa shitemashi

‘I’ve had enough!’—the autumn wind Might reveal with a gust, but It pays no visit here! Were I a frond of silver grass A rustle I would have it make.

Nakatsukasa
175[1]

Right

ちらぬ間は花をともにて過ぎぬべし春よりのちのしる人もがな

chiranu ma wa hana o tomo nite suginubeshi haru yori nochi no shiru hito mogana

While still unscattered The blossom is my only friend, and When ‘tis past And spring is gone, then Would I have folk to know!

The Hanazono Minister of the Left
176[2]

---

[1] Gosenshū XII: 846: Sent when her affair with Taira no Kaneki was finally coming to an end.

[2] Kin’yōshū I: 39 (2): Composed on spending spring accompanied by nothing but blossom.

Round Eighty-Seven

Left

わすらるる身をばおもはずちかひてし人のいのちのをしくも有るかな

wasuraruru mi oba omowazu chikaiteshi hito no inochi no oshiku mo aru kana

Forgotten and abandoned But I care not; He made a vow before the gods, And his life now Is only to be pitied, I think.

173[1]

Right

おほえ山いくのの道のとほければまだふみもみずあまのはしだて

ōeyama ikuno no michi no tōkereba mada fumi mo miezu ama no hashidate

In Ōeyama The path to Ikuno Lies far away, so I’ve not set foot upon it, or had a letter from Ama-no-Hashidate!

174[2]

---

[1] Shūishū XIV: 870: Topic unknown.

[2] Kin’yōshū IX: 550 (2)/Kin’yōshū IX 543 (3): During the period when Izumi Shiku had accompanied Yasumasa to Tango, when there was a poetry match in the capital and Handmaid Koshikibu was selected as one of the poets, Lord Sadayori came to her chamber at the palace and went on at her, asking, ‘How are your poems coming along? Will you be sending them to your mother in Tango? Has your messenger not returned yet?’ and really seemed very unsettled about everything, so she composed this as a playful way of preventing him from going himself.

Round Eighty-Six

Left

あふことをまつに月日はこゆるぎのいそにいでてやけふはうらみん

au koto o matsu ni tsukihi wa koyurugi no iso ni idete ya kyō wa uramin

For a meeting I have waited days, months And more, so to Koyurugi’s Rocky shore should I go out And gaze with hatred at the beach?

171[1]

Right

しぬばかりなげきにこそはなげきしかいきてとふべき身にはあらねど

shinu bakari nageki ni koso wa nagekishika ikite toubeki mi ni shi araneba

Death alone My worry for you Might have brought me in my grief; Should one ask if you’re alive— I am not such a one.

172[2]

---

[1] A minor variant on GSS XIV: 1049.

[2] Goshūishū XVII: 1001: When the earlier Nijō Minister [Fujiwara no Norimichi (996-1075)] recovered after having been ill for days, he said to her, ‘Why didn’t you ask after me?’ and she composed.

Round Eighty-Five

Left

おほかたのあきのそらだにかなしきにものおもひそふ昨日今日かな

ōkata no aki no sora dani kanashiki ni mono’omoisou kinō kyō kana

As ever, Even the autumn sky’s Sadness is Overlaid with gloomy thoughts Today, and the day before!

Ukon
169[1]

Right

おもひいでてたれをか人のたづねましうきにたへたるいのちならずは

omoi’idete tare o ka hito no tazunemashi uki ni taetaru inochi narazu wa

Thinking back, Who is this man Seeking to come a’visiting? Ever enduring cruelty is Not how I spend my life…

Handmaid Koshikibu
170[2]

---

[1] Gosenshū VII: 423: When a man she had been seeing had failed to visit for a long time, she sent him this in the Longest Month.

[2] Senzaishū XIV: 843: Sent as a reply to someone who said he would visit, after failing to come for a long time.

Round Eighty-Four

Left

見るゆめにうつつのうさもわすられておもひなぐさむ程ぞはかなき

miru yume ni utsutsu no usa mo wasurarete omoinagusamu hodo zo hakanaki

Being seen in a dream, then Reality’s cold cruelties I will forget, and Be comforted For a brief, empty moment.

167[1]

Right

いきてよもあすまで人はつらからじこの夕暮をとはばとへかし

ikite yo mo asu made hito mo tsurakaraji kono yūgure o towaba toe kashi

Living in this world I shall do until the morrow, for his Cruelty I would endure no longer; On this evening Should he call, ’twould be the right one.

168[2]

---

[1] A minor variant on SKKS XV: 1384.

[2] SKKS XIV: 1329: From a hundred poem sequence.

Round Eighty-Three

Left

なれ行くはうき身なればやすまのあまのしほやき衣まどほなるらむ

nareyuku wa ukimi nareba ya suma no ama no shioyaki koromo madōnaruramu

Your affection Turns to cruelty, does it not? The fisher folk at Suma Burn salt in robes with Wide gaps, it seems…[1]

165[2]

Right

ちたびうつきぬたの音にゆめさめて物おもふ袖に月ぞくだくる

chitabi utsu kinuta no oto ni yume samete mono’omou sode ni tsuki zo kudakuru

A thousand times striking The fulling block—the sound Wakes me from my dreams In gloomy thought, while upon my sleeves The moon is scattered, indeed!

166[3]

---

[1] An allusive variation on KKS XV: 758.

[2] A minor variant on SKKS XIII: 1210.

[3] A minor variant on SKKS V: 484.

Round Eighty-Two

Left

袖にさへ秋の夕はしられけりきえしあさぢがつゆをかけつつ

sode ni sae aki no yūbe wa shirarekeri kieshi asaji ga tsuyu wo kaketsutsu

Even upon our sleeves Does the autumn evening Reveal itself; The thatch, now gone, Is ever dew-drenched.

The Ise Virgin and Junior Consort

163[1]

Right

ながめわびぬあきよりほかのやどもがな野にも山にも月やすむらん

nagame wabinu aki yori hoka no yado mogana no ni mo yama ni mo tsuki ya sumuran

Suffering and sorrowing— Other than in autumn Might I find lodging? Though Above the fields and mountains, too, The moon shines so clear…[2]

Princess Shokushi

164[3]

---

[1] Upon meeting with Imperial Princess Shishi of the First Order (955-1015), they talked of times past and she composed (Shinkokinshū VIII: 778).

[2] An allusive variation on KKS XVIII: 947.

[3] A poem on the moon, when she presented a hundred poem sequence (Shinkokinshū IV: 380).

Round Eighty

Left

伊勢のうみの千ひろのはまにひろふともいまはなにてふかひかあるべき

ise no umi no chihiro no hama ni hirou to mo ima wa nani chō kai ka arubeki

By the sea at Ise Across a thousand yards of beach Would I gather them, but Now what use Might be these seashells?

159[1]

Right

もろともにいつかとくべきあふことのかたむすびなるよはのしたひも

morotomo ni itsuka tokubeki au koto no katamusubi naru yowa no shitahimo

Together When might we undo the mystery Of our meeting, and My half-knotted Underbelt at midnight?

160[2]

---

[1] GSS XIII: 927: When the Nishi-shijō Ise Virgin was still a princess, while there were some tender feelings between them, it was decided that she should become Ise Virgin, so at dawn on the following day, he had this sent to her, attached to a branch of sakaki.

[2] GSIS XII: 695: At a time when she was secretly feeling very gloomy, when she was asked why she was so downcast by someone she was close to, who perhaps guessed it was due to love—she thought this in her heart.