Poetry Match held by Princess Yoshiko, Junior Consort and Ise Virgin
あら玉の春をもしらでふる郷は竜田の山の霞をぞみる
| aratama no haru o mo shirade furusato wa tatsuta no yama no kasumi o zo miru | Of the new jewel of Spring, too, all unknowing, From my ancient estate Upon the mount of Tatsuta The haze I see! |
1
あさみどり春はきぬとやみよしのの山のかすみのいろに見ゆらん
| asamidori haru wa kinu to ya miyoshino no yama no kasumi no iro ni miyuran | Has pale green Springtime come, I wonder? Upon fair Yoshino Mountain hazy Hues I seem to see. |
2[i]
風さむみこほれるたにのしたみづははるくることをとくとまつらし
| kaze samumi kōreru tani no shitamizu wa haru kuru koto o toku to matsurashi | The wind is chill upon The frozen valley where The waters beneath For spring to come To melt they seem to wait. |
3[ii]
山がはのながれまさるははるかぜやたにのこほりをふきてとくらむ
| yamagawa no nagare masaru wa harukaze ya tani no kōri o fukite tokuramu | A mountain stream’s Current flows fast: Have the gusts of springtime The valleys’ ice Melted with their blowing? |
かをとめてひともみにこぬむめのはなまちくらしつつひとりをるかな
| ka o tomete hito mo mi ni konu mume no hana machikurashitsutsu hitori oru kana | Their fragrance lingers, but Not a soul has come to see The plum blossom, so I am ever waiting for the evening, Picking them alone! |
5[iv]
わがやどのむめのにほひのみちぬればをりてつめると人やおもはむ
| wa ga yado no mume no nioi no michinureba orite tsumeru to hito ya omowamu | My dwelling with The glow of plum Has been filled, so I would pick and hold them With her in my thoughts. |
6[v]
我がやどの梢をたかみ朝ぼらけなく鶯のこゑはるかなり
| wa ga yado no kozue o takami asaborake naku uguisu no koe haruka ni | From my dwelling’s Treetops high At the break of dawn, Calling, a warbler’s Distant song. |
7[vi]
うぐひすのはつねほのかにあしひきのやまべとびいづるこゑきこゆなり
| uguisu no hatsune honoka ni ashihiki no yamabe tobi’izuru koe kikoyu nari | A warbler’s Faint first cry from The leg-wearying Mountainside flying out His song, I hear. |
はるさめはふりそめにしかうつたへに山をみどりになさむとやみし
| harusame wa furisomenishika utsutae ni yama o midori ni nasamu to ya mishi | The spring showers Have begun to fall, staining, Indiscriminately The mountains, and to green Turning them, it did appear. |
はるさめぞやまのみどりはそめてけるいざいまよりはぬれごろもみむ
| harusame zo yama no midori wa sometekeru iza ima yori wa nuregoromo mimu | Spring showers The mountains with green Have stained; Say, from now on Dampened garb we’ll see! |
10[ix]
ふりはへてきみがためにとはるののにつめるかたみのわかななりけり
| furihaete kimi ga tame ni to haru no no ni tsumeru katami no wakana narikeri | Deliberately Thinking of you From the plains in springtime Have I for a keepsake plucked These fresh herbs. |
11[x]
はるくればわかなつむのぞおもほゆるかたみにもたぬ人しなければ
| haru kureba wakana tsumu no zo omohoyuru katami ni motanu hito shi nakereba | When spring has come, The plains where I pluck fresh herbs Do come to mind; Though I have no keepsake For anyone, at all… |
12[xi]
をしむべきにはのさくらはさかりにて心ぞ花にまづうつりぬる
| oshimubeki niwa no sakura wa sakari nite kokoro zo hana ni mazu utsurinuru | I should regret that The cherries in my grounds Are so verdant; My heart among the blossom Has first shifted. |
13[xii]
わがやどのものともいはじさくらばなをりてくらぶるひともあらなむ
| wa ga yado no mono to mo iwaji sakurabana orite kuraburu hito mo aranamu | That they are my dwelling’s I cannot say, I think, of The cherry blossoms: To pick and compare them— I wonder, is there anyone? |
14[xiii]
青柳のいとは乱れて春ごとに露のたまらぬ緒とや成るらん
| aoyagi no ito wa midarete haru goto ni tsuyu no tamaranu o to ya naruran | Green willow Threads all a’tangle: Every single springtime With dewdrops unceasingly strung Strands do they become? |
15[xiv]
あをやぎのいとよりあふるほどもなくとくくるものはつきひなりけり
| aoyagi no ito yori afuru hodo mo naku toku kuru mono wa tsukihi narikeri | Since green willow Threads I did encounter, No time has passed, but Swiftly spinning by Are the days and months. |
16[xv]
やまぶきのはななきさとにすまばこそふりはへとほきゐでへとおもはめ
| yamabuki no hana naki sato ni sumaba koso furihae tōki ide e to omowame | Lacking kerria Blooms, on such an estate Should I live, then Especially, to distant Ide would my thoughts turn. |
17[xvi]
やまぶきのはなのみぎはににほへばやさはにかはづのこゑきこゆらん
| yamabuki no hana no migiwa ni nioeba ya sawa kawazu no koe kikoyuran | Is it kerria Blooms by the waters’ edge A’glow, that The marsh frogs’ Cries bring to my ears? |
18[xvii]
おそくさくふぢのはなゆゑいつしかとわれさへまつにかかりぬるかな
| osoku saku fuji no hana yue itsushika to ware sae matsu ni kakarinuru kana | Late to bloom are The wisteria blossoms, so Eagerly Even I, awaiting them, Am caught up! |
19[xviii]
わがやどのまつに久しき藤の花むらさきのには咲きやしぬらん
| wa ga yado no matsu ni hisashiki fuji no hana murasakino ni wa saki ya shinuran | At my dwelling So long have I awaited The wisteria blossom; Violet, on Murasaki Plain Have they flowered first? |
20[xix]
かぎりなきこひをのみしてよのなかにあはぬためしをわれやのこさむ
| kagirinaki koi o nomi shite yo no naka ni awamu tameshi o ware ya nokosamu | Limitlessly Yearning is all I do, In this mundane world Is an attempt to meet All the I might keep? |
21[xx]
くれごとにおなじみちにもまどふかなわがみのうらにこひはもえつつ
| kure goto ni onaji michi ni mo madou kana wa ga mi no ura ni koi wa moetsutsu | With every single evening Upon the selfsame path again I wander lost! Within my sorry self Passion’s fires ever smouldering… |
22[xxi]
ゆめのごとなどかよるしも君を見むくるるまつまもさだめなきよを
| yume no goto nadoka yoru shimo kimi o mimu kururu matsu ma mo sadame naki yo o | As in a dream Why is it that at night alone I might see you? I pine for twilight, too, In this uncertain world… |
23[xxii]
わかれてはくるるもしらずこひしなばきみやほどなきものをおもはむ
| wakarete wa kururu mo shirazu koi shinaba kimi ya hodo naki mono o omowamu | On parting, Unknowing of the twilight, Should I die of love, then Would you, swiftly, Feel anything at all? |
24[xxiii]
[i] This poem is included in Shokugosenshū (I: 3), attributed to Mibu no Tadamine, with the headnote ‘From the poetry match held by the Reikeiden Junior Consort during the reign of the Tenryaku Emperor’.
[ii] A minor variant of this poem is included in Tadami-shū (59), with the headnote ’On haze, from the Reikeiden poetry match, when I was a member of the Left.’ 風さむみこほれるたにのみづしもにはるくることをとくとまつらし kaze samumi / kōreru tani no / midu shimo ni / haru kuru koto o / toku to matsurashi ‘The wind is chill upon / The frozen valley where / Beneath, the waters / For spring to come / To melt do seem to wait.’
[iii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (72), with the headnote ‘Wind’.
[iv] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (63), with the headnote ‘Plum’.
[v] A minor variant of this poem is included in Tadami-shū (59), with the headnote ‘Plum’ わがやどにむめのにほひのみちぬればをりてつめると人やおもはむ wa ga yado ni / mume no nioi no / michinureba / orite tsumeru to / hito ya omowamu ‘At my dwelling / The glow of plum / Has filled all, so / I would pick and hold them / With her in my thoughts.’ (Tadami-shū 74)
[vi] This poem is included in Shokugoshūishū (I:13), attributed to Mibu no Tadami, with the headnote, ‘Warblers, from the poetry match held by Princess Yoshiko’. It was also included in Mandaishū (I: 98) with the headnote ‘Topic unknown’, and Tadami-shū (62), with the headnote ‘Warblers’.
[vii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (75), with the headnote, ‘Warblers’.
[viii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (61), with the headnote, ‘Sweet flags’, although this is clearly erroneous.
[ix] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (73), with the headnote, ‘Going out in the rain and getting wet’.
[x] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (60), with the headnote, ‘Fresh herbs’.
[xi] A minor variant of this poem is included in Tadami-shū (71), with the headnote ‘Fresh herbs’ はるくればわかなつむのぞおもほゆるかたみにもらぬ人のなければ haru kureba / wakana tsumu no zo / omohoyuru / katami ni moranu / hito no nakereba ‘When spring has come, / The plains where I pluck fresh herbs / Do come to mind; / Though I’ll pick no keepsake / For anyone, at all…’
[xii] This poem is included in Shokugosenshū (II: 86), attributed to Mibu no Tadamine, with the headnote ‘Topic unknown’. It is also included in Mandaishū (II: 256) with the same headnote, but attributed to Mibu no Tadami. Finally, it is included in Tadami-shū (65) with the headnote ‘Cherry’.
[xiii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (76), with the headnote ‘Cherry’.
[xiv] This poem is included in Shokugoshūishū (I:43), attributed to Mibu no Tadami, with the headnote ‘Willows, from the poetry match held by Princess Yoshiko, the Junior Consort’. It is also in Tadami-shū (64) with the headnote ‘Willow’.
[xv] A minor variant of this poem is included in Tadami-shū (77), with the headnote ‘Willow’. あをやぎのいとよりあふるほどもなくとくしるものはつきひなりけりaoyagi no / ito yori auru / hodo mo naku / toku shiru mono wa / tsukihi narikeri ‘Since green willow / Threads I did encounter, / No time has passed, but / Swiftly did I know that / Passing are the days and months.’
[xvi] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (66), with the headnote ‘Kerria’.
[xvii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (78), with the headnote ‘Kerria’.
[xviii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (67), with the headnote ‘Wisteria – included and won’. (Tadami-shū 67); it is also included in Reikeiden no nyōgo uta’awase (19).
[xix] This poem is included in Fubokushō (VI: 2170), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote ‘Wisteria, from the poetry match held by Princess Yoshiko, the Junior Consort’; it is also in Tadami-shū (79) with the headnote ‘Wisteria’.
[xx] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (68), with the headnote ‘Love without meeting – included and won’. An almost identical poem is also included in Reikeiden nyōgo uta’awase (21).
[xxi] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (80), with the headnote ‘Love without meeting’.
[xxii] This poem was included in Shūishū (XII: 734), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote, ‘From a poetry match held during the reign of the Tenryaku Emperor’. It was also later included in Shinshūishū (XIII: 1166) with the same attribution and the headnote ‘Among his love poems’. The headnote in Tadami-shū (69) is ‘Love on meeting – included and tied’. An almost identical poem is also included in Reikeiden no nyōgo uta’awase (21).
[xxiii] This poem is included in Tadami-shū (81), with the headnote ‘Love on meeting’.