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秋ののにささわけしあさの袖よりもあはでこしよぞひちまさりける
| aki no no ni sasa wakesi asa no sode yori mo aFade kosi yo zo Fiti masarikeru |
In the autumn fields Parting bamboo grass in the morning My sleeves On the nights when, without a meet, I head home, Are far, far wetter. |
Ariwara no Narihira
有原業平
Composed during a gentle rain and sent to a woman he had been secretly seeing since the first day of the Third Month.
おきもせずねもせで夜をあかしては春の物とてながめくらしつ
| oki mo sezu ne mo sede yoru wo akasite Fa Faru no mono tote nagame kurasitu |
Not awake and yet Not sleepless through the night, and With the dawn Comes a scene from Spring: Ever-falling rain to gaze upon all day. |
Ariwara no Narihira (825-880)
有原業平
At the archery display by the Bodyguards of the Right on the Sixth day of the Fifth month, faintly seeing a lady’s face through the curtains of her carriage, he composed this, and sent it to her.
見ずもあらず見もせぬ人のこひしくはあやなくけふやながめくらさむ
| mizu mo arazu mi mo senu Fito no koFisiku Fa ayanaku keFu ya nagamekurasan |
Not unseen, Yet not seen, lady; Have I longed To no purpose, today, Lost in thoughts of you? |
Ariwara no Narihira
有原業平
Once, when he had gone hunting in the company of Prince Koretaka, they dismounted by the banks of a river called Ama no Gawa (River of Heaven), and while they were tippling, the Prince commanded that Narihira offer him a wine cup with a poem expressing the feelings of a hunter arriving at the river of Heaven, so he composed the following:
かりくらしたなばたつめにやどからむあまのかはらに我はきにけり
| kari kurasi tanabatatume ni yado karamu ama no kaFara ni ware Fa kinkeri | While hunting night is falling, So from the Weaver Maid Let us beg lodging For to the Riverbank of Heaven Have we come! |
Ariwara no Narihira
有原業平
When they arrived at the banks of the Sumida River, between the provinces of Musashi and Shimotsūsa, they thought fondly of the capital and, dismounting for a while on the river bank, they thought sadly about how far they had come. While they were gazing into space, the ferryman said, “Get on the boat quickly! The sun is going down.” So, they boarded and were about to set off, each one thinking miserably about someone he had left in the capital, when they saw a white bird with a red bill and legs splashing about in the river shallows. As it was a bird never seen in the capital, none of them could say what it was, so they asked the ferryman, and he replied that it was a miyakodori (capital bird); hearing this, Narihira composed the following:
名にしおはばいざ事とはむ宮こどりわが思ふ人はありやなしやと
| na ni si oFaba iza koto toFamu miyakodori wa ga omoFu Fito Fa ari ya nasi ya to |
If your name fits you, There’s something I would ask, O, Capital bird: Is the lady in my thoughts Still quite safe? |
Ariwara no Narihira
有原業平
Once, he was travelling to the Eastlands with one or two friends. On reaching a place called Yatsuhashi in the province of Mikawa, they saw there were irises (kakitsubata) blooming particularly beautifully by the river. Dismounting, and resting in the shade of a tree, he composed this poem, expressing the feelings of someone homesick, with the correct syllable of kakitsubata at the beginning of each line.
唐衣きつつなれにしつましあればはるばるきぬるたびをしぞ思ふ
| karakoromo kitutu narenisi tuma si areba Farubaru kinuru tabi wo si zo omoFu |
A Chinese robe I have worn so often I know it As I do my wife; Having come so far This journey rests heavy on my thoughts. |
Ariwara no Narihira
有原業平