Tag Archives: ancient capital

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 15

Original

こまなべてきみがみにくるかすがのはまつかさしげしあめにさはるな

koma nabete
kimi ga mi ni kuru
kasugano wa
matsukasa shigeshi
ame ni sawaru na
Mounts aligned,
My Lord has come to see
Kasuga Plain, where
The plentiful pinecones mean
He’ll be untroubled by rain!

43

Left (Win)

ぬれつつもあめにはゆかむまつかさのちとせのはるをもらさざらなむ

nuretsutsu mo
ame ni wa yukamu
matsukasa no
chitose no haru o
morasazaranamu
Even dampened
By the rain, let us go!
For the pinecones
Over a thousand years of springtimes
Will surely not allow a single drip!

44[1]

Right

かすがののまつかさだにもなかりせばあめふるさとにわれこましやは

kasugano no
matsukasa dani mo
nakariseba
ame furu sato ni
ware komashi ya wa
If on Kasuga Plain
Even pinecones
Were there not, then,
To the rainswept ancient capital
Why would I come at all?

45


[1] This poem is included in Ise-shū (107) with the headnote ‘From the time of the Kasuga Poetry Match’, implying that this is Ise’s work, even if she is not identified as the poet in the text here.

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 12

Original

ふるさとのかすがののべのくさもきもはるにふたたびあふことしかな

furusato no
kasuga no nobe no
kusa mo ki mo
haru ni futatabi
au kotoshi kana
At the ancient capital
Upon Kasuga’s plain,
Grasses and trees, both,
Springtime have twice
Met this year! [1]

Mitsune
34

Left (Win)

はるながらまたはるにあふかすがのにおひぬくさきはねたくやあるらん

haru nagara
mata haru ni au
kasugano ni
oinu kusaki wa
netaku ya aruran
‘Tis spring, but
That springtime once more has come
To Kasuga Plain,
Won’t the grasses and trees growing there
Be envied, indeed?

35

Right

ゆきかへるみちのやどりかかすがののくさきにはなのたびかさぬらむ

yukikaeru
michi no yadori ka
kasugano no
kusaki ni hana no
tabikasanuramu
Is it that arriving and departing,
The lodging on spring’s path lies
On Kasuga Plain, so
On the grasses and trees, blossom
Appears time and time again?

36


[1] This poem occurs in Mitsune-shū (322) with the same headnote as for poem (22), above. It was also included in Shinsenzaishū (X: 980), with the headnote, ‘Composed in place of the Governor of Yamato in Engi 21, on the day when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber visited the shrine at Kasuga.’

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 08

Original

きみしなほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりじとぞおもふ

kimi shi nao
kaku shi kayowaba
isonokami
furuki miyako mo
furiji to zo omou
O, my Lady,
Should you thus ever visit
Isonokami, where at
Furu, the ancient capital, too,
Never stales, I feel![1]

Mitsune
22

Left (Win)

かよふともしられじものをふるさとはかすがのやまのふもとならねば

kayou tomo
shirareji mono o
furusato wa
kasuga no yama no
fumoto naraneba
To ever visit there is something
Folk might not know, for
The ancient capital
Among Kasuga Mountain’s
Foothills does not lie…

23

Right

はるごとにきてはみるともいそのかみふりにしさとのなにはかはらじ

haru goto ni
kite wa miru tomo
isonokami
furinishi sato no
nani wa kawaraji
Every single spring
I come to gaze, yet
At Isonokami,
Furu’s ancient capital
Does nothing ever change?

24


[1] A variant of this poem occurs in Mitsune’s personal collection: When the Priestly Emperor’s Rokujō Lady of the Bedchamber visited Kasuga, I met and conversed with Lord Tadafusa, the Governor of Yamato, and he mentioned that he had been asked to compose eight quality poems in the name of his province, so I sent him two of my own. The date was the 7th day of the Third Month, Engi 21 [17.4.921]. きくになほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりしとぞおもふ kiku ni nao / kaku shi kayowaba / isonokami / furuki Miyako mo / furishi to zo omou ‘O, I hear that / Should you ever thus visit / Isonokami, where at / Furu, the ancient capital, too, / Has grown old, I feel.’(Mitsune-shū 323)

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 06

Original

うぐひすのなきつるなへにかすがののけふのみゆきをはなとこそみれ

uguisu no
nakitsuru nae ni
kasugano no
kyō no miyuki o
hana to koso mire
While the warbler
Sings on
Kasuga Plain
Today, accompanying the progress, snow
As blossom does appear.[1]

16

Left (Win)

いまはしもはなとぞいはむかすがののはるのみゆきをなにとかは見む

ima wa shimo
hana to zo iwamu
kasugano no
haru no miyuki o
nani to ka wa mimu
Now, of all,
The blossom, I would describe,
On Kasuga Plain, as
Springtime progress snow—
What else can I say?

17

Right

ふるさとにゆきまじりたるはなと見ばわれにおくるなのべのうぐひす

furusato ni
yukimajiritaru
hana to miba
ware ni okuru na
nobe no uguisu
Around the ancient capital
Have I gone amidst the snow—
If as blossom I did see it, then,
O, don’t send me off,
Warbler upon the plain!

18


[1] SIS 1044 attributed to Fujiwara no Tadafusa ‘Headnote ‘Among the many poems presented by provincial officials, when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber visited Kasuga.’

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 05

Original

ふるさとにさくとわびつるさくらばなことしぞきみに見えぬべらなる

furusato ni
saku to wabitsuru
sakurabana
kotoshi zo kimi ni
mienuberanaru
In the ancient capital
In lonely sadness bloom
The cherry blossoms, that
This year, my Lady
Has been able to behold. [1]

13

Left

ふるさととおもひなわびそさくらばなほかのいろにもおとらざりけり

furusato to
omoi na wabi so
sakurabana
hoka no iro ni mo
otorazarikeri
That ‘tis an ancient place
Think not so sadly!
For the cherry blossoms
To any other hues
Are not inferior at all!

14

Right (Win)

見そめずもあらましものをふるさとのはなにこころのうつりぬるかな

misomezu mo
aramashi mono o
furusato no
hana ni kokoro no
utsurinuru kana
They would not first catch they eye
One would have thought, but
The ancient capital’s
Blossoms in the heart
Do linger! [2]

15


[1] SIS XVI: 1045 Headnote ‘Among the many poems presented by provincial officials, when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber visited Kasuga.’

[2] Variants of this poem attributed to Ise, appear in both Ise-shū みそめずもあらましものをからころもたつなのみしてきるよなきかな misomezu mo / aramashi mono o / karakoromo / tatsu na nomi shite / kiru yo naki kana ‘It would not first catch the eye / One would have thought, but / A Cathay robe / Is singly remarkable in name / Though it is worn on nights not a one!’(230) and Shokugoshūishū みそめずはあらましものを山ふかみ花に心のとまりぬるかな misomezu wa / aramashi mono o / yama fukami / hana ni kokoro no / tomarinuru kana ‘They would not first catch the eye / One would have thought, but / Deep within the mountains / The blossoms in the heart / Have halted!’(II: 99)