Composed on the conception of hearing a stag while moored at night.
うきねするゐなのみなとにきこゆなりしかのねおろすみねの松かぜ
ukinesuru
wina no minato ni
kikoyunari
sika no ne orosu
mine no matukaze | In fitful sleep
At Ina Harbour
Do I hear
A stag’s bell descending
From the peaks upon the pinewinds. |
Lord Fujiwara no Takanobu
Created with Soan.
With the passage of the day, so life falls into decline.
けふくれぬいのちもしかとおどろかす入あひのかねの音ぞかなしき
kyō kurenu
inochi mo shika to
odorokasu
iriai no kane no
oto zo kanashiki | The day has turned to twilight, and so
Does life before you
Notice it;
The sunset bell’s
Toll is sad, indeed. |
Monk Jakunen
Created with Soan.
The Middle of Autumn
Left (Tie)
くもゐよりてりやまさるときよたきのそこにてもみむあきのつきかげ
kumoi yori
teri ya masaru to
kiyotaki no
soko nite mo mimu
aki no tsukikage | From the clouds
Does it shine most bright?
On Kiyotaki’s
Riverbed I see
Autumn moonlight. |
13
Right
人しれぬねをやなくらんあきはぎのはなさくまでにしかのこゑせぬ
hito shirenu
ne o ya nakuran
aki hagi no
hana saku made ni
shika no koe senu | That no one may know
Quietly, does he cry?
Until the autumn bush clover
Blooms flower
The stag’s bell stays silent. |
Mitsune
14
The Eighth Month.
人しれぬねをやなくらん秋萩の色づくまでに鹿の声せぬ
hito shirenu
ne o ya nakuran
aki hagi no
irozuku made ni
shika no koe senu | That no one may know
Quietly, does he cry?
Until the autumn bush clover
Shows fair hues
The stag’s bell stays silent. |
Mitsune
Among the poems he presented to the Hiyoshi Shrine.
みるままにかねのねとほくなりにけり雲もかさなる峰の古寺
miru mama ni
kane no ne tōku
narinikeri
kumo mo kazanaru
mine no furutera | As I gaze upon it
The bell’s toll distant
Does become;
Clouds lie upon
The ancient temple on the mountain’s peak. |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Masayo
An ancient temple’s bell.
波の音にうちまじりても聞えけり石山寺の入あひのかね
nami no oto ni
uchimajiritemo
kikoekeri
ishiyamadera no
iriai no kane | With it the sound of waves
Is blended, yet
I heard it still—
At Ishiyamadera
The tolling of the sunset bell. |
Kinoshite Takafumi
山寺のあか月がたの鐘のおとをわがおもふことなるときかばや
yamadera no
akatsukigata no
kane no oto o
wa ga omou koto
naru to kikaba ya | At a mountain temple
Toward the edge of dawn
The tolling of the bell
Becomes the focus of my thoughts—
Is that what I hear? |
Fujiwara no Sadayori
In a hundred poem sequence which he presented to the Hiyoshi Shrine.
春ふかき野でらたちこむる夕霞つつみのこせるかねの音かな
haru fukaki
nodera tachikomuru
yūgasumi
tsutsumi nokoseru
kane no oto kana | Deep in springtime
All around a temple ‘mong the meadows arises
Evening haze,
Lingering to envelop
The tolling of the bell! |
Former Major Archbishop Jichin [Jien]
前大僧正慈鎮[慈円]
Temples 寺
法の声入あひのかねにひびきあひてあはれつきせぬふるき山寺
nori no koe
iriai no kane ni
hibiki aite
aware tsukisenu
furuki yamadera | Voices chanting sutras, and
The sunset bell
Resound together with
Limitless compassion at
An ancient mountain temple. |
Daishin
Temples 寺
有為の世はけふかあすかのかねの音をあはれいつまできかんとすらん
ui no yo wa
kyō ka asu ka no
kane no oto o
aware itsu made
kikan to suran | In this mundane world
Today and tomorrow, too,
The bell tolls on –
How long will its melancholy
I continue to hear? |
Kanemasa
'Simply moving and elegant'
