Composed as a poem on blossom.
よしの山こぞのしほりのみちかへてまだ見ぬかたの花をたづねん
yoshino yama
kozo no shiore no
michi kaete
mada minu kata no
hana o tazunen |
O, Mount Yoshino!
From last year’s trail of broken branches,
I would switch my path and
On ways yet unseen
Pay a visit to the blossoms! |
The Monk Saigyō
西行
Topic unknown
ゆかむ人こん人しのべ春がすみたつたの山のはつさくら花
yukamu hito
kon hito shinobe
harugasumi
tatsuta no yama no
hatsu sakurabana | Folk who go
And those who come, secretly do dwell upon
The haze of Spring
Over Mount Tatsuta’s
First flowering cherry blossoms. |
Middle Councillor [Ōtomo no] Yakamochi
大伴家持
When she offered a hundred poem sequence.
いまさくらさきぬと見えてうすぐもり春にかすめるよのけしきかな
ima sakura
sakinu to miete
usugumori
haru ni kasumeru
yo no keshiki kana |
Now the cherry
Has flowered, it seems,
A little clouded –
The heights of hazy Spring
Is how all feels, indeed. |
Princess Shokushi
式子内親王
Topic unknown.
よしの山さくらがえだにゆきちりて花をそげなるとしにもあるかな
yoshino yama
sakura ga eda ni
yuki chirite
hana wo sogenaru
toshi ni mo aru kana |
O, Mount Yoshino!
On the cherry branches
Sits snow –
The blossom will be late
This year, I fear. |
The Monk Saigyō
西行
After he had left the world, he saw blossom by the Shira River and composed:
散るを見で歸る心やさくら花むかしに變るしるしなるらん
tiru wo mide
kaFeru kokoro ya
sakurabana
mukasi ni kaFaru
sirusi naruran |
Falling flowers I’d not see –
But head home: that is my feeling;
The cherry blossoms,
How different was my past,
Reveal, perhaps. |
The Monk En’i
Composed when cherry blossom was falling profusely in her garden.
風だにも吹き拂はずば庭櫻ちるともはるのうちはみてまし
kaze dani mo
Fuki FaraFazuba
niFazakura
tiru tomo Faru no
uti Fa mitemasi |
AIf the wind, at least,
Does not blow clean
My garden cherries,
Fall they may, but while Spring
Lasts, I would gaze upon them. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
我が宿の櫻はかひもなかりけり主人からこそ人も見にくれ
wa ga yado no
sakura Fa kaFi mo
nakarikeri
aruzi kara koso
Fito mo mi ni kure |
At my house
For cherries to bloom
Is pointless;
It is their mistress
That folk come to see! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
人も見ぬ宿に櫻を植ゑたれば花もて窶す身とぞ成りぬる
Fito mo minu
yado ni sakura wo
uwetareba
Fana mote yatusu
mi to zo narinuru |
No one at all sees
This house with cherries
Planted, so
The blossoms must
Have made me seedy! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
梅の香を櫻の花ににほはせて柳がえだにさかせてしがな
mume no ka wo
sakura no Fana ni
niFoFasete
yanagi ga eda ni
sakasetesi gana |
The scent of plum
From cherry blossoms
Wafting a perfumed glow,
On willow branches
I would set them to bloom. |
Nakahara no Munetoki (960-1011)
His reply:
風にしも何かまかせん櫻花匂あかぬに散るはうかりき
kaze ni si mo
nani ka makasen
sakurabana
niFoFi akanu ni
tiru Fa ukariki |
With the wind,
What is there to rest?
The cherry blossoms
Hue did not sate me, so
Their falling is a bitter grief. |
[Fujiwara no] Atsutada (906-943)
'Simply moving and elegant'
