[One of] eight poems composed for painting of folk sleeping beneath the cherry blossoms on a folding screen in the palace of the Heir Apparent, in the Fouth Month, Engi 18 [May, 918].
かつみつつあかずとおもふに桜花散りなむ後ぞかねて恋しき
katsu mitsutsu akazu to omofu ni sakurabana chirinamu nochi zo kanete koishiki Ever did I once gaze on you, and Feel that never would I get my fill, O, cherry blossoms, But now you are scattered I long for you as before…
Ki no Tsurayuki
Composed on seeing scattered cherry blossoms floating on the stream at his house.
ここにこぬ人もみよとてさくらばな水の心にまかせてぞやる
koko ni konu Fito mo miyo tote sakurabana midu no kokoro ni makasete zo yaru To folk who fail to come Here, I’d say, ‘Behold!’ O, cherry blossoms, The water’s heart I’ll trust, to send you on your way.
Ōe no Yoshitoki
Topic unknown
しらせばや涙もいまは紅のうすはなざくら色に出でつつ
shiraseba ya namida mo ima wa kurenai no usu hanazakura iro ni idetsutsu Should I let you know? My tears, too, now, are Scarlet as The pale cherry blossoms Hues ever emerge.
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
雪かとぞよそにみつれど桜花をりては似たる色なかりけり
yuki ka to zo yoso ni mitsuredo sakurabana orite wa nitaru iro nakarikeri Are they snow, I wondered Gazing from afar, yet These cherry blossoms, Plucked, have no Similar hue at all.
Koshikibu no Naishi
In the spring of the year following the early death of Onomiya Palace Minister, the cherry blossoms bloomed profusely, and he composed on the topic of voicing one’s thoughts a little.
桜花にほふものから露けきはこのめも物を思ふなるべし
sakuranbana niFoFu mono kara tuyukeki Fa kono me mo mono wo omoFunarubesi Cherry blossoms Have such a glow, that Dewdrops fill My eyes as sadness Seems to fill my thoughts.
Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu
Composed on falling blossoms on a mountain path.
さくらばなみちみえぬまでちりにけりいかがはすべきしがのやまごえ
sakurabana miti mienu made tirinikeri ikaga Fa subeki siga no yamagoe Cherry blossoms Until the path is lost to view Have fallen; Whatever can I do On the path across the Shiga Mountains?
Tachibana no Narimoto
Left
霞立つ春の山辺にさくら花あかず散るとやうぐひすの鳴く
kasumi tatsu haru no yamabe ni sakurabana akazu chiru to ya uguisu no naku Hazes rise from The springtime moutainside, where With cherry blossoms’ Scattering unsated, perhaps, The warbler sings.
25[1]
Right
あまの原春はことにも見ゆるかな雲のたてるも色こかりけり
ama no hara haru wa koto ni mo miyuru kana kumo no tateru mo iro kokarikeri Upon the Plain of Heaven The spring is especially Revealed! The clouds stand tall in Vibrant hues.
26
[1] Shinkokinshū II: 109/Shinsen man’yōshū 31
Left
鶯はむべもなくらん花ざくら咲くとみしまにうつろひにけり
uguisu wa mube mo nakuran hanazakura saku to mishi ma ni utsuroinikeri The bush warbler, Indeed, does seem to sing among The cherry blossoms, that In the moment that I saw them bloom Did quite fade away.
9
Right
はる霞たなびく野辺のわか菜にもなりみてしかな人もつむやと
harugasumi tanabiku nobe no wakana ni mo narimiteshi kana hito mo tsumu ya to Spring haze Drifting through the fields over The new herbs I would become— For then she might pick me, perhaps…
Okikaze 10[1]
[1] Kokinshū XIX: 1031
From the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
霞立つ春の山辺にさくら花あかず散るとやうぐひすの鳴く
kasumi tatsu haru no yamabe ni sakurabana akazu chiru to ya uguisu no naku Hazes rise from The springtime moutainside, where With cherry blossoms’ Scattering unsated, perhaps, The warbler sings.
Anonymous
Round Two
Left
年のうちに春はきにけりひととせをこぞとやいはん今年とやいはん
toshi no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri hito tose o kozo to ya iwan kotoshi to ya iwan Within the year Spring has come once more, so A single year: Should I say ‘tis last year, or Should I say ‘tis this one?
Ariwara no Motokata 3[1]
Right (Win)
みよしのの山べにさけるさくら花雪かとのみぞあやまたれける
miyoshino no yamabe ni sakeru sakurabana yuki ka to nomi zo ayamatarekeru In fair Yoshino In the mountains, the flowering Cherry blossoms: Simply for snow I did mistake them!
Ki no Tomonori
4[2]
[1] Kokin rokujō I: 1
[2] Kokinshū I: 60
Posts navigation
'Simply moving and elegant'