Tag Archives: cherry blossoms

Tsurayuki-shū 105

[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

GSIS II: 145

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

SIS XX: 1277

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

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 13

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

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 5

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

SKKS II: 109

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

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 2

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