Cranes in a garden (庭上鶴馴)
Left
庭の面に人になれたるあしたづはよはひをきみにゆづるなるべし
niwa no omo ni hito ni naretaru ashitazu wa yowai o kimi ni yuzurunarubeshi | Upon this garden’s face stands, Accustomed to folk, A crane; His years to my Lord Will he bestow, no doubt! |
A Court Lady
31
Right
千とせふるやどのけしきやしるからん汀のたづのなれにけるかな
chitose furu yado no keshiki ya shirukaran migiwa no tazu no narenikeru kana | Is it that a thousand years old This dwelling does appear? For to the muddy Water’s edge the cranes Have become accustomed! |
A Court Lady
32
Pine seedlings on the Day of the Rat (子日小松)
Left
ねの日する松の葉ごとにかぞふれば猶ぞつきせぬきみが千とせは
ne no hi suru matsu no ha goto ni kazoureba nao zo tsukisenu kimi ga chitose wa | On this Day of the Rat Every single pine needle I count, but Still the number would not exhaust The millennia of my Lord… |
A Court Lady
1
Right
はるかなる君がよはひにくらべむと子日の松をけふは引くかな
harukanaru kimi ga yowai ni kurabemu to ne no hi no matsu o kyō wa hiku kana | Distant is My Lord’s age: To what might it compare? Why The Rat Day pines that We pick today! |
A Court Lady
2
The Seventh Night 七夜
つるの子のちとせをふべきはじめとは七日よりこそ祝ひ初めけれ
tsuru no ko no chitose o fubeki hajime to wa nanuka yori koso iwaisomekere | A crane chick Shall through a thousand years pass; The beginning is From this seventh day, for sure, as We begin our celebration! |
Daishin
The Seventh Night 七夜
ちとせふる祝の松のつるの子はけふすをたちて七夜なりけり
chitose furu iwai no matsu no tsuru no ko wa kyō su o tachite nanayo narikeri | Ageing for a thousand years, A celebratory pine is where A crane chick has Today made her nest and Reached her seventh night. |
Higo
Sakaki 榊
しもおけど色もかはらぬさかきばは君がちとせのかざしなりけり
shimo okedo iro mo kawaranu sakakiba wa kimi ga chitose no kazashi narikeri | Frost falls, yet Unchanged are the hues of Leaves upon the sacred tree: For my Lord a thousand years of Decoration will they be! |
Nakazane
New Year’s Day
よきことをますみの鏡今日見ればかねて千年のかげぞうかべる
yoki koto o masumi no kagami kyō mireba kanete chitose no kage zo ukaberu | When pleasant things In the clearest of glasses Today I see, Already a thousand years’ Sights have floated there… |
Higo
The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
をるきくの露にぬれたるけふよりやちとせの秋にあはむとすらん
oru kiku no tsuyu ni nuretaru kyō yori ya chitose no aki ni awamu to suran | Picked chrysanthemums’ Dew dampens us Today – will we For a thousand years of autumns Decide to meet together? |
Higo, from the Residence of the Kyōgoku Regent
京極関白家肥後
The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
けふごとに菊を薬とする人はちとせのなかは過ぐといふなり
kyō goto ni kiku o kusuri to suru hito wa chitose no naka wa sugu to iu nari | Every year today Chrysanthemums for medicine Do people take, that A thousand years together And more will they have, they say. |
Minamoto no Nakazane
源仲実
'Simply moving and elegant'