When the New Year’s Day was the Day of the Rat.[i]
ねのびしてたてたる松にうゑそへんちよかさぬべきとしのしるしに
| ne no bi shite tatetaru matsu ni uesoen chiyo kasanubeki toshi no shirushi ni | ‘Tis the Day of the Rat, so Standing, pines Let us plant, That a thousand ages will mount up As a sign this year![ii] |
[i] On the first Day of the Rat of the year, aristocrats would go out and gather a range of medicinal plants to brew a tonic to ward off ill health in the coming year. Among these were pine seedlings, which were displayed as symbols of longevity.
[ii] See: For the Day of the Rat celebrations at the palace in Eihō 4 [1084]. ねのびする野べのこまつをうつしうゑて年のをながく君ぞ引くべき ne no bi suru / nobe no komatsu o / utsushi’uete / toshi no o nagaku / kimi zo hikubeki ‘For the Day of the Rat / Pine seedlings from the plains / We transplant, that / The long thread of their years / Will draw our Lord with them!’ Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Michitoshi (Shinkokinshū VII: 729)
Left (Win)
はるのよのちよをひとよになしてしかあくやあかずやねでこころみむ
| haru no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni nashiteshika aku ya akazu ya nede kokoromimu | Spring nights By the thousand, into a single night Have been made— Am I satisfied or not, Sleepless, how will I know? |
25
Right
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこひなればわがみなれどももてぞわづらふ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu koi nakereba wagami naredomo mote zo wazurau | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My yearning, but without it My sorry self would yet Suffer from your treatment! |
26
Love on Meeting
Left
ゆめのごとなどかよるのみきみをみんくるるまつまもさだめなきよを
| yume no goto nadoka yoru nomi kimi o min kururu matsu ma mo sadame naki yo o | In every dream Why at night, alone Might I see you? Time spent pining for the dark Is so uncertain… |
23[i]
Right (Win)
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこころかないくちよねてかこひはさむらむ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu kokoro kana iku chiyo nete ka koi wa samuramu | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My heart! How many thousand nights of sleep Might restore my love to what it was? |
24
[i] An almost identical poem is included in Saigū nyōgo kishi joō uta’awase (23). The same poem is also included in Shūishū (XII: 734), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote ‘From a poetry match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’, and also in Shūishō (VII: 264) as an anonymous poem with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.
Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
Bamboo and Felicitations.
竹の葉にふりおほふ雪のうれをおもみしたにも千世の色はかくれず
| take no ha ni furi’ōu yuki no ure o omomi shita ni mo chiyo no iro wa kakurezu | The bamboo leaves Are covered with fallen snow, Tips so heavy, but Beneath, a thousand ages Hue cannot be concealed.[i] |
664
[i] See: Topic unknown. ささのはにふりつむ雪のうれをおもみ本くだちゆくわがさかりはも sasa no ha ni / furitsumu yuki no / ure o omomi / moto kudachiyuku / wa ga sakari wa mo ‘The dwarf bamboo leave are / Piled with fallen snow, / Tips so heavy that / They droop down to the roots— / So, too, my prosperity!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 891)
