Boats 船
水あさみ川せの波はたつものをくだすう舟のみつや何なる
mizu asami
kawase no nami wa
tatsu mono o
kudasu ubune no
mitsu ya ika naru | How shallow the waters in
The river rapids where waves
Arise –
What will become of the cormorant boats, sailing down
If they be full? |
Tadafusa
夜をかさね戸無瀬の方に見ゆる火は鵜舟に灯すか篝なりけり
yo o kasane
tonase no kata ni
miyuru hi wa
ubune ni tomosu
kagari narikeri |
Night upon night
Towards Tonase
Can I see the lights;
Kindled upon the cormorant boats
Are torches. |
大堰川鵜舟の手縄うちはへて夜な夜な瀬せをすみかとぞする
ōikawa
ubune no tanawa
uchihaete
yonayona sese o
sumika to zo suru |
Upon the River Ōi
The cormorant boats’ hawsers
Are tangled;
Night after night upon the rapids
Do they make their dwelling. |
篝火のかげをうつして大堰川鵜舟くださぬよははあらじな
kagaribi no
kage o utsushite
ōigawa
ubune kudasanu
yo wa araji na |
The torches’
Light reflects from
The River Ōi:
Cormorant boats do not drift downstream
On no night at all… |
鵜舟さしよるはよるはと幾夜かはよとのわたりをおりのぼるらむ
ubune sashi
yoruwa yoruwa to
ikuyo kawa
yoto no watari o
orinoboruramu |
The cormorant boats head
Out at midnight and
Every night the river’s
Evening sounds cross with
Their rise and fall… |
まよふべき契りぞ深き鵜飼舟この夜も月のいるをまちける
mayoubeki
chigiri zo fukaki
ukaibune
kono yo mo tsuki no
iri o machikeru |
Complicated, indeed,
Are their lasting bonds:
The cormorant boats
On this night, too, moon
Set do await… |
Cormorant Fishing on the River(鵜河)
大井河う舟にともすかがり火のかかる世にあふあゆぞはかなき
ōigawa
ubune ni tomosu
kagaribi no
kakaru se ni au
ayu zo hakanaki | On the River Ōi
The cormorant boats’ kindled
Torches
Reflect off the rushing rapids;
What sorrow for the sweetfish! |
Daishin
Composed on the conception of cormorants on the river for a hundred poem sequence.
はやせ川みをさかのぼるうかひ舟まつこの世にもいかかくるしき
FayasegaFa
mi wo sakanoboru
ukaFibune
matu kono yo ni mo
ikaga kurusiki |
Upon the River Hayase
Poling upstream go
The cormorant boats:
Awaiting them tonight
Is sad beyond all measure. |
Emperor Sutoku
This poem is also Kyūan hyakushu 28.
'Simply moving and elegant'