Ancient Estates 故郷
むぐらはひよもぎがそまとあれはててふりにし里は人かげもせず
mugurahai yomogi ga soma to arehatete furinishi sato wa hitokage mo sezu | Creepers crawl around The mugwort and brushwood Desolate and wild; At this aged estate There is no trace of anyone, at all. |
Higo
Ancient Estates 故郷
八重むぐらへだてつつふる故郷にいづくぞとだにとふ人もなし
yaemugura hedatetsutsu furu furusato ni izuku zo to dani tou hito mo nashi | With eightfold layers of tangled creepers Interfering, of the old, Ancient estate Not even where it lies Is asked by anyone at all. |
Akinaka
On a day when I had been visiting temples, to the Captain of the Outer Palace Guards:
いそがなむ散りもこそすれもみぢするまさきのかづら遲くゝるとて
isoganamu
tiri mo koso sure
momidi suru
masaki no kadura
osoku kuru tote |
Make haste!
For they will fall,
Taking on autumn shades,
The evergreen creepers,
Should you dally more! |
Topic unknown.
あき風の吹き裏がへす葛の葉のうらみても猶うらめしき哉
akikaze no
Fuki uragaFesu
kuzu no Fa no
uramitemo naFo
urameshiki kana |
The autumn wind,
Gusting, reveals the underside
Of trailing creepers’ leaves;
Catching a glimpse into your turncoat heart
How bitter I do feel! |
Taira no Sadafun
いかにせむ葛はふ松の時のまも恨みて吹かぬ秋風ぞなき
ika ni semu
kuzu hau matsu no
toki no ma mo
uramite fukanu
akikaze zo naki |
What am I to do?
The creepers twining round the pine
At every moment
Reveal their bitter undersides in the ever
Gusting autumn wind. |
Topic Unknown.
忘るなよ別れ路に生ふる葛の葉の秋風吹かば今歸來む
wasuru na yo
wakaredi ni oFuru
kuzu no Fa no
akikaze Fukaba
ima kaFerikomu |
O, do not forget me,
For growing on our parting path
Are trailing creepers’ leaves,
And when the autumn wind does blow
Shall I return. |
Anonymous
故郷を別路に生ふる葛の葉の風は吹けどもかへる世もなし
furusato o
wakareji ni ouru
kuzu no ha no
kaze wa fukedomo
kaeru yo mo nashi |
From my home
I parted, and along the path grew
Trailing creepers’ leaves,
Blown by the wind, yet
Never in this world shall I return there. |
On fresh growth by creepers: meeting at a meagre hut.
いも植て門は葎のわか葉哉
imo uete
kado wa mugura no
wakaba kana |
Potatoes planted, and
By the door the creepers’
Leaves are everywhere. |
(1688)
When people were composing poems on ‘one’s feelings on arriving at a run-down house in autumn’ at the Kawara estate.
八重葎茂れる宿のさびしきに人こそ見えぬ秋は來にけり
yaFe mugura
sigereru yado no
sabisiki ni
Fito koso mienu
aki Fa kinikeri |
Overlaying creepers
Grow thickly on this house,
So desolate,
Folk nowhere to be seen
With the coming of autumn. |
The Monk Egyō
恵慶
'Simply moving and elegant'