Tag Archives: cuckoo

Teiji-in uta’awase 38

Left

さくはなのちりつつうかぶみづのおもにいかでうき草ねざしそめけむ

saku hana no
chiritsutsu ukabu
mizu no omo ni
ikade ukikusa
nezashi somekemu
Blossom blooming and
Ever scattering, and floating
Upon the surface of the water,
So why might the waterweed
Begin to put down roots?

76

Right

まつひとはつねならなくにほととぎすおもひのほかになかばうからむ

matsu hito wa
tsune naranaku ni
hototogisu
omoi no hoka ni
nakaba ukaramu
The one awaiting you is
Ever changing,
O, cuckoo, but
If, my longing you should not meet
With your song, how I will hate you!

77

Teiji-in uta’awase 36

Five poems on Summer—not matched.

Left

いづれをかそれともわかむうのはなのさけるかきねをてらすつきかげ

izure o ka
sore tomo wakamu
u no hana no
sakeru kakine o
terasu tsukikage
How is it that
I might distinguish them:
Deutzia flowers
Blooming on a brushwood fence, and
Shining moonlight?

72

Right

この夏もかはらざりけりはつこゑは習志の岡になくほととぎす

kono natsu mo
kawarazarikeri
hatsukoe wa
narashi no oka ni
naku hototogisu
This summer, too,
Is no different;
The first song
Upon Narashi Hill is
A calling cuckoo.

73

Teiji-in uta’awase 25

Left

さよふけてなどかなくらむほととぎすたびねのやどをかすひとやなき

sayo fukete
nado ka nakuramu
hototogisu
tabine no yado o
kasu hito ya naki
Brief night breaks, so
Why does he cry so?
The cuckoo
A lodging on his journey
Has no one to lend him!

49

Right (Win)

なつのいけによるべさだめぬうきくさのみづよりほかにゆくかたもなし

natsu no ike ni
yorube sadamenu
ukikusa no
mizu yori hoka ni
yuku kata mo nashi
Upon the pond in summer
No destination has
The waterweed, so
Other than the water
It has no place to go…

Okikaze
50

Teiji-in uta’awase 24

Left (Win)

われききてひとにはつげむほととぎすおもふもしるくまづここになけ

ware kikite
hito ni wa tsugeku
hototogisu
omou shiruku
mazu koko ni nake
I listen, and
To folk will tell,
O, cuckoo, so
Where I am lost in thoughts of you,
Sing here first!

Mitsune
47

Right

かたをかのあしたのはらをとよむまでやまほととぎすいまぞなくなる

kataoka no
ashita no hara o
toyomu made
yamahototogisu
ima zo nakunaru
Until in Kataoka
The plain of Ashita
Does resound
The mountain cuckoos
Are singing now!

48

When ‘Until in Kataoka / The plain of Ashita / Does resound’ had been recited, His Majesty laughed, saying, ‘It would be impossible for it to resound,’ so the final part of the poem was not recited and it lost.

Teiji-in uta’awase 23

Left (Tie)

むらさきにあふみづなれやかきつばたそこのいろさへかはらざるらむ

murasaki ni
au mizu nare ya
kakitsubata
soko no iro sae
kawararuramu
Violet
Suits the water here!
Irises
The hues beneath
Seem to have changed.

Mitsune
45

Right

ほととぎすこゑのみするはふくかぜのおとはのやまになけばなりけり

hototogisu
koe nomi suru wa
fuku kaze no
otowa no yama ni
nakeba narikeri
A cuckoo’s
Call alone upon
The gusting wind;
Wingbeats sound on
Otowa Mountain
Where he does sing.

46

Teiji-in uta’awase 22

Left (Tie)

やまざとにしるひともがなほととぎすなきぬときかばつげもくるがに

yamazato ni
shiru hito mogana
hototogisu
nakinu to kikaba
tsuge mo kuru gani
At a mountain retreat,
I would I had a friend,
O, cuckoo,
That on hearing your call,
He would tell me so…

Okikaze

43

Right

なつきぬとひとしもつげぬわがやどにやまほととぎすはやくなくなり

natsu kinu to
hito shimo tsugenu
wa ga yado ni
yamahototogisu
hayaku nakunari
Summer has come—that
Folk do tell;
At my home
A mountain cuckoo
Gives an early call.

44

Teiji-in uta’awase 21

Summer

Five poems on the Fourth Month

Left (Win)

みやまいでてまづはつこゑはほととぎすよぶかくまたむわがやどになけ

miyama idete
mazu hatsukoe wa
hototogisu
yobu kaku matamu
wa ga yado ni nake
Emerging from the mountains deep,
Early, your first call,
Cuckoo—
Where I would be waiting all night long
At my house, o, sing out!

Masakata[i]

41

Right

けふよりはなつのころもになりぬれどきるひとさへはかはらざりけり

kyō yori wa
natsu no koromo ni
narinuredo
kiru hito sae wa
kawarazarikeri
From today
Summer garb
We have put on, yet
The folk who wear it
Have not changed at all.

Mitsune
42

‘The Right is uninteresting,’ so it lost.


[i] Minamoto no Masakata 源雅固 (dates unknown). A son of Minamoto no Sada’ari 源定有 (dates unknown), one of the sons of Emperor Montoku (827-858; r. 850-858).