Left
おしなべて五月のそらを見渡せば草葉も水もみどりなりけり
| oshinabete satsuki no sora o miwataseba kusaba mo mizu mo midori narikeri | When the entire Fifth Month sky I gaze across, Blades of grass and water, too, Are green. |
72[1]
Right
くるるかとみれば明けぬる夏の夜をあかずとや鳴く山郭公
| kururu ka to mireba akenuru natsu no yo o akazu to ya naku yamahototogisu | Did you think ’twas sunset? When a glance would show the breaking dawn Of this summer night- Unsated by your song, do you sing on, Cuckoo in the mountains? |
73[2]
[1] Shinchokusenshū III: 152/Kokin rokujō I: 89
[1] Kokinshū III: 157, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine/Shinsen man’yōshū 57/Kokin rokujō VI: 4437
Left
夏の日を天雲しばしかくさなむぬるほどもなく明くる夜にせん
| natsu no hi o amagumo shibashi kakusanamu nuru hodo mo naku akuru yo ni sen | The summer sun is Briefly by heaven’s clouds Concealed! No time to sleep in The bright night they’ve made! |
68
Right
郭公なきつる夏の山辺にはくつていださぬ人やすむらむ
| hototogisu nakitsuru natsu no yamabe ni wa kutsute idasanu hito ya sumuramu | A cuckoo Singing in summer On the mountainside: Does a man who will not reveal The price of shoes live there? |
69
Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
| natsu no hi o kurashiwabinuru semi no ma ni wa ga nakisouru koe wa kikoyu ya | The summer sun They know not how to endure, So with the cicadas My sobbing Voice do you hear? |
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
| uramitsutsu todomuru hito no nakereba ya yama hototogisu ukaredete naku | How I constantly despise The one who’s staying here If he were gone, would The mountain cuckoo Have aimlessly left his home to sing? |
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.
Left
草しげみ下葉かれ行く夏の日もわくとしわけば袖やひちなん
| kusa shigemi shitaba kareyuku natsu no hi mo waku to shi wakeba sode ya hichinan | The grass is thick, with Underleaves withering In the summer sun, but When I try to forge on through, Will my sleeves seem soaked? |
53
Right
五月雨に物思ひをればほととぎす夜ぶかく鳴きていづち行くらん
| samidare ni mono’omoi oreba hototogisu yo fukaku nakite izuchi yukuramu | When in the drizzling rain, I’m sunk in gloomy thoughts, A cuckoo Sings in night’s depths: And where might it be going? |
Tomonori
54[1]
[1] Kokinshū III: 153/Shinsen man’yōshū 47/Kokin rokujō VI: 4441
Left
古郷をおもひやれども郭公こぞのごとくになれぞなくなる[1]
| furusato o omoiyaredomo hototogisu kozo no gotoku ni nare zo nakunaru | My ancient home Lingers fondly in my thoughts, yet The cuckoo Just as last year Sings as he was accustomed to do! |
49
Right
夏の夜の霜やおけるとみるまでに荒れたる宿を照す月かげ
| natsu no yo no shimo ya okeru to miru made ni aretaru yado o terasu tsukikage | Upon a summer night That frost has fallen It does appear at A ruined dwelling where The moonlight shines. |
50[2]
[1] The concluding two lines of this poem are missing from the contest’s text, but have been supplied by later scholarship.
[2] Kokin rokujō I: 286/A minor variant of this poem is included in Mandaishū (III: 730), with the headnote ‘A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress’ なつのよもしもやおけると見るまでにあれたるやどをてらすつきかな natsu no yo no / shimo ya okeru to / miru made ni / aretaru yado o / terasu tsuki kana ‘Upon a summer night / That frost has fallen / It does appear at / A ruined dwelling where / The moon does shine!’
Round Six
Left
夏山のみねのこずゑのたかければなく郭公こゑかはるかな
| natsuyama no mine no kozue no takakereba naku hototogisu koe kawaru kana | The summer mountain Peaks have treetops So high, that The crying cuckoo’s Calls stand for them. |
11
Right (Win)
おほあらきのもりの下草茂りあひてふかくも夏のなりにけるかな
| ōaraki no mori no shitagusa moriaite fukaku mo natsu no narinikeru kana | In Ōaraki Forest the undergrowth Has grown so thick, that Deep summer is Surely here! |
Mitsune
12
Round Five
Left (Win)
なつの夜のふすかとすればほととぎす鳴く一声に明くるしののめ
| natsu no yo no fusu ka to sureba hototogisu naku hitogoe ni akuru shinonome | On summer nights, I’m wondering whether to go to bed, when A cuckoo’s Single call Brightens the dawn. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
9
Right
郭公をちかへりなけうなゐこがうちたれがみの五月雨の空
| hototogisu ochikaerinake unaiko ga uchitaregami no samidare no sora | A cuckoo Calls again and again; A child’s shoulder-brushing Hair dangling down: A summer shower fills the skies. |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune 10[1]
[1] Shūishū II: 116: For a poetry contest at Sadafun’s house.
Later, on the second day of the Fifth Month, it appears that everyone, quite losing their composure, decorated their replies extravagantly and even painted pictures beneath them; later, on the seventh day of the same month, because His Majesty sent instructions to the ladies who had been present to compose love poems and attend him, on that day they attended him to present their poems.
ほととぎす待つにつけてもささがにのいづれの世にかしる時ぞ思ふ
| hototogisu matsu ni tsukete mo sasagani no izure no yo ni ka shiru toki zo omou | A cuckoo I do await, and yet The tiny crab— On which night is it?— Will know the time, I hope! |
Echizen
21
しるし有りてこぬよもあれや時鳥中中かけしくものふるまひ
| shirushi arite konu yo mo are ya hototogisu nakanaka kakeshi kumo no furumai | Should there be a sign, Would there really be a night he failed to come, That cuckoo? Truly to be trusted was The spider’s spinning… |
The Major Counsellor
22
