Tag Archives: eda

Teiji-in uta’awase 01

Spring

Ten Poems on the Second Month

Left

あをやぎのえだにかかれるはるさめはいともてぬけるたまかとぞみる

aoyagi no
eda ni kakareru
harusame wa
ito mo te nukeru
tama ka to zo miru
Upon the green willow
Branches hang
Spring raindrops—
As if each frond were hand-threaded
With gems do they appear.

Ise
1

Right

あさみどりそめてみだれるあをやぎのいとをばはるのかぜやよるらむ

asamidori
somete midareru
aoyagi no
ito oba haru no
kaze ya yoruramu
Pale green
Dyes the tangled
Willow
Fronds—do spring’s
Breeze they seem to beckon?

Korenori
2

I’d say both of these are good—a tie.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 15

These are poems which His Majesty had everyone in attendance compose on the day.

わがやどをみなへしひとのすぎゆかばあきのくさばはしぐれざらまし

wa ga yado o
mina heshi hito no
sugiyukaba
aki no kusaba wa
shigurezaramashi
Should my house
By all the passing folk
Be passed by, then
Would not the autumn grasses
Scatter showers?

Minamoto no Tsuruna
29

をしめどもえだにとまらぬもみぢばをみなへしおきてあきののちみむ

oshimedomo
eda ni tomaranu
momijiba o
mina heshi okite
aki no nochi mimu
I regret it, yet
On the branches have not lingered
Scarlet leaves—
I will press them, every one,
To gaze on after autumn’s passing.

Muneyuki
30

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 10

Left

をみなへしうつろふあきのほどをなみねさへうつしてをしむけふかな

ominaeshi
utsurou aki no
hodo o nami
ne sae utsushite
oshimu kyō kana
The maidenflower
With the autumn will fade
Soon away;
Being shifted here root and all
She must regret, today!

19[1]

Right

うつらずはふゆともわかじをみなへしときはのえだにさきかへらなむ

utsurazu wa
fuyu to mo wakaji
ominaeshi
tokiwa no eda ni
sakikaeranamu
Ever unfading and
All unknowing of the winter,
O, maidenflower,
On evergreen branches
I would you returned to bloom!

20


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 514

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 06

Left

かくをしむあきにしあはばをみなへしうつろふことはわすれやはせぬ

kaku oshimu
aki ni shi awaba
ominaeshi
utsurou koto wa
wasure ya wa senu
If feeling such regret
I should encounter autumn, then
O, maidenflower,
To fade
You should not forget, should you?

11

Right

ながきよにたれたのめけむをみなへしひとまつむしのえだごとになく

nagaki yo ni
tare tanomekemu
ominaeshi
hito matsumushi no
edagoto ni naku
On a long, long night
Who is it has made you believe,
O, maidenflower?
Pining for him while crickets
Cry from your every branch…

12[1]


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 536; Fubokushō 4231

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 74

Left 白雪の降りつもれる山里は人さへやおもひ消ゆらむ[1]

shirayuki no
furitsumoreru
yamazato wa
sumu hito sae ya
omoikiyuramu
White snow
Has fallen, drifted high around
The mountain home;
Might even he who lives there
Be buried in melancholy?

This poem is missing from some texts of the contest and thus is unnumbered.

Right

ひかりまつ枝にかかれる雪をこそ冬の花とはいふべかりけれ

hikari matsu
eda ni kakareru
yuki o koso
fuyu no hana to wa
iubekarikere
Awaiting the light
Upon the branches clings
Snow:
Winter’s blossom—that’s what
It should be called!

144


[1] Kokinshū VI: 328, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 69

Left

草も木も枯行く冬の宿なれば雪ならずしてとふ人ぞなき

kusa mo ki mo
kareyuku fuyu no
yado nareba
yuki narazushite
tou hito zo naki
Both grass and trees
Wither away with winter
At my home, so
Even without the snow
No one comes to call.

135

Right

ふる雪はえだにしばしもとまらなむ花も紅葉も絶えてなきまは

furu yuki wa
eda ni shibashi mo
tomaranamu
hana mo momiji mo
taete naki ma wa
The falling snow
Upon the branches for a while
Does rest, when
Neither blossoms nor scarlet leaves
Are there at all…

136

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 67

Left

霜がれの枝となわびそ白雪を花にやとひてみれどもあかず

shimogare no
eda to na wabi so
shirayuki o
hana ni ya toite
miredomo akazu
For the frost-burned
Branches, grieve not, for
White snows
As blossom will visit them, and
The sight will never sate.

131

Right

嵐ふく山下里にふる雪はとくむめの花咲くかとぞ見る

arashi fuku
yamashitazato ni
furu yuki wa
toku mume no hana
saku ka to zo miru
The storm wind blows
Upon the village ‘neath the mountains, where
Fallen snow,
Long since, had plum blossom
Made seem to bloom?

132