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.
In reply.
春雨にいかにぞ梅やにほふ覧わが見る枝は色もかはらず
Farusame ni
ika ni zo mume ya
niFoFuran
wa ga miru eda Fa
iro mo kaFarazu | n such spring rain
However might the plum
Let out its lustrous scent?
The branches before my eyes
Have yet to change their hues. |
Ki no Haseyo
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Right
夏なれば木高き枝になく蟬のかげにかくせる風を恋ふとか
natu nareba
kodakaki eda ni
naku semi no
kage ni kakuseru
kaze wo koFu to ka | When the summer comes,
In the topmost branches of the trees
In the singing cicadas’
Shadows have you hidden
The breeze I love? |
5
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.
吹風や春立ち来ぬと告げつらん枝にこもれる花咲きにけり
Fuku kaze ya
Faru tatikinu to
tuketuran
eda ni komoreru
Fana sakinikeri | Is it the blowing breeze that
Spring’s arrival does
Announce?
For once tightly closed upon the branch
Blossom has bloomed. |
Anonymous
'Simply moving and elegant'