On summer trees, when His Majesty, the Former Emperor, ordered him to produce a thirty poem sequence.
虹のたつふもとの杉は雲にきえて峰よりはるるゆふだちのあめ
niji no tatsu
fumoto no sugi wa
kumo ni kiete
mine yori haruru
yūdachi no ame | A rainbow rises above
Cedars in the foothills,
Vanishing in the clouds
Clearing from the peaks,
With an evening shower of rain. |
Former Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai Toshikane
Early Evening (晩立)
朝日山さしてきたれど夕立にかづくたもとはひるよしもなし
asahiyama
sashite kitaredo
yūdachi ni
kazuku tamoto wa
hiru yoshi mo nashi | Across Asahi Mountain
I have made my way, yet
Evening shower
Drenched sleeves
Have no reason to dry. |
Tadafusa
Early Evening (晩立)
夕立や雲のさわぎに風はやみ露をとどむる草のはぞなき
yūdachi ya
kumo no sawagi ni
kaze wa yami
tsuyu o todomuru
kusa no ha zo naki | An evening shower:
The clouds confused
With the dropping of the wind, and
Dewdrops lingering
On not a single blade of grass. |
Akinaka
鳴るかみの夕立にこそ雨は降れ御手あら新井洗川の水まさるらし
narukami no
yūdachi ni koso
ame wa fure
mitarashigawa no
mizu masarurashi |
The thunder
Brings an evening shower
Fall of rain:
The Mitarashi River’s
Waters seem high, indeed! |
Nōin
能因
夏の日の俄かに曇る夕立の思ひもかけぬ世にもあるかな
natu no Fi no
niFka ni kumoru
yuFudati no
omoFi mo kakenu
yo ni mo aru kana |
A summer day
Briefly clouded by
An evening shower:
How unexpected
Is this world! |
夕立に夏はいぬめりそぼちつつ秋の境にいまやいたらむ
yuFudati ni
natu Fa inumeri
sobotitutu
aki no sakaFi ni
ima ya itaramu |
In an evening shower
Summer seems to leave;
All drenched is
The edge of autumn
Now arrived, indeed! |
'Simply moving and elegant'