Round Eight
Fresh Bracken
Left
さわらびのもえいづる春の夕ぐれは霞のうへに煙立ちけり
| sawarabi no moe’izuru haru no yūgure wa kasumi no ue ni keburi tachikeri | Fresh bracken Budding on a spring Evening: Above the haze, Smoke a’rising. |
Koshikibu
15
Right
いつしかともえにけるかなさわらびの野辺はいかなるおもひなるらん
| itsu shika to moenikeru kana sawarabi no nobe wa ikanaru omoi naruran | So swiftly Has it budded! Fresh bracken In the meadows—what sort of Feelings might it bring? |
Shikibu
16
When returning from a pilgrimage to the twin shrines, there was a river called the Maekawa running before my beachside lodging.[i] Rain had been falling, so the waters were extremely high—I composed this when we crossed the river at sunset.
浜べなるまへの川せを行く水のはやくもけふのくれにけるかな
| hamabe naru mae no kawase o yuku mizu no hayaku mo kyō no kurenikeru kana | On the beachside The Mae’s river rapids’ Waters flow As fast as today Draws into evening. |
702
[i] This lodging was at what is now Sakawa 酒匂 within the bounds of Odawara 小田原 on the coast of Sagami Bay (Higuchi 2016, 181)
Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
Composed as an insect poem, when he composed a hundred poem sequence bewailing his sorry lot around the Hōen period [1135-1141].
さりともとおもふこころもむしのねもよわりはてぬる秋のくれかな
| saritomo to omoFu kokoro mo musi no ne mo yowariFatenuru aki no kure kana | That’s just how it is I thought within my heart, too, As the insects’ cries, too Weakened On an autumn evening! |
Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office Toshinari
旅ごろもうらがなしかるゆふぐれのすそのの露に秋風ぞ吹く
| tabigoromo uraganashikaru yūgure no susono no tsuyu ni akikaze zo fuku | In my traveller’s garb and Sick at heart Of an evening, as Across the meadows on the slopes dewdrops Drift upon the autumn wind! [i] |
575
[i] See: 旅ごろもうらがなしさにあかしかね草の枕は夢もむすばず tabigoromo / uraganashisa ni / akashikane / kusa no makura wa / yume mo musabazu ‘In my traveller’s garb / My heart-sickness / I cannot lift, for / My grassy pillow / Brings no dreams, at all…’ Hikaru Genji (Genji monogatari 223); and: たびごろもうらがなしかるあさぢふによはのしぐれよいかにせよとぞ tabigoromo / uraganashikaru / asajū ni / yowa no shigure yo / ika ni seyo to zo ‘In my traveller’s garb and / Sad at heart among / The clumps of cogon grass, / O, midnight shower, / Tell me, what I am I to do?’ Jakuchō (Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 54)
Left
きみをわれおきてしゆけばあさつゆのきえかへりてもあはむとぞおもふ
| kimi o ware okiteshi yukeba asatsuyu no kiekaerite mo awamu to zo omou | With you, my love, I Having risen and departed With the morning dew, Vanishing away, only To meet once more, I feel. |
28
Right
あさぼらけあかぬわかれをわびつつもゆふぐれをこそなぐさめにすれ
| asaborake akanu wakare o wabitsutsu mo yūgure o koso nagusame ni sure | At the pale edge of dawn, Unsatisfied, parting Leaves me ever desolate— The evening is sure to be My consolation! |
29
Round Eight
Left
風さむみゆふかげ草にかくろへてはたおる虫の声聞ゆなり
| kaze samumi yūkage kusa ni kakuroete hataorumushi no koe kikoyu nari | Chill the wind Upon the evening grasses, from Whence, concealed, The crickets’ Cries I hear. |
Chikafusa
15
Right
誰がためとあやめも見えぬ夕ざれにはたおる虫の声聞ゆらん
| ta ga tame to ayame mo mienu yūzare ni hataorumushi no koe kikoyuran | For whose sake Amidst the gloam Of eventide, might The crickets’ Cries I hear? |
Lady Hȳoe
16
At present, ‘Amidst the gloam / Of eventide’ appears to have a bit more conception than ‘the evening grasses, from / Whence, concealed, / The crickets’.
