A poem composed in reply to His Majesty by Tachibana sukune Naramaro.
奥山之 真木葉淩 零雪乃 零者雖益 地尓落目八方
| okuyama no maki no pa sinogi puru yuki no puri pa masu tomo tuti ni otime ya mo | Deep within the mountains Evergreen leaves are weighed down With falling snow, but Even should it keep on falling Will it ever tumble to the ground? |
Round Eight
Left (Tie)
紅葉ばは紅ふかく成りゆけど独さめたる松の色かな
| momijiba wa kurenai fukaku nariyukedo hitori sametaru matsu no iro kana | The autumn leaves Deeply scarlet Are becoming, yet Singly, all the more aware am I Of the pine tree’s hues! |
Koreyuki
87
Right
ははそ原しぐるるままにときは木のまれなりけるも今ぞみえける
| hahasowara shigururu mama ni tokiwagi no marenarikeru mo ima zo miekeru | As the oak groves Linger under showers, An evergreen, So rare, is What appears to me now. |
Kojijū
88
Both Left and Right drop scarlet leave and are composed on evergreens, so they lack the essence of the topic, don’t they. The Right has the finer configuration, but autumn leaves, pointlessly, fail to appear in it. In addition, somewhat distastefully, it puts me in mind of the poem, ‘…Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems’,[1] so the best these can do is tie.
[1] A poem from a poetry contest held by Her Majesty, the Empress, in the Kanpyō period. 雪ふりて年のくれぬる時こそつひにもみぢぬ松も見えけれ yuki furite / toshi no kurenuru / toki ni koso / tsui ni momijinu / matsu mo miekere ‘Snow falls and /The year reaches its evening, / It is at this time that / Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems.’ Anonymous (KKS VI: 340)
A poem written on a folding screen with paintings of the four seasons, created as a backdrop for the fortieth birthday celebrations of Lord Fujiwara, Major Captain of the Right, by the Principal Handmaid – Autumn.
秋くれど色もかはらぬときは山よそのもみぢを風ぞかしける
| aki kuredo iro mo kaFaranu tokiFayama yoso no momidi wo kaze zo kasikeru | Autumn has come, yet To the never changing hues on Evergreen Mountain Distant scarlet leaves The wind has lent! |
Sakanoe no Korenori
Left
をしめどもとまらぬ秋は常盤山もみぢはてぬとみてもゆるさじ
| oshimedomo tomaranu aki wa tokiwayama momiji hatenu to mite mo yurusaji | I regret it, yet Autumn lingers not Upon the evergreen mountains The scarlet leaves have yet to end, I see and would not let them go. |
43
Right
としごとにとまらぬ秋とおもひなばてもろき人もをしまざらまし
| toshigoto ni tomaranu aki to omoinaba temoroki hito mo oshimazaramashi | If, that every single year Autumn lingers not, I did not think, then Tear-filled folk I would not have regret it. |
44
Left (Tie)
しぐれつつ草ばもなべてもみづともときはの山にあきはとまれり
| shiguretsutsu kusaba mo nabete momizu to mo tokiwa no yama ni aki wa tomareri | Ever falls the drizzling rain, and Both leaves and grasses, all, Take on autumn hues, yet Within the evergreen mountains Autumn has halted. |
9
Right
をしめども秋はとまらぬ竜田山もみぢを幣とそらにたむけん
| oshimedomo aki wa tomaranu tatsutayama momiji o nusa to sora ni tamuken | How I regret it, yet Autumn does not linger upon Tatsuta Mountain: Its autumn leaves as a garland To the skies it seems to offer. |
10
As a poem on willows.
春くれば猶色まさる山しろのときはの杜の青柳のいと
| haru kureba nao iro masaru yamashiro no tokiwa no mori no aoyagi no ito | Spring has come, and Still their hues are beyond fine: In Yamashiro’s Evergreen forests— Pale green threads of willow. |
Evergreens
ちりかはる心なけれどみやまぎのときはは秋もしられざりけり
| chirikawaru kokoro nakeredo miyamagi no tokiwa wa aki mo shirarezarikeri | A flighty Heart, has it not, yet Deep within the mountains, that the trees Are evergreen, even the autumn Seems not to know… |
19
Gentian
した草の花をみつればむらさきに秋さへふかくなりにけるかな
| shitagusa no hana o mitsureba murasaki ni aki sae fukaku narinikeru kana | When in the undergrowth Flowers I do see, their Violet in Autum much deeper Has become! |
20
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
