One morning when snow was falling, the Master of the Left Capital Office, Lord Michinaga, was at the northern side of the Kokiden hall and said:
あしのかみひざよりしものさゆるかな
asi no kami
Fiza yori simo no
sayuru kana |
From the top of my legs
To below my frosty knees
I feel a chill! |
I concluded:
こしのわたりに雪やふるらむ
A house in the rice fields.
牡鹿ふす刈田の霜のさゆる夜ぞ庵もるよりもいねがてにする
oshika fusu
karita no shimo no
sayuru yo zo
io moru yori mo
inegate ni suru |
A stag lies down,
In a reaped rice field, on a frost
Filled night,
Harder now than when guarding the crop
Is it to fall asleep. |
Cold upon the reeds in the bay.
霜枯にのこるともなき難波江のあしねや老のしるしなるらむ
shimogare ni
nokoru tomonaki
naniwa e no
ashine ya oi no
shirushi naruramu |
Frost burned and
Remaining, one would not think it:
In the bay at Naniwa
The reed roots their age
Are showing, it seems. |
青むとて恨みし山の程もなく又霜枯の風をろすなり
aomu tote
uramishi yama no
hodo mo naku
mata shimogare no
kaze orosunari |
Still verdant and
Dissatisfied are the mountains;
In an instant,
The frost-burning
Wind falls upon them. |
霜枯は尾花踏み分行く鹿の聲こそ聞かぬ跡は見えけり
shimogare wa
obana fumiwake
yuku shika no
koe koso kikanu
ato wa miekeri |
Frost-seared
Miscanthus grass, pushed aside by
A stag:
I cannot hear his call, yet
Here are his tracks. |
On frost.
我骨のふとんにさはる霜夜哉
wa ga hone no
futon ni sawaru
shimo yo kana |
Right to my bones
Through the quilt pierces
The frost tonight. |
On lighting the lanterns.
炉開や左官老行鬢の霜
robiraki ya
sakan oi yuku
bin no shimo |
Time to light the lanterns once again
And the painter, aging,
Has frost brushed upon his temples. |
(1692)
On frost.
夜すがらや竹こほらするけさのしも
yo sugara ya
take no korasuru
kesa no shimo |
Was it all though the night
That the bamboo was freezing
To have such frost this morning. |
(Date unknown)
On frost: when ill.
薬のむさらでも霜の枕かな
kusuri nomu
sarade mo shimo no
makura kana |
I take my medicine,
But even did I not the frosts
Would still fall upon my pillow. |
(1687)
On frost.
初霜や菊冷初る腰の錦
hatsu shimo ya
kiku hiesomuru
koshi no wata |
The first frosts
Chill the chrysanthemums and
These old bones, cotton-padded. |
(1690)
'Simply moving and elegant'