When His Majesty commanded a poem, during the reign of the Engi emperor.
しら露をかぜの吹きしくあきののはつらぬきとめぬ玉ぞちりける
siratuyo wo kaze no Fukisiku aki no no Fa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo tirikeru | Silver dewdrops, In the ever-blowing wind Across the autumn meadows Never remaining threaded are Those scattered gemstones. |
Fun’ya no Asayasu
Composed as an autumn poem.
ゆふさればをののあさぢふ玉ちりてこころくだくる風の音かな
yuFu sareba wono no asadiFu tama tirite kokoro kudakuru kaze no oto kana | When the evening comes All across the cogon-grass plain Scatter gemstones— Heart-tangling is The sound of wind! |
The Regent and Former Minister of the Right
On the conception of praying for love, when he held a poetry match in one hundred rounds at his house.
いくよわれなみにしをれてき舟がは袖に玉ちる物おもふらん
iku yo ware nami ni shiorete kibunegawa sode ni tama chiru mono’omouran | How many nights shall I spend Drenched by the waves of Kibune River, with Sleeves scattered with the gemstones Of my gloomy thoughts?[i] |
The Regent and Grand Minister
[i] An allusive variation on GSIS XX: 1163, which is a response poem to GSIS XX: 1162.
On willows in the rain.
あさみどりそめてかけたる青柳のいとに玉ぬく春雨ぞふる
asamidori somete kaketaru aoyagi no ito ni tama nuku harusame zo furu | Pale green Dyed and hung Upon the green willow Threads—gemstones threaded By the fall of a spring shower. |
42
On willows in the rain.
青柳のいとよりつたふ白露を玉とみるまで春雨ぞふる
aoyagi no ito yori tsutau shiratsuyu o tama to miru made harusame zo furu | The pale green willow Threads reveal Silver dewdrops— Made to resemble gemstones By the fall of a spring shower. |
41
ひさかたの雨も降らぬか蓮葉に溜まれる水の玉に似たる見む
hisakata no ame mo puranu ka patisuba ni tamareru midu no tama ni nitaru mimu | Is it that from the eternal Heavens, rain has long not fallen, That on the lotus leaves Water rests and Seems all the more like gemstones? |
'Simply moving and elegant'