Composed beholding the bright moon, when he was suffering from illness and considering abdicating the throne.
心にもあらでうき世にながらへば恋しかるべき夜はの月かな
| kokoro ni mo arade ukiyo ni nagaraFeba koFisikarubeki yoFa no tuki kana | My heart Is not in it, but in this sorry world Should I stay on, then Surely will I love Tonight’s midnight moon! |
Former Emperor Sanjō
Composed as a spring poem, when he presented poems to the Poetry Office.
葛城やたかまの桜さきにけりたつたのおくにかかる白雲
| kazuragi ya takama no sakura sakinikeri tatsuta no oku ni kakaru shirakumo | In Kazuragi, On Takama peak the cherry Has bloomed! To the heart of Tatsuta Cling clouds of white…[1] |
Jakuren
[1] An allusive variation on KKS I: 59 and Wakan rōeishū II: 409/SKKS XI: 990.
Sent on returning home from a woman’s residence.
君がためをしからざりしいのちさへながくもがなとおもひけるかな
| kimi ga tame wosikarazarisi inoti saFe nagaku mogana to omoFikeru kana | For your sake, my love, I would not have regretted Even my life, but O, to live long With you in my passionate heart! |
Minor Captain Fujiwara no Yoshitaka
A poem by Ōtomo no sukune Yakamochi when he arrived at a maiden’s gate.
妹家之 門田乎見跡 打出来之 情毛知久 照月夜鴨
いもがいへの かどたをみむと うちいでこし こころもしるく てるつくよかも
| imo ga ipe no kadota wo mimu to uti’idekosi kokoro mo siruku teru tukuyo kamo | My darling’s house has Rice fields before its door—to see them Have I come, My heart brightened on A shining moonlit night! |
Composed on a day during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa when the ladies of the court went to visit the blossom in the Eastern hills.
たちかへりまたやとはまし山かぜに花ちる里の人のこころを
| tachikaeri mata ya towamashi yamakaze ni hana chiru sato no hito no kokoro o | Rising and returning Only to once more pay a curious call: The breeze from off the mountains Scattering blossom round the estate Where lies my lady’s heart… |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Morotoki
Composed as a love poem, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
うき人をしのぶべしとは思ひきやわが心さへなどかはるらん
| ukibito wo sinobubesi to Fa omoFiki ya wa ga kokoro saFe nado kaFaruran | Of that heartless man I would secretly be fond, I thought, so why Does my heart, too, Seem to have changed? |
Taikenmon’in Horikawa
Composed as a love poem, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
あら磯の岩にくだくる浪なれやつれなき人にかくる心は
| ara’iso no iFa ni kudakuru nami nare ya turenaki Fito ni kakuru kokoro Fa | Along the stony shore Upon the rocks shattering Are the waves—just like That cruel man does Break my heart, perhaps? |
Taikenmon’in Horikawa
Topic unknown.
君をのみ思ひねにねし夢なればわが心から見つるなりけり
| kimi wo nomi omoFine ni nesi yume nareba wa ga kokoro kara mituru narikeri | You, alone, it was I loved when I fell asleep and Dreamed of you, but It was my heart’s longing That I did see. |
Mitsune
When a woman told him to throw himself into a pool.
身をすててふかきふちにも入りぬべしそこの心のしらまほしさに
| mi o sutete Fukaki Futi ni mo irinubesi soko no kokoro no siramaFosisa ni | I shall cast off all restraint, and Into a deep pool, indeed, Plunge— For at the bottom your heart’s depths I would come to know… |
Minamoto no Michinari
