For a folding screen showing snow falling and clinging to a plum tree.
梅のはな色はそれともわかぬまで風にみだれて雪はふりつつ
ume no hana iro wa sore tomo wakanu made kaze ni midarete yuki wa furitsutsu The plum blossoms’ Hue is such that I cannot tell them apart— The wind creates confusion as The snow falls on and on…
Created with Soan .
Spring Blossom
Left (Tie)
としかはるのはな ほことになりぬらししかのこまだらにゆきもけにけり
toshi kawaru no wa na ho koto ni narinurashi shika no ko madara ni yuki mo kenikeri With the changing of the year, The meadows, particularly, more different Seem to do be— Dappled as a fawn, The snow, too, vanishes away.
Tsurayuki 3
Right
しらゆきのきえてみどりにかはるのはな がれていろのうつらざらなむ
shirayuki no kiete midori ni kawaru no wa na garete iro no utsurazaranamu The snow, so white, Vanishes and to green shoots Do change the meadows, with Flowing meltwater—O, that hue I would not have fade away!
Tadamine 4
Topic unknown.
雪かとぞよそにみつれど桜花をりては似たる色なかりけり
yuki ka to zo yoso ni mitsuredo sakurabana orite wa nitaru iro nakarikeri Are they snow, I wondered Gazing from afar, yet These cherry blossoms, Plucked, have no Similar hue at all.
Koshikibu no Naishi
Left
みよしのの山のしら雪ふみ分けて入りにし人のおとづれもせぬ
miyoshino no yama no shirayuki fumiwakete irinishi hito no otozure mo senu Through fair Yoshino Mountain’s white snow fall Forging, He entered in, And not a line returned.
Tadamine 129[1]
Right
吹く風は色も見えねど冬くればひとりぬるよの身にぞしみける
fuku kaze wa iro mo mienedo fuyu kureba hitori nuru yo no mi ni zo shimikeru The gusting wind Shows no hue, yet When the winter comes, Sleeping alone at night It chills me to the bone.
130
[1] Kokinshū VI: 327/Shinsen man’yōshū 183/Kokin rokujō I: 712.
Left
秋の月草むらわかずてらせばややどせる露を玉とみすらん
aki no tsuki kusamura wakazu teraseba ya yadoseru tsuyu o tama to misuran Does the autumn moon Not forge through the grassy thickets As it shines? For The dewdrops it lodges there It seems to display as jewels.
114
Right
なほざりに秋のみやまに入りぬれば錦のいろの衣をこそきれ
naozari ni aki nomi yama ni irinureba nishiki no iro no kinu o koso kire Easily, indeed, Does autumn, simply, to the mountains Enter in, so In garb the hue of Brocade do they clothe themselves!
115
Left
春がすみあみにはりこめ花ちらばうつろひぬべし鶯とめよ
harugasumi ami ni harikome hana chiraba utsuroinubeshi uguisu tomeyo The spring haze Spreads its net to catch The blossom—should they scatter, And then, for sure, decline, O, warbler, tarry a while!
15[1]
Right
春雨の色はこくしもみえなくに野辺のみどりをいかでそむらん
harusame no iro wa koku shimo mienaku ni nobe no midori o ikade somuran The spring rain’s Hue great depths Does not seem to have, but How are the meadows with green So deeply dyed?
16[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 9; Fubokushō II: 464: ‘Haze’
[2] A minor variant of the poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, and attributed to Ki no Tomonori, appears in Shokusenzaishū (I: 62): 春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん harusame no / iro wa koshi tomo / mienaku ni / nobe no midori o / ikade somuran ‘The spring rain’s / Hue no great depths / Does seem to have, but / How are the meadows with green / So deeply dyed?’
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Dowager Empress during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん
harusame no iro wa koshi tomo mienaku ni nobe no midori o ikade somuran The spring rain’s Hue no great depths Does seem to have, but How are the meadows with green So deeply dyed?
Ki no Tomonori
しぐれの雨木の葉ばかりを染めくればかづきし袖は色もかはらず
shigure no ame ko no ha bakari o somekureba kazukishi sode wa iro mo kawarazu Showers of rain Simply, the trees’ leaves Do dye, so My drenched sleeves Hue remains unchanged.
Ryūgen
Old Folk 老人
くろかみも色かはりゆきみる人のいとふばかりにおいにけるかな
kurokami mo iro kawariyuki miru hito no itou bakari ni oinikeru kana My raven tresses’ Hue has changed with the snow, and Folk who see Simply avoid me with distaste – Such is having grown old!
Daishin
Coming of Age 元服
むらさきのやしほの色をもどかねどいつもとゆひをゆひ初むるかな
murasaki no yashio no iro o modokanedo itsu motoyui o yuihajimuru kana This violet Deeply dipped hue I cannot fault, yet When will a topknot First be tied, I wonder!
Tadafusa
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'Simply moving and elegant'