あきのむしなどわびしげにこゑのするたのめしかげに露やもりくる
| aki no mushi nado wabishige ni koe no suru tanomeshi kage ni tsuyu ya morikuru | Why do the autumn insects And more let out plaintive Cries; Is your trustworthy face Drenched in dew? |
67
もみぢばのながれてゆけば山がはのあさきせだにもあきはふかみぬ
| momijiba no nagareteyukeba yamagawa no asaki se dani mo aki wa fukaminu | The scarlet leaves Have come flowing, so The mountain stream’s Shallow rapids—even they Are deep in autumn! |
68
あきくればむしとともにぞなかれぬるひとも草ばもかれぬと思へば[1]
| aki kureba mushi to tomo ni zo nakarenuru hito mo kusaba mo karenu to omoeba | When the autumn comes Together with the insects Do I weep, That both folk and grass and leaves Have withered, is in my thoughts… |
33
からにしきみだれるのべとみえつるはあきのこのはのふるにざりける
| karanishiki midareru nobe to mietsuru wa aki no ko no ha no furu ni zarikeru | For Cathay brocade Confused the meadows Do seem, for In autumn, the leaves from the trees Have truly fallen! |
34
[1] This poem also occurs in Fubokushō (5580).
秋のよにひとまつことのわびしきはむしさへともになけばなりけり
| aki no yo ni hito matsu koto no wabishiki wa mushi sae tomo ni nakeba narikeri | On an autumn night Awaiting him is so Sad and lonely, When even the insects with me Are crying… |
25
ちりまがふあきのもみぢをみるごとにそでにしぐれのふらぬ日はなし[1]
| chirimagau aki no momiji o miru koto ni sode ni shigure no furanu hi wa nashi | Confusedly scattering are The scarlet leaves of autumn; Seeing them, Upon my sleeves the drizzle Never fails to fall each day. |
26
[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (6273), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata,
わびひとのとしふるさとはあきのののむしのやどりのなるぞわびしき[1]
| wabibito no toshi furu sato wa aki no no no mushi no yadori no naru zo wabishiki | For one sunk in sadness In an ancient dwelling Among the autumn fields, where The insects take their lodging, Their cries are more heartbreaking. |
23
あきのよのつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりのなみだやのべをそむらん[2]
| aki no yo no tsuyu oba tsuyu to okinagara kari no namida ya nobe o somuramu | On Autumn nights The dew as dewdrops Falls, but, Perhaps goose tears Stain the fields? |
24
[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (5579), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata
[2] This poem also appears in Kokinshū (V: 258) and Kokin rokujō (584). In both collections it is attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.
Insects
Left (Tie)
あきくればむしもやものをおもふらんこゑもをしまずねをもなくかな
| aki kureba mushi mo ya mono o omouran koe mo oshimazu ne mo naku kana | When the autumn comes, Do the insects, too, have gloomy Thoughts, I wonder? I’ll not regret their song at all As they cry on! |
His Majesty
11
Right
あきごとにとこめづらなるすずむしのふりてもふりぬこゑぞきこゆる
| akigoto ni tokomezuranaru suzumushi no furite mo furinu koe zo kikoyuru | Each and every autumn, Afresh The bell-crickets’ Aging in their aged Cries I hear. |
Lord Kintō
12
Left (Win)
蟲の音も秋を限りと恨むなりたえぬ思やたぐひなるらん
| mushi no ne mo aki o kagiri to uramu nari taenu omoi ya tagui naruran |
The insects’ cries do Mark the bounds of autumn With despair; Are endless thoughts of love To be my only fellow? |
Lord Kanemune
1073
Right
夏蟲もうら山しきは秋の夜の露にはもえぬ思ひなりけり
| natsumushi mo urayamashiki wa aki no yo no tsuyu ni wa moenu omoi narikeri |
The fireflies are A source of envy, On an autumn night When dewfall damps down The fires of my passion… |
Ietaka
1074
The Gentlemen of the Right: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘dewfall damps down’ (tsuyu ni wa moenu).
In judgement: the Left’s poem has been stated to be without fault by the gentlemen present. In the Right’s poem, I wonder if saying, ‘dewfall damps down’ is meaning nothing burns in autumn? On the matter of using the term ‘summer insects’ (natsumushi) to refer to fireflies, I do wonder whether it is appropriate to imply with one’s composition that there are no such insects in autumn. Although in the Collection of Poems to Sing Aloud, fireflies occur in the Summer section, among the same collection’s Chinese poems there is ‘in the dark before dawn innumerable fireflies start from the autumn grasses’. Furthermore, in Pan Anren’s ‘Rhapsody on Autumn Inspirations’ he says, ‘Glittering fireflies shine by the palace gate, and crickets sing from the eaves of the fence’. Even though there are countless cases of Autumn fireflies, how can one have composed suggesting that there are not? Thus, the Left wins.
竜田姫花の錦の唐衣をいそぐか虫のよるもはたおる
| tatsutahime hana no nishiki no karaginu o isogu ka mushi no yoru mo hata oru |
Princess Tatsuta A brocade of blossom for A Cathay robe: Swiftly that the insects Come, does she weave upon her loom? |
Fujiwara no Takasue
藤原隆季
Composed when a hundred poem sequence was presented to His Majesty, during the reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.
さまざまに心ぞとまる宮城野の花のいろいろ虫の声ごゑ
| samazama ni kokoro zo tomaru miyagino no Fana no iroiro musi no kowegowe |
So many things Do rest within my heart: On Miyagi plain The multicoloured blossom and The insects’ songs. |
Minamoto no Toshiyori
源俊頼
This poem is also Horikawa hyakushu 1400.
Composed for a picture based on the Song of Everlasting Woe, for the scene where Xuanzong had returned home and the emperor was depicted weeping with insects calling from the withered cogon grass all around him.
ふるさとは浅茅が原と荒れはてて夜すがら虫の音をのみぞ鳴く
| Furusato Fa asadi ga Fara to areFatete yosugara musi no ne nomi zo naku |
My old home With cogon grass is Entirely overgrown; All night the insects Simply let forth their cries… |
Dōmei
道命
Topic uknown.
秋くれば野もせに虫の織り亂る聲の綾をば誰か着るらん
| aki kureba no mo se ni musi no orimidaru kowe no aya woba tare ka kiruran |
When the autumn comes, In the fields so full of insects, Woven all together Is a crest of song, but Who is it can put it on? |
Fujiwara no Motoyoshi
藤原元善