Tag Archives: maidenflower

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 10

Left

をみなへしうつろふあきのほどをなみねさへうつしてをしむけふかな

ominaeshi
utsurou aki no
hodo o nami
ne sae utsushite
oshimu kyō kana
The maidenflower
With the autumn will fade
Soon away;
Being shifted here root and all
She must regret, today!

19[1]

Right

うつらずはふゆともわかじをみなへしときはのえだにさきかへらなむ

utsurazu wa
fuyu to mo wakaji
ominaeshi
tokiwa no eda ni
sakikaeranamu
Ever unfading and
All unknowing of the winter,
O, maidenflower,
On evergreen branches
I would you returned to bloom!

20


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 514

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 9

Left

あきのののつゆにおかるるをみなへしはらふひとなみぬれつつやふる

aki no no no
tsuyu ni okaruru
ominaeshi
harau hito nami
nuretsutsu ya furu
In the autumn meadows
Dripped with dewdrops are
The maidenflowers—
With no one to brush them off
Will they ever be so drenched?

Okikaze
17[1]

Right

あだなりとなにぞたちぬるをみなへしなぞあきののにおひそめにけむ

adanari to
na ni zo tachinuru
ominaeshi
nazo aki no no ni
oisomenikemu
Faithless is
The reputation attached to
The maidenflower,
So why within the autumn meadows
Has she begun to grow?

18[2]


[1] Gosenshū VI: 275; Kokin rokujō 3689; Okikaze-shū 12

[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 522

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 07

Left

ひとのみることやくるしきをみなへしあきぎりにのみたちかくるらむ

hito no miru
koto ya kurushiki
ominaeshi
akigiri ni nomi
tachikakururamu
For man to gaze on you,
Is it so painful,
O, Maidenflower,
That simply in the autumn mists
You must hide yourself away?

Tadamine
13[1]

Right

とりてみばはかなからんやをみなへしそでにつつめるしらつゆのたま

torite miba
hakanakaran ya
ominaeshi
sode ni tsutsumeru
shiratsuyu no tama
If I pick and look
How fleeting are
Upon a maidenflower,
Enveloped in my sleeves
Silver dewdrop pearls.

14


[1] KKS IV: 235

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 06

Left

かくをしむあきにしあはばをみなへしうつろふことはわすれやはせぬ

kaku oshimu
aki ni shi awaba
ominaeshi
utsurou koto wa
wasure ya wa senu
If feeling such regret
I should encounter autumn, then
O, maidenflower,
To fade
You should not forget, should you?

11

Right

ながきよにたれたのめけむをみなへしひとまつむしのえだごとになく

nagaki yo ni
tare tanomekemu
ominaeshi
hito matsumushi no
edagoto ni naku
On a long, long night
Who is it has made you believe,
O, maidenflower?
Pining for him while crickets
Cry from your every branch…

12[1]


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 536; Fubokushō 4231

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 05

Left

あさぎりとのべにむれたるをみなへしあきをすぐさずいひもとめなん

asagiri to
nobe ni muretaru
ominaeshi
aki o sugusazu
ii mo tomenan
Amid the morning mists
Upon the meadow clusters
A maidenflower
I’ll not let autumn pass by
Without a word to hold her here.

9

Right

あきかぜのふきそめしよりをみなへしいろふかくのみみゆるのべかな

akikaze no
fukisomeshi yori
ominaeshi
iro fukaku nomi
miyuru nobe kana
Since the autumn wind
First began to blow,
The maidenflowers’
Hues have simply deepened,
Glimpsed upon the meadows!

10

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 04

Left

しらつゆのおけるあしたのをみなへしはなにもはにもたまぞかかれる

shiratsuyu no
okeru ashita no
ominaeshi
hana ni mo ha ni mo
tama zo kakareru
Silver dewdrops
Fallen in the morning on
A maidenflower:
Both bloom and leaves
Are all hung with pearls.

7[1]

Right

をみなへしたてるのざとをうちすぎてうらみむつゆにぬれやん

ominaeshi
tateru nozato o
uchisugite
uramimu tsuyu ni
nure ya wataran
A maidenflower
Stands at a house upon the plains
As I pass by;
Is it her resentful dew
That has drenched me on my way?

8


[1] Gyokuyōshū 526; Shinsen man’yōshū 606; Kokin rokujō 3687

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 02

Left

あきののをみなへしるともささわけにぬれにしそでやはなとみゆらむ

aki no no o
mina heshiru to mo
sasa wake ni
nurenishi sode ya
hana to miyuramu
Through the autumn meadows
Everyone knows to pass, yet
Forging through the dwarf bamboo
Will my sleeves, so drenched,
Appear as the flowers do?[1]

3

Right

をみなへしあきののかぜにうちなびきこころひとつをたれによすらん

ominaeshi
aki no nokaze ni
uchinabiki
kokoro hitotsu o
tare ni yosuran
The maidenflower,
With a breeze across the autumn fields,
Waves back and forth;
Having but a single heart,
To whom does she incline, I wonder?

The Minister of the Left[2]
4[3]


[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.

[2] Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871-909).

[3] Kokinshū IV: 230; Shinsen man’yōshū 532; Kokin rokujō 3660

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 01

In the year after that in which the Teishi Emperor relinquished the throne, he held a maidenflower match, making no instruction as to who should lead the teams of the Left and Right, so His Majesty and Her Majesty, the Empress, fulfilled those roles.

Left

くさがくれあきすぎぬべきをみなへしにほひゆゑにやまづみえぬらむ

kusagakure
aki suginubeki
ominaeshi
nioi yue ni ya
mazu mienuramu
Hidden ‘mongst the grasses
Has she spent the autumn,
This maidenflower—
Is it for her glow that
She is soon discovered?

1[1]

Right

あらがねのつちのしたにてあきへしはけふのうらてをまつをみなへし

aragane no
tsuchi no shita nite
aki heshi wa
kyō no urate o
matsu ominaeshi
As ore
Below the earth
Has she spent the autumn,
For today’s first round
Awaiting—a maidenflower.

2[2]


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 508

[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 530; Fubokushō 4229.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 45

Left

をみなへし匂へる野辺にやどりせばあやなくあだの名をやたちなん

ominaeshi
nioeru nobe ni
yadoriseba
ayanaku ada no
na o ya tachinan
A maidenflower
Shines in the meadows, and
Should I find lodging there,
Carelessly, would fickle
Rumour arise?

Ono no Yoshiki
88

Right

秋風にさそはれ来つる雁がねの雲ゐはるかにけふぞ聞ゆる

akikaze ni
sasowarekitsuru
kari ga ne no
kumoi haruka ni
kyō zo kikoyuru
On the autumn breeze
Has come, inviting,
A goose’s cry
From among the distant clouds
Today I hear it.

89

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 19

なにしおはばしひてたのまむをみなへしひとのこころのあきはうくとも[1]

na ni shi owaba
shiite tanomamu
ominaeshi
hito no kokoro no
aki wa uku tomo
If the name fits, then
Strongly, would I ask you,
Maidenflower:
Though folk’s full hearts
In autumn, be cruel…

37

あきのよをひとりねたらむあまのがはふちせたどらずいざわたりなむ

aki no yo o
hitori netaramu
ama no kawa
fuchise tadorazu
iza watarinamu
On an autumn night,
I sleep alone, it seems, for
To the River of Heaven’s
Depths and shallows I will not make my way—
However can I cross them?

39


[1] Shinchokusenshū 242; also a minor variant occurs in Kokin rokujō (3368) なにしおはばしひてたのまんをみなへし花の心の秋はうくともna ni shi owaba / shiite tanomamu / ominaeshi / hana no kokoro no / aki wa uku tomo ‘If the name fits, then / Forcefully, would I trust you, / Maidenflower: / Though a flower’s heart / In autumn, be cruel…’ Tsurayuki.