Tag Archives: moon

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

冬の夜の月はとほくやわたりけんかげみしみづのまづしこほれば

fuyu no yo no
tsuki wa tōku ya
watariken
kage mishi mizu no
mazu shi kōreba
On a winter’s night
Does the moon distantly
Pass by? For
The waters where I saw its face
Are the first to freeze…

22

Right

ながれくるみづこほりぬる冬さへやなほうき草のあとはさだめぬ

nagarekuru
mizu kōrinuru
fuyu sae ya
nao ukikusa no
ato wa sadamenu
Flowing down
The waters have frozen
With the winter, so will
The drifting waterweed still
Leave little trace?

23

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Autumn

Autumn

Left

秋の夜の有明にみれど久堅の月のかつらはうつろはぬかな

aki no yo no
ariake ni miredo
hisakata no
tsuki no katsura wa
utsurouwanu kana
An autumn night’s
Dawn I see, yet
The eternal
Moon’s silver trees
Show no sign of fading!

13

秋萩の花咲く比の白露は下ばのためとわきて置くべし

aki hagi no
hana saku koro no
shiratsuyu wa
shitaba no tame to
wakite okubeshi
In autumn, the bush clover
Flowers bloom—just then
Silver dewdrops
For the under-leaves
Do fall, marking every one.

14

秋風はいなばもそよとふきつめりかりみる程と成りやしぬらん

akikaze wa
inaba mo soyo to
fukitsumeri
kari miru hodo to
nari ya shinuran
The autumn breeze
Seems to rustle the rice stalks
As it blows;
Seeing if ‘tis time to reap them—
Is that what it is, I wonder?

15

Right

銀河とわたる舟は花薄ほにいづるほどぞかげもみゆべき

ama no kawa
towataru fune wa
hanasusuki
ho ni izuru hodo zo
kage mo miyubeki
Across the River of Heaven
A boat goes ferrying:
When the silver grass
Ears burst into bloom,
Can its shape be seen.

16

女郎花さがの花をば色ながら秋をさかりといはれずもがな

ominaeshi
saga no hana oba
iro nagara
aki o sakari to
iwarezu mogana
Maidenflowers:
Blossoms from Saga
Reveal their hues, and
In autumn are most fine—that
Goes without saying!

17

小男鹿の朝たつ霧にうりふ山嶺の梢は色こかりけり

saoshika no
asa tatsu kiri ni
urifuyama
mine no kozue wa
iro kokarikeri
Stags
Within the rising morning mist on
Urifu Moutain, where
The treetops on the peak
Have taken darker hues.

18

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Summer

Summer

Left

夏くればかみにあふひの草つみてかざしにいのるひとにばかりぞ

natsu kureba
kami ni aoi no
kusa tsumite
kazashi ni inoru
hito ni bakari zo
When the summer comes
For the God, hollyhocks
 Are plucked, and for a
Prayer placed in the hair of
All folk, every one!

7

夏草も茂りにければ駿河なる田子のうらなへ今やひくらん

natsu kusa mo
shigerinikereba
suruga naru
tago no ura nae
ima ya hikuran
The summer grasses, too,
Have grown lush, so
As Suruga’s
Tago Bay,
Do they now extend their charm?

8

夏虫のやどるにまつは色ならで春秋空にうつろひやする

natsumushi no
yadoru ni matsu wa
iro narade
haru aki sora ni
utsuroi ya suru
The summer insects
Lodge upon the pines
Unchanging hues;
Is it the spring and autumn skies
Which fade away?

9

Right

卯花の咲く夏の夜はやみなれどかきねにやどる月かとぞみる

u no hana no
saku natsu no yo wa
yami naredo
kakine ni yadoru
tsuki ka to zo miru
The deutzia flowers
Bloom upon a summer night
‘Tis dark, yet
Lodged upon my brushwood fence
I wonder if I see the moon?

10

五月きぬことかたらはむほととぎす君にあふちの花も咲きけり

satsuki kinu
koto katarawamu
hototogisu
kimi ni auchi no
hana mo sakikeri
That the Fifth Month has come
Is announced by
The cuckoo:
For you, the chinaberry
Blossoms, too, have bloomed.

11

空蝉のからにはあらで置く露の身をあらたむる心なるべし

utsusemi no
kara ni wa arade
oku tsuyu no
mi o aratamuru
kokoro narubeshi
A cicada’s shed
Shell I am not, for
The dripping dew
Does refresh my flesh, or
So my heart seems to feel.

12

Akishino gesseishū III: 1304

Winter moonlight at a mountain retreat.

やまおろしのけしきばかりやふゆならむみやこなりせば秋のよの月

yama’oroshi no
keshiki bakari ya
fuyu naramu
miyako nariseba
aki no yo no tsuki
The wind howling down the mountain
Simply sets a scene of
Seeming winter, but
Were I in the capital,
An autumn night’s moon, would this be…

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 32

ゆめののちむなしきとこはあらじかしあきののなかもこひしかりけり

yume no nochi
munashiki toko wa
araji kashi
aki no no naka mo
koishikarikeri
After a dream of you
The emptiness of my bed
I feel not, I think, for
Amid the autumn meadows
I do love you still.

63

もみぢばのたまれるかりのなみだにはあきの月こそかげやどしけれ

momijiba no
tamareru kari no
namida ni wa
aki no tsuki koso
kage yadoshikere
The scarlet leaves
Clog the goose
Tears, where
It I the autumn moon’s
Light finds lodging.

64

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 31

あきかぜになみやたつらんあまのがはすぐるまもなくつきのながるる

akikaze ni
nami ya tatsuramu
ama no kawa
sukuru ma mo naku
tsuki no nagaruru
Might it be the autumn wind that
Has raised the waves upon
The River of Heaven?
There’s no space to pass for
The moon, flowing by…

61

つき見ればちぢにものこそかなしけれ我がみひとつのあきにはあらねど

tsuki mireba
chiji ni mono koso
kanashikere
wa ga mi hitotsu no
aki ni wa aranedo
When I gaze upon the moon
So many are my sources of
Sadness;
Though, it is not I, alone, who
Is faced with autumn…

62

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 29

いりひさす山とぞ見ゆるもみぢばのあきのことごとてらすなりけり

irihi sasu
yama to zo miyuru
momijiba no
aki no kotogoto
terasu narikeri
The setting sun shines
On the mountains, and it seems
The scarlet leaves
All of autumn
Do illuminate.

57

ひさかたのつきのかつらもあきはなほもみぢすればやてりまさるらん[1]

hisakata no
tsuki no katsura mo
aki  wa nao
momiji sureba ya
terimasaruran
On the eternal
Moon the silver trees too
In Autumn
Change their hues;
Is that why you shine so bright?

58


[1] This poem was included in Kokinshū (IV: 194), where it is attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 28

あきのよの月のひかりはきよけれどひとのこころのくまはてらさず[1]

aki no yo no
tsuki no hikari wa
kiyokeredo
hito no kokoro no
kuma wa terasazu
On an autumn night
The moon’s light is
So clear, yet upon
Her heart’s
Depths it fails to shine.

55

ゆふだすきかけてのみこそこひしけれあきとしなればひと

yūdasuki
kakete no koso
koishikere
aki to shi nareba
hito
Cords of mulberry cloth
Hung, are all the more
Dear;
When the autumn comes,
She…

56

The final words of this poem have not survived, so we need to use our imaginations to think of how it might have concluded.


[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (VI: 323).