As a poem on willows.
青柳のいともてぬける白露の玉こきちらす春の山かぜ
| aoyagi no ito mo tenukeru shiratsuyu no tama kokichirasu haru no yamakaze | Pale green willow Threads are strung With silver dewdrops— Gems scattered by The breeze from off the mountains in springtime. |
Spring
Composed on the First day of the First Month
今朝みれば山もかすみて久かたのあまのはらより春は来にけり
| kesa mireba yama mo kasumite hisakata no ama no hara yori haru wa kinikeri | Gazing out this morning The mountains are all hazed From the eternal Plains of Heaven[i] Spring has come, at last! |
1
[i] The reference to the ‘plains of Heaven’ (ama no hara 天の原) being ‘eternal’ (hisakata 久方) implies that the poet has been long awaiting the arrival of spring—a nuance which I have attempted to capture with the final ‘at last’.
Left
ひとこふとはかなきしにをわれやせんみのあらばこそのちもあひみめ
| hito kou to hakanaki shini o ware ya sen mi no araba koso nochi mo aimime | Loving her was Brief, so is die What I should do? If I live on then I might meet her later! |
64
Right
ゆふさればやまのはにいづるつきくさのうつしごころはきみにそめてき
| yū sareba yama no ha ni izuru tsukikusa no utsushigokoro wa kimi ni someteki | When the evening comes From the mountains’ edge emerges Moongrass—just as My loving heart has Been dyed by you. |
65
Summer
Five poems on the Fourth Month
Left (Win)
みやまいでてまづはつこゑはほととぎすよぶかくまたむわがやどになけ
| miyama idete mazu hatsukoe wa hototogisu yobu kaku matamu wa ga yado ni nake | Emerging from the mountains deep, Early, your first call, Cuckoo— Where I would be waiting all night long At my house, o, sing out! |
Masakata[i]
41
Right
けふよりはなつのころもになりぬれどきるひとさへはかはらざりけり
| kyō yori wa natsu no koromo ni narinuredo kiru hito sae wa kawarazarikeri | From today Summer garb We have put on, yet The folk who wear it Have not changed at all. |
Mitsune
42
‘The Right is uninteresting,’ so it lost.
[i] Minamoto no Masakata 源雅固 (dates unknown). A son of Minamoto no Sada’ari 源定有 (dates unknown), one of the sons of Emperor Montoku (827-858; r. 850-858).
Evergreens
ちりかはる心なけれどみやまぎのときはは秋もしられざりけり
| chirikawaru kokoro nakeredo miyamagi no tokiwa wa aki mo shirarezarikeri | A flighty Heart, has it not, yet Deep within the mountains, that the trees Are evergreen, even the autumn Seems not to know… |
19
Gentian
した草の花をみつればむらさきに秋さへふかくなりにけるかな
| shitagusa no hana o mitsureba murasaki ni aki sae fukaku narinikeru kana | When in the undergrowth Flowers I do see, their Violet in Autum much deeper Has become! |
20
Topics
| Pinks | Silver grass | Karukaya | Maidenflowers |
| Orchids | Bush clover | Marlberry | Scarlet leaves |
| Bamboo | Asters | Evergreens | Gentian |
Poetry Match
Pinks
Left
あきののの花はさきつつうつろへどいつともわかぬやどのとこ夏
| aki no no no hana wa sakitsutsu utsuroedo itsu to mo wakanu yado no tokonatsu | In the autumn meadows, The flowers ever bloom, then Fade away, yet Never will that happen to The pink where I do dwell… |
1
Right
秋ののをみるよりも又あしひきの山となでしこさきにけるかな
| aki no no o miru yori mo mata ashihiki no yamato nadeshiko sakinikeru kana | Upon the autumn meadows I gaze—but better yet that In the leg-wearying Mountains of Yamato a pink Has bloomed! |
2
Left
おとはやまおとにききつつあふさかのせきのこなたにひとをまつかな
| otowayama oto ni kikitsutsu ausaka no seki no konata ni hito o matsu kana | As wing-beats in the mountains Do I hear tell: That on Meeting Hill Barrier’s inner side Someone does await me! |
Motokata
29
Right
そのはらやふせやにおふるははきぎのありとてゆけどあはぬきみかな
| sonohara ya fuseya ni ouru hahakigi no ari tote yukedo awanu kimi kana | At Sonohara By the rest-stop grows A sacred tree, they say; I catch a glimpse, yet Cannot meet with you! |
30
Round 8
Left
花の色はかすみのひまにほのみえて山のはにほふ春の暁
| hana no iro wa kasumi no hima ni honomiete yama no ha niou haru no akebono | The blossoms’ hues Between the shifting haze I briefly glimpse, and The mountains’ edges glow With the dawn in springtime. |
325
Right
あだし夜の花にとききてゆく雁の名残もいとど有明のそら
| adashiyo no hana ni toki kite yuku kari no nagori mo itdodo ariake no sora | To fleeting night’s Blossoms has the time come, and The departing geese leave A keepsake more brief In the skies at dawn. |
326
This round, again, it seems difficult to distinguish between the the two poems.
Former Emperor Gosukō (1372-1456)
後崇光院