Composed on plum blossom.
春風はふけどふかねど梅花さけるあたりはしるくぞ有りける
| harukaze wa fuketobu kanedo mume no hana sakeru atari wa shiruku zo arikeru | Whether the breeze in springtime Blows, or blows not, that The plum blossom Is blooming here is Startlingly clear! |
Left (Win)
きつつのみなくうぐひすのふるさとはちりにしむめのはなにざりける
| kitsutsu nomi naku uguisu no furusato wa chirinishi mume no hana ni zarikeru | Ever coming, simply To sing—the warbler’s Ancient home The scattered plum Blossoms is not. |
Mitsune
5[i]
Right
みちよへてなるてふももはことしよりはなさくはるにあひぞしにける
| michiyo hete naru chō momo wa kotoshi yori hana saku haru ni ai zo shinikeru | Three thousand generations enduring, They say, are the peaches: From this year Blossom blooming spring Have they encountered. |
Korenori
6[ii]
This poem says ‘generation’ when it should be composed about a year—it loses.
[i] This poem is included in Shinchokusenshū (I: 36), attributed to Sakanoue no Korenori, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
[ii] A minor variant of this poem, which changes the first phrase to ‘For three thousand years’ (michi tose ni), is included in Shūishū (V: 288), attributed to Mitsune, with the headnote ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
He had paid a visit to the house of an acquaintance where there was a plum tree. ‘When it blooms, I will certainly invite you to come,’ he was told, but when no letter arrived…
梅花今は盛りになりぬらんたのめし人のをとづれもせぬ
| mume no Fana ima Fa sakarini narinuran tanomesi Fito no wotodure mo senu | The plum blossom Is now profusely Blooming, it seems, but From the man I trusted Comes no note, at all… |
The Suzakuin Prince and Minister for War [Atsukata/Atsumoto]
Left
| Mibu no Tadamine | Ariwara no Motokata | Taira no Sadafun |
Right
| Sakanoue no Korenori | Ki no Tsurayuki | Ōshikōchi no Mitsune |
The Beginning of Spring
Left (Tie)
はるたつといふばかりにやみよしののやまもかすみてけさはみゆらむ
| haru tatsu to iu bakari ni ya miyoshino no yama mo kasumite kesa wa miyuramu | Spring is here They simply say, but Is fair Yoshino Mountain, too, all hazed In view this morning, I wonder? |
Tadamine
1
Right
はるたちてなほふるゆきはむめのはなさくほどもなくちるかとぞみる
| haru tachite nao furu yuki wa mume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru | Spring is here, yet Still the snow falls—does, as Plum blossoms’ Brief flowering then Scattering, it truly seem? |
Mitsune
2
Poems composed for a folding screen for the Minister of the Right in Jōhei 7 [937]: Women gazing at the scarlet plum blossom they had picked beneath the trees.
雪とのみあやまたれつつ梅花くれなゐにさへかよひけるかな
| yuki to nomi aya mataretsutsu mume no hana kurenai ni sae kayoikeru kana | For the snow alone, O, have we ever waited, while The plum blossom Simply in scarlet Has scattered back and forth. |
Left
梅の花香をばとどめて色をのみ年ふる人の袖にそむらむ
| mume no hana ka oba todomete iro o nomi toshi furu hito no sode ni somuramu | The plum blossoms’ Scent remains, while Their hues An aging man’s Sleeves do seem to dye. |
33
Right
あかずして過行く春の人ならばとくかへりこといはましものを
| akazushite sugiyuku haru no hito naraba toku kaeri koto iwamashi mono o | Unsated by The passing spring: If you are such a one, then Hastily return, is What I’d want to say. |
34