みな人のなをしもよぶか郭公鳴くなるこゑのさとをとよむる
minahito no na o shimo yobu ka hototogisu naku naru koe no sato o toyomuru | Is very person’s Name he calling? The cuckoo’s Calling cries Echo round the estate! |
Mountain Cherries
Round Nine
Left (Tie)
人心うつりはてぬる花の色に昔ながらの山の名もをし
hitogokoro utsurihatenuru hana no iro ni mukashi nagara no yama no na mo oshi | As a human heart All faded are The blossoms’ hues upon Ever unchanged Nagara Mountain—even its name brings regret.[1] |
A Court Lady
17
Right
なぞもかく思ひそめけむ桜花やまとしたかく成りはつるまで
nazo mo kaku omoisomekemu sakurabana yama toshi takaku narihatsuru made | Why is it that I seem so Absorbed in thought of Cherry blossom that The mountain higher Has grown? [2] |
Lord Ietaka
18
The Right’s poem mentioning ‘Grief as hard as felling trees upon a mountain higher’ has charming diction. As for the Left’s poem, while I have heard it strongly stated that using a ‘human heart’ is not diction that should be composed with these days, as this is not a poem for public circulation, for the moment I make this a tie.
[1] An allusive variation on KKS XV: 797.
[2] An allusive variation on KKS XIX: 1056.
When a large number of people had gone to Daikakuji and were composing on the old waterfall.
たきの糸はたえてひさしく成りぬれど名こそ流れて猶きこえけれ
taki no ito Fa taete Fisasiku narinuredo na koso nagarete naFo kikoekere | The cataract’s threads Snapped so long Ago, yet Its name flows on and Is yet heard. |
Kintō, Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Right Division
Composed when he had gone to the Saga Daigakuji and was composing on a variety of topics.
たきのおとはたえて久しくなりぬれど名こそながれてなほきこえけれ
taki no oto Fa taete Fisasiku narinuredo na koso nagarete naFo kikoekere | The cataract’s sound Faded so long Ago, yet Its name flows on and Is yet heard. |
Former Major Counsellor Kintō
Composed on love at the barrier of Meeting Hill by His Majesty, when his gentlemen were drawing out the names of places and composing poems on them.
あふさかのなをもたのまじ恋すれば関のし水に袖はぬれけり
aFusaka no na wo mo tanomazi koFisureba seki no simidu ni sode Fa nurekeri | Meeting Hill— An untrustworthy name, indeed! My passions Dammed, the spring waters by the barrier Have soaked my sleeves. |
Imperial Composition [Emperor Shirakawa]
ときのまもあきのいろをやをみなへしながきあだなにいはれはてなん
toki no ma mo aki no iro o ya ominaeshi nagaki adana ni iwarehatenan | For such a brief time In her autumn hues is A maidenflower, and yet Ever is she faithless Said to be… |
39
あきのののくさをみなへししらぬみははなのなにこそおどろかれぬれ
aki no no no kusa o mina heshi shiranu mi wa ana no na ni koso odorokarenure | Through all the autumn meadows’ Grasses have I passed, yet I know them not, so When I learned her name How surprised I was! |
40
なにしおへばあはれとおもふををみなへしたれをうしとかまだきうつろふ
na ni shi oeba aware to omou o ominaeshi tare o ushi to ka madaki utsurou | Bearing such a name, She is dear, indeed, I feel, that Maidenflower, but Who is it that she does despise so, That she fades so swiftly? |
Mareyo
37
ちるはるをみなへしはなはあき風のふかむことをばくるしからじな
chiru haru o mina heshi hana wa akikaze no fukamu koto oba kurushikaraji na | Scattered in springtime Have all the blossoms, so When the autumn wind Begins to blow She suffers not, I think… |
Motoyuki
38