Topic unknown.
おもひわびさてもいのちはあるものをうきにたへぬは涙なりけり
| omoi’wabi sate mo inoti Fa aru mono wo uki ni taenu Fa namida narikeri | Burning with the pain of love, At least life is Something that I have, but Unable to endure her cruelty Are my tears. |
Monk Dōin
When the moon was shining brightly, when a shower-filled sky had cleared.
五月雨の空だにすめる月影に涙の雨ははるるまもなし
| samidare no sora dani sumeru tsukikage ni namida no ame wa haruru ma mo nashi | Showers filled The sky, yet even they end with bright Moonlight, yet The rainfall of my tears Clears for not a moment. |
Akazome Emon
鈴虫の声のかぎりを尽しても長き夜あかずふる涙かな
| suzumushi no koe no kagiri o tsukushitemo nagaki yo akazu furu namida kana | The bell-crickets The very limits of their song Have exhausted, but This long night, unending is The falling of my tears! |
Yugei no myōbu
When she was in attendance on Empress Akiko, Her Majesty’s mien was that of recollecting a certain situation with His Majesty, Former Emperor Ichijō, so she presented this the following morning, after she had withdrawn from Her Majesty’s presence.
つねよりもまたぬれそひし袂かなむかしをかけて落ちし涙に
| tune yori mo mata nuresoFisi tamoto kana mukasi wo kakete wotisi namida ni | More than ever, Soaked through are My sleeves! For bygone days I stored up The tears I let fall now… |
Akazome Emon
Saying that he was taking off mourning clothes for Kōtoku-kō.
かぎりあればけふぬぎすてつふぢ衣はてなき物はなみだなりけり
| kagiri areba keFu nugisutetu Fudigoromo Fatenaki mono Fa namida narikeri | An limit there is, so Today do I take off for good These violet robes, but What are endless Are my tears. |
Lord Fujiwara no Michinobu
Topic unknown.
われゆゑのなみだとこれをよそにみばあはれなるべき袖のうへかな
| ware yuwe no namida to kore wo yoso ni miba aFare narubeki sode no uFe kana | Should my Tears she View from afar, Would she pity them Resting atop my sleeves! |
Lord Fujiwara no Takanobu
Composed around the time Lord Kintada passed away.
物をのみおもひねざめのまくらにはなみだかからぬあかつきぞなき
| mono o nomi omoi nezame no makura ni wa namida kakaranu akatsuki zo naki | Gloom, alone, fills My thoughts—on waking My pillow Remains untouched by tears On no single dawn at all… |
Lord Minamoto no Sane’akira
Topic unknown.
花すすき草のたもとをかりぞなくなみだの露やおき所なき
| hanasusuki kusa no tamoto o kari zo naku namida no tsuyu ya okidokoro naki | The flowering miscanthus Grass cuffs Reaped and wept Tears of dew Have no place to fall.[i] |
Consultant Masatsune
[i] An allusive variation on KKS IV: 243.
Composed on the conception of hidden love, when various people were ordered to produce hundred poem sequences by the Lay Priest and Former Regent, when he was Minister of the Right.
後の世をなげくなみだといひなしてしぼりやせましすみ染の袖
| nochi no yo o nageku namida to iinashite shibori ya semashi sumizome no sode | My life to come brings These grieving tears— Should that be my excuse,as I wring out My ink-dyed sleeves? |
Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazai, Shige’ie
Round Forty-Four
Left
むかしせしわがかねごとのかなしきはいかにちぎりしなごりなるらん
| mukashi seshi wa ga kanegoto no kanashiki wa ika ni chigirishi nagorinaruran | Long ago did I promise, but Might the sadness Of how I did once vow Be my only keepsake? |
87[i]
Right
かたみとてみればなみだのふかみ草なになかなかのにほひなるらむ
| katami tote mireba namida no fukamigusa nani nakanaka no nioinaruramu | ‘For a keepsake,’ I think and Gaze, but my tears are As peonies— Why do they so Brightly shine? |
88[ii]
[i] GSS XI: 710: Taira no Sadafun had been conversing with a lady at the residence of Major Counsellor Kunitsune in great secrecy and matters had progressed to the point that they had vowed to be with each other to the end, when the lady was abruptly welcomed into the residence of the late Grand Minister, so he had no way at all of even exchanging letters with her; thus, when the lady’s five year old child was playing in the western wing of the minister’s mansion, Sadafun called her over and saying, ‘Show this to your mother,’ wrote this on her upper arm.
[ii] The text of this contest appears to be the only occurrence of this poem in the waka canon, so it is unclear where Gotoba may have encountered it.