Composed to accompany a letter sent to someone who had gone down to Michinoku province.
たまぼこのみちの山風さむからばかたみがてらにきなんとぞおもふ
| tamaboko no michi no yama kaze samukaraba katamigatera ni ki nan to zo omou |
A jewelled spear, The road where mountain winds Blow chill, if so These keepsake robes I would that you would wear. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
Composed in the conception of parting when he took part in a hundred-poem sequence.
別れても心へだつな旅ごろも幾重かさなる山路なりとも
| wakarete mo kokoro Fedatu na tabigoromo ikuwe kasanaru yamadi naritomo | We may part, yet Let us not be strangers; Travellers’ robes Place layer on layer, Though mountain paths lie in-between. |
Fujiwara no Sada’ie
藤原定家
Composed in the conception of parting when she took part in a hundred-poem sequence.
限あらむ道こそあらめ此世にて別るべしとは思はざりしを
| kagiri aramu miti koso arame kono yo nite wakarubesi to Fa omoFazarisi wo |
There must be an end On this path, I know; But in this world That we should part- That I had not thought. |
Jōsaimon’in no Hyōe
A person who was going far away came to see her and left with the dawn; it was the last day of the Ninth Month and the insects were crying movingly, so she composed:
なきよわる籬の蟲もとめがたき秋の別やかなしかるらむ
| naki yowaru magaki no musi mo tomegataki aki no wakare ya kanasikaruramu |
Faintly crying, The insects in the cage, too, Do they find it difficult to halt The parting Autumn And feel this sadness? |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
When [Fujiwara no] Arikuni became Senior Assistant Governor General [of Dazaifu] and went down, Kintō composed:
別よりまさりて惜しき命かな君に二たびあはむと思へば
| wakare yori masarite wosiki inoti kana kimi ni Futa tabi aFamu to omoFeba |
More than parting- Far more do I regret My life; Once more with you Might I meet, I wonder. |
Former Major Councillor [Fujiwara no] Kintō
藤原公任
When a lady-in-waiting who had been with her for a long time went down to Hyūga province, she composed this as a farewell gift.
あかねさす日に向ひても思ひいでよみやこは晴れぬながらめすらむと
| akane sasu Fi ni mukaFite mo omoFi’ide yo miyako Fa Farenu nagamesuramu to |
Shining madder red The sun: toward it turn And remember- The capital will be under cloud And sunk in gloom. |
The Ichijō In Empress [Teishi]
After Michisada had abandoned her, and gone to be governor of Michinoku, she sent him this.
もろともにたゝましものを陸奧の衣の關をよそにきくかな
| morotomo ni tatamasi mono wo mitinoku no koromo no seki wo yoso ni kiku kana |
Together Would we once have cut our way; but Of Michinoku’s Garment-the Barrier of Koromo– I hear from another. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
When he went down to Michinoku Province, he sent this back to the capital from the barrier at Meeting Hill.
われひとり急ぐと思ひし東路に垣根の梅はさきだちにけり
| ware Fitori isogu to omoFisi adumadi ni kakine no mume Fa sakidatinikeri |
I, alone, Was hurried, or so I thought, Upon this eastland road; The plum trees by the fence Have bloomed already. |
Tachibana no Norimitsu
Written in the margins [of a letter she had received from Fujiwara no Nagafusa on his appointment as Governor of Tsukushi].
別路をげにいかばかり嘆くらん聞く人さへぞ袖はぬれける
| wakaredi wo geni ikabakari nagekuran kiku Fito saFe zo sode Fa nurekeru |
The path of parting Beyond all measure sad Must be, For hearing of it, we too, Have soaking sleeves. |
[Empress] Jōtōmon’in [Shōshi] (988-1074)