The Seventh Night 七夜
ちとせふる祝の松のつるの子はけふすをたちて七夜なりけり
| chitose furu iwai no matsu no tsuru no ko wa kyō su o tachite nanayo narikeri | Ageing for a thousand years, A celebratory pine is where A crane chick has Today made her nest and Reached her seventh night. |
Higo
The Seventh Night 七夜
たけならぬ二葉の松のおひ初めてこよひ七夜になりにけるかな
| take naranu futaba no matsu no oisomete koyoi nanayo ni narinikeru kana | A tiny New-leafed pine Begins to age From this seventh night that It has reached! |
Tadafusa
Groves 原
枝ごとにいくそのちよをちぎるらんその神世よりいきの松源
| eda goto ni iku sono chiyo o chigiruran sono kamiyo yori iki no matsubara | In every single branch Does live the thousand-generation Vow, perhaps? Enduring since the Age of Gods, The sacred pine groves of Iki. |
Higo
Love Waiting for Someone 待人恋
いつとなくこぬみの浜の人まつとただよふなみのたえぬ日ぞなき
| itsu to naku konu mi no hama no hito matsu to tadayou nami no taenu hi zo naki | Never does He come; on the beach A lone pine stands with The drifting waves Endless days – are there none! |
Toshiyori
When he had gone to the province of Michinoku as its governor, he saw a withered pine tree at Takekuma, and had a sapling planted to replace it; after finishing his posting, he returned to the same province later, and saw the pine he had planted once more.
栽し時契やし剣武隈の松をふたたび逢ひ見つる哉
| uesi toki tigiri ya si ken takekuma no matu wo Futatabi aFimituru kana | When I planted you Did I make a vow, perhaps? That Takekuma’s Pine once more I would encounter! |
Fujiwara no Motoyoshi
藤原元善
A poem on a pine tree in Shigeoka in Atomi, by Ki no Shikahito
茂岡に神さび立ちて栄えたる千代松の木の年の知らなく
| sigewoka ni kamusabi tatite sakaetaru tiyo matu no ki no tosi no siranaku | In Shigeoka Divinely stands Flourishing A pine for a thousand generations All unknowing of the passing years. |
Ki no Shikahito
紀鹿人
Left (Tie)
昔聞く君が手馴れの琴ならば夢に知られて音をも立てまし
| mukashi kiku kimi ga tenare no koto naraba yume ni shirarete ne o mo tatemashi |
Long ago, I heard Your favourite Zither play – if that were me, then In your dreams I would be known, and Make a sound most sweet within your sleep… |
Lord Sada’ie
1093
Right
わぎも子が心のひかぬ琴の音は我まつにこそ通はざりけれ
| wagimoko ga kokoro no hikanu koto no ne wa wa ga matsu ni koso kayowazarikere |
My darling’s Heartstrings are not tugged By my zither’s strains, so Though I pine for her ‘Tis of no use at all… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1094
The Right state: the Left’s poem gives the impression of being based on something – but what? The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: there is nothing unusual about the Left’s poem. It simply seems to be in the conception of the Man’yōshū poem where, ‘a Japanese zither made from the wood of the parasol tree transforms into a maiden in a dream, and says “When will / The day come that / I shall sing / Making his lap / My pillow?”’ I also have the feeling that it is alluding to the subsequent poem, however. So, it is certainly not the case that it is not based on anything. The Right’s poem has ‘heartstrings are not tugged’ (kokoro no hikanu) and then the metaphorical ‘though I pine for her’ (wa ga matsu ni koso), so is certainly not lacking in conception either. They are equivalent and tie.
Left (Win).
夜とともに玉散る床の菅枕見せばや人に夜半の景色を
| yo to tomo ni tama tiru toko no sugamakura miseba ya Fito ni yowa no kesiki wo |
Together with the night Gemlets scatter on my bed’s Sedge-filled pillow; Should I show her This midnight sight? |
The Master 大夫
[Minamoto no Toshiyori 源俊頼]
27
Right.
波のよる岩根に立てる磯馴れ松また寝もいらで恋ひあかしつる
| nami no yoru iFane ni tateru sonare matu mata ne mo irade koFi akasituru |
The waves roll in To the cliffs where stands A hardy pine upon the rocks; Once more sleepless From love do I greet the dawn. |
The Assistant Master 佐
[Fujiwara no Mototoshi 藤原基俊]
28
君が代を尾上の松にくらべむに幾代の春か逢はむとすらむ
| kimi ga yo o onoe no matsu ni kurabemu ni ikuyo no haru ka awamu to suramu |
My Lord, your reign To the pines of Onoe Will be compared! Everlastingly spring Will it encounter! |
Fujiwara no Akisuke
藤原顕輔
When the gentlemen and ladies of the household of the Minister of the Left were getting dressed for a coming-of-age ceremony.
大原やをしほの山のこまつ原はや木高かれ千代の影みむ
| oFoFara ya wosiFo no yama no komatubara haya ko takakare tiyo no kage mimu |
At Ōhara, On Oshio Mountain The young pine saplings Will grow swiftly into mighty trees and See a thousand generations pass! |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之