From the Poetry Contest in 1500 Rounds.
あさ日かげにほへる山のさくら花つれなくきえぬ雪かとぞみる
| asahi kage nioeru yama no sakurabana tsurenaku kienu yuki ka to zo miru | Daybreak sunrise Lights the mountains’ Cherry blossom— A stubbornly resistant Snowfall do they seem to be? |
Lord Fujiwara no Ari’ie
On the same conception [blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence].
身にかへておもふもくるしさくら花さかぬみ山にやどもとめてむ
| mi ni kaete omou mo kurushi sakurabana sakanu miyama ni yado mo tometemu | It will cost my life, So painful to think of Cherry blossom Not yet in bloom deep within the mountains Where my lodging is to be. |
Monk Nyogan
As a poem on blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence to Former Emperor Sutoku.
かづらきやたかまの山のさくら花雲井のよそにみてや過ぎなん
| kaduragi ya takama no yama no sakurabana kumowi no yoso ni mite ya suginan | In Kazuragi On the peak of Takama are Cherry blossoms: Being beyond the clouds Should I overlook them? |
Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke
For a folding screen depicting a large number of travellers lying beneath blossom.
木のもとにやどりはすべし桜花ちらまくをしみ旅ならなくに
| ko no moto ni yadori wa subeshi sakurabana chiramaku oshimi tabi naranaku ni | Beneath this tree Let me lodge a while, for The cherry blossoms’ Scattering I do regret, so I’ve no cause to journey on my way… |
For a folding screen depicting a large number of travellers lying beneath blossom.
いましはと思ひし程にさくらばなちる木のもとに日数へぬべし
| ima shi wa to omoishi hodo ni sakurabana chiru ko no moto ni hikazu henubeshi | ‘Now, for sure, I’ll—’ I did think, but Cherry blossom Scattered from the trees, and beneath, Without arising, must I pass my time! |
On an occasion when I had many people compose on the same conception.
さくらばなさきちるみれば山里に我ぞおほくの春はへにける
| sakurabana saki chiru mireba yamazato ni ware zo ōku no haru wa henikeru | When the cherry blossoms’ Early scattering I see, That in this mountain retreat I have many a Springtime spent, I know. |
Composed on blossom.
桜ばなちらまくをしみうちひさすみやぢの人ぞとのゐせりける
| sakurabana chirimaku oshimi uchihisasu miyaji no hito zo tonoiserikeru | The cherry blossom Is scattering—full of regret Lit by the shining sun The courtiers Attend it. |
Left
さくらばなちりぬるかぜのなごりにはみづなきそらになみぞたちける
| sakurabana chirinuru kaze no nagori ni wa mizu naki sora ni nami zo tachikeru | The cherry blossom Scattering wind as A keepsake in The waterless skies Has roused the waves. |
Tsurayuki
37
Right
みなそこにはるやくるらんみよしののよしののかはにかはづなくなり
| minasoko ni haru ya kururan miyoshino no yoshino no kawa ni kawazu nakunari | To the water’s depths Has the spring arrived, it seems, for In fair Yoshino From the Yoshino River The frogs are singing. |
Tsurayuki
38
The Right won. His Majesty remarked, ‘There is a Royal poem here, so how could it lose?’
