Tag Archives: sky

Uda-in uta’awase 8

Azaleas

Left

かりがねにおもひかけつつしのばなんあまつそらなるわが身なりとも

kari ga ne ni
omoikaketsutsu
shinobanan
ama tsu sora naru
wa ga mi naritomo
Upon the goose cries
Ever hang your thoughts, and
Remember, that
Within the sky-spanning heavens
I may yet be…

Sadafun
15

Right

うぐひすのこゑなつかしくなきつるはのちもこひつつしのばなむとか

uguisu no
koe natsukashiku
nakitsuru wa
nochi mo koitsutsu
shinobanamu to ka
Does the warbler’s
Song so charmingly
Ring out that
Later, ever fondly
Will he be remembered?

16

SCSS I: 15

A spring poem, from when he composed a fifty-poem sequence at the residence of Cloistered Prince Shukaku.

山のはもそらもひとつに見ゆるかなこれやかすめるはるのあけぼの

yama no ha mo
sora mo hitotsu ni
miyuru kana
kore ya kasumeru
haru no akebono
The mountains’ edge and
The sky, too, as one
Do seem!
This is the hazy
Dawn in springtime!

Minamoto no Moromitsu
源師光

An image of hazy mountains at dawn

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 43

Left

ひぐらしに秋の野山をわけくれば心にもあらぬ錦をぞきる

higurashi ni
aki no noyama o
wakekureba
kokoro ni mo aranu
nishiki o zo kiru
When at sundown
Through the autumn mountain meadows
I come forging,
Lying not within my heart,
Brocade I am, indeed, cutting!

84

Right

秋といへばあま雲までにもえにしを空さへしるくなどか見ゆらん

aki to ieba
amagumo made ni
moenishi o
sora sae shiruku
nado ka miyuran
‘Autumn’ is when
Even as far as heaven’s clouds
Have burned, but
Why does the sky
Seem so clear?

85

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 37

Left

おしなべて五月のそらを見渡せば草葉も水もみどりなりけり

oshinabete
satsuki no sora o
miwataseba
kusaba mo mizu mo
midori narikeri
When the entire
Fifth Month sky
I gaze across,
Blades of grass and water, too,
Are green.

72[1]

Right

くるるかとみれば明けぬる夏の夜をあかずとや鳴く山郭公

kururu ka to
mireba akenuru
natsu no yo o
akazu to ya naku
yamahototogisu
Did you think ’twas sunset?
When a glance would show the breaking dawn
Of this summer night-
Unsated by your song, do you sing on,
Cuckoo in the mountains?

73[2]


[1] Shinchokusenshū III: 152/Kokin rokujō I: 89

[1] Kokinshū III: 157, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine/Shinsen man’yōshū 57/Kokin rokujō VI: 4437

Horikawa-in Enjo Awase 10

忍ぶれど物思ふ人はうき雲の空に恋する名をのみぞたつ

shinoburedo
mono’omou hito wa
ukigumo no
sora ni koisuru
na o nomi zo tatsu
I kept it secret, yet
She, who is the focus of my thoughts, is
As a drifting cloud
Within the sky, and of my love
Rumours, alone, do rise toward her.

Middle Captain Morotoki, Fourth Rank
19

恋すともいかでか空に名はたたじ忍ぶる程は袖につつまで

koisu to mo
ikade ka sora ni
na wa tataji
shinoburu hodo wa
sode ni tsutsumade
You love, so
How is it that the skies
Could remain untouched by rumours?
Your secret
You’ve not kept wrapped within your sleeves…

Lady Aki, in service to the Empress Dowager
20

Sengohyakuban uta’awase 1411

Left

あすは又けふをばこぞといひすててをしみしものとおもひだにせじ

asu wa mata
kyō o ba kozo to
iisutete
oshimishi mono to
omoi dani seji
Tomorrow, once again
Will be as today
I’ll say easily and
All those things that I regretted-
I’ll not even think of them!

Lord Sueyoshi
2080

Right

ふゆのそらわびつつけふになりにけりあとなきにはのゆきとみながら

fuyu no sora
wabitsutsu kyō ni
narinikeri
ato naki niwa no
yuki to minagara
The winter sky is
Ever a source of grief-today
Has just turned out that way,
While my gardens trackless
Snow fills my gaze.

Ienaga
2081

Judgement: I wonder how the central ‘I’ll say easily’ leads in to the concluding section. The Right’s poem is a little better, I’d say.