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
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
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
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
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.