On the spirit of reminiscence, brought on by snow.
そま山やこずゑにをもるゆきをれにたえぬなげきの身をくだくらん
soma yama ya
kozue ni omoru
yuki ore ni
taenu nageki no
mi o kudakuran |
On the timber mountain
Treetops weighted down
With snow do break–
Unable to endure this grief,
My breast shall shatter. |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari
藤原俊成
Plum.
ふるゆきにいろまどはせるむめの花うぐひすのみやわきてしのばん
furu yuki ni
iro madowaseru
mume no hana
uguisu nomi ya
wakite shinoban |
The falling snow’s
Shade is as that of
The plum blossom;
The warbler, alone,
Can truly tell one from the other, perhaps. |
The Suga Posthumous Grand Minister [Sugawara no Michizane]
菅原道真
On the bush warbler.
たにふかみ春のひかりのをそければ雪につゝめる鶯の聲
tani fukami
haru no hikari no
osokereba
yuki ni tsutsumeru
uguisu no koe |
Deep within this valley
The light of spring
Comes late, so
‘Tis buried ‘neath the snow:
The bush-warbler’s song. |
The Suga Posthumous Grand Minister [Sugawara no Michizane]
菅原道真
When parting from someone with whom she had a far from shallow attachment.
きたへゆく雁のつばさにことつてよ雲のうはがきかきたえずして
kita e yuku
kari no tsubasa ni
kototsute yo
yuki no uwagaki
kakitaezushite |
To the north I go;
On goose wings
Send me word!
Address above the snow,
Writing never ending. |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
When she presented a hundred poem sequence:
ひかずふる雪げにまさるすみがまのけぶりもさむし大原のさと
hi kazu furu
yukige ni masaru
sumigama no
keburi mo samushi
ōhara no sato |
Day after passing day
The snow-sign has grown stronger above
The charcoal kilns
The very smoke is chill
In the village of Ōhara. |
Princess Shokushi
式子内親王
His reply:
いまぞきく心はあともなかりけり雪かきわけておもひやれども
ima zo kiku
kokoro wa ato mo
nakarikeri
yuki kakiwakete
omoiyaredomo |
Only now, do I see, that
The heart, a dint
Leaves not;
Though forging through the snows
Do go my thoughts… |
The Gotokudaiji Minister of the Left [Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139-1191)]
Sent to [his nephew] the Gotokudaiji Minister of the Left on a snowy morning.
けふはもし君もやとふとながむれどまだあともなき庭の雪哉
kyō wa moshi
kimi mo ya tou to
nagamuredo
mada ato mo naki
niwa no yuki kana |
Today, perhaps,
You might come to call,
I wonder, gazing at
The yet undinted
Snow upon my garden. |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari
藤原俊成
In a hundred poem sequence:
さむしろのよはの衣手さえさえてはつ雪しろしをかのべの松
samushiro no
yowa no koromode
saesaete
hatsuyuki shiroshi
oka no be no matsu | Alone in my meagre bedding,
My nightgown’s sleeves
Are deeply chill, indeed;
The first snows lie white
Upon the pines along the hillside. |
Princess Shokushi
式子内親王
On the first day of snowfall, when she had much on her mind:
ふればかくうさのみまさる世をしらであれたる庭につもるはつ雪
fureba kaku
usa nomi masaru
yo o shirade
aretaru niwa ni
tsumoru hatsuyuki |
As I age, you fall, the
Excess of grief
Within this world unknown to you, and
Upon the my desolate garden,
Drifting, o, first snowflakes. |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
In the same house, when he had winter poems composed containing place-names, this was composed on snow on the estate of Fushimi.
夢かよふみちさへたえぬくれ竹のふしみのさとの雪のしたをれ
yume kayou
michi sae taenu
kuretake no
fushimi no sato no
yuki no shitaore | In dreams I trod
A path now gone:
The bamboo at
Fushimi is
Broken in the snow. |
Ari’ie
有家
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