When he had begun to live with the Katsura Princess, and felt that she did not wish to see him.
人知れず物思頃の我が袖は秋の草葉に劣らざりけり
| Fito sirezu mono’omoFu koro no wa ga sode Fa aki no kusaba ni otorazarikeri | When unknown to all I am sunk in gloomy thought My sleeves To blades of grass in autumn Lack nothing! |
Prince Sadakazu
From the Master of the Right Capital Office, when the pinks were blooming in profusion.
我がそでにうつらばうつれてもやまずつみやいれましなでしこのはな
| wa ga sode ni utsuraba utsure te mo yamazu tsumi ya iremashi nadeshiko no hana | If, to my sleeves It is to shift, then let it! My hand will not cease To pick and I would tuck within A flowering pink! |
Minamoto no Muneyuki
やをとめのそでかとぞみるをみなへしきみをいはひてなではじめてき
| yaotome no sode ka to zo miru ominaeshi kimi o iwaite nadehajimeteki | As eight sacred maidens’ Sleeves do they appear, The maidenflowers, Celebrating our Lord’s reign With a first gentle touch. |
49
うゑながらかつはたのまずをみなへしうつろふあきのほどしなければ
| uenagara katsu wa tanomazu ominaeshi utsurou aki no hodo shi nakereba | I planted them, yet Still unreliable are The maidenflowers, for They fade and autumn Is nothing but brief… |
50
Left
ひとのみることやくるしきをみなへしあきぎりにのみたちかくるらむ
| hito no miru koto ya kurushiki ominaeshi akigiri ni nomi tachikakururamu | For man to gaze on you, Is it so painful, O, Maidenflower, That simply in the autumn mists You must hide yourself away? |
Tadamine
13[1]
Right
とりてみばはかなからんやをみなへしそでにつつめるしらつゆのたま
| torite miba hakanakaran ya ominaeshi sode ni tsutsumeru shiratsuyu no tama | If I pick and look How fleeting are Upon a maidenflower, Enveloped in my sleeves Silver dewdrop pearls. |
14
[1] KKS IV: 235
Left
あきののをみなへしるともささわけにぬれにしそでやはなとみゆらむ
| aki no no o mina heshiru to mo sasa wake ni nurenishi sode ya hana to miyuramu | Through the autumn meadows Everyone knows to pass, yet Forging through the dwarf bamboo Will my sleeves, so drenched, Appear as the flowers do?[1] |
3
Right
をみなへしあきののかぜにうちなびきこころひとつをたれによすらん
| ominaeshi aki no nokaze ni uchinabiki kokoro hitotsu o tare ni yosuran | The maidenflower, With a breeze across the autumn fields, Waves back and forth; Having but a single heart, To whom does she incline, I wonder? |
The Minister of the Left[2]
4[3]
[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.
[2] Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871-909).
[3] Kokinshū IV: 230; Shinsen man’yōshū 532; Kokin rokujō 3660
A poem composed by Princess Nukata when the emperor went hunting at Kamōno.
茜草指 武良前野逝 標野行 野守者不見哉 君之袖布流
あかねさす紫野行き標野行き野守は見ずや君が袖振る
| akane sasu murasakino yuki simeno yuki nomori pa mizu ya kimi ga sode puru | Shining madder red, To the violet fields you go, To the hunting grounds you go, but Won’t the wardens look askance? At your waving sleeves…’ |
Princess Nukata