Composed for Her Majesty, to say that this year, she had the liberty to bond with the blossoms.
しらくもにまがふさくらのこずゑにてちとせの春をそらにしるかな
| sirakumo ni magaFu sakura no kodue nite titose no Faru wo sora ni siru kana | The clouds, so white Blend with the cherry blossom Treetops— Are a thousand years of springtimes Known in the skies, I wonder! |
Chūnagon, in service to Empress Taikenmon’in
待賢門院中納言
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
Round 8
Left
花の色はかすみのひまにほのみえて山のはにほふ春の暁
| hana no iro wa kasumi no hima ni honomiete yama no ha niou haru no akebono | The blossoms’ hues Between the shifting haze I briefly glimpse, and The mountains’ edges glow With the dawn in springtime. |
325
Right
あだし夜の花にとききてゆく雁の名残もいとど有明のそら
| adashiyo no hana ni toki kite yuku kari no nagori mo itdodo ariake no sora | To fleeting night’s Blossoms has the time come, and The departing geese leave A keepsake more brief In the skies at dawn. |
326
This round, again, it seems difficult to distinguish between the the two poems.
Former Emperor Gosukō (1372-1456)
後崇光院
Left
おもひ侘びけぶりは空に立ちぬれどわりなくもなき恋のしるしか
| omoiwabi keburi wa sora ni tachinuredo warinaku mo naki koi no shirushi ka | Suffering from passion’s fire, Smoke into the skies Has risen, yet Of a not unreasonable Love is this a sign? |
168
Right
人をおもふ心のおきは身をぞやく煙たつとは見えぬものから
| hito o omou kokoro no oki wa mi o zo yaku keburi tatsu to wa mienu mono kara | Loving her The coals within my heart Do burn my flesh, though Of smoke arising Is there no sign at all… |
169
Left
おもひにはあふ空さへやもえわたるあさたつ雲を煙とはして
| omoi ni wa au sora sae ya moewataru asa tatsu kumo o keburi to wa shite | Is it our fires of passion Meeting in the skies, and Burning all? The clouds rising with the morning Have turned to smoke… |
166
Right
明けぬとて帰る道にはこきたれて雨もなみだもふりそほちつつ
| akenu tote kaeru michi ni wa kokitarete ame mo namida mo furisōchitsutsu | Tis the break of day, and On the road back home Descending sheets of Rain, and my tears, too Soak me to the skin… |
Lord Toshiyuki
167[1]
[1] Kokinshū XIII: 639/Kokin rokujō V: 2732
Left
白玉のきえて涙と成りぬれば恋しきかげを袖にこそ見れ
| shiratama no kiete namida to narinureba koishiki kage o sode ni koso mire | Pearls Vanish and to tears Have turned, so Her beloved face I will see upon my sleeves. |
160
Right
人を見ておもふ事だに有るものを空にこふるぞはかなかりける
| hito o mite omou koto dani aru mono o sora ni kōru zo hakanakarikeru | I saw her, and Thoughts simply Filled me, but In the skies, love is Fleeting, indeed! |
161
Winter Poems Twenty Rounds
Left
かきくもりあられふりしけ白玉をしける庭とも人の見るがに
| kakikumori arare furishike shiratama o shikeru niwa to mo hito no miru gani | Clouds rush in Dropping scattered hailstones; Pearl Strewn, my garden I would that he would see… |
119
Right
天の河ふゆは空までこほるらし石間にたぎつ音だにもせず
| ama no kawa fuyu wa sora made kōrurashi iwama ni tagitsu oto dani mo sezu | The River of Heaven in Winter: the very skies Seem frozen, with Between the rocky crags rushing No sound at all. |
120
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