Tag Archives: summer

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 38

Left

夏の月ひかりをしまず照る時はながるる水にかげろふぞたつ

natsu no tsuki
hikari o shimazu
teru toki wa
nagaruru mizu ni
kagerō zo tatsu
When summer moon’s
Light lightly
Shines
From the running waters
Haze arises!

74

Right

琴の音にひびきかよへる松風はしらべても鳴く蝉の声かな

koto no ne ni
hibikikayoeru
matsukaze wa
shirabetemo naku
semi no koe kana
A zither’s strains
Echoing back and forth:
The wind through the pines,
In tune with the cries
In the cicadas’ song!

75[1]


[1] Shinshūishū III: 303/Shinsen man’yōshū 73/Kokin rokujō I: 398/Fubokushō IX: 3584

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 36

Left

なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき

natsu no hi no
kururu mo shirazu
naku semi o
toi mo shiteshika
nani goto ka uki
Of the summer sun’s
Setting unaware are
The singing cicadas:
Had I but asked them of it,
What would they despise?

70

Right

あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ

ayamegusa
ikura no satsuki
aikuramu
kuru toshigoto ni
wakaku miyuramu
O, sweet flags!
In how many Fifth Months
Have you come to meet me?
With every turning year
You seem younger to me!

71

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 35

Left

夏の日を天雲しばしかくさなむぬるほどもなく明くる夜にせん

natsu no hi o
amagumo shibashi
kakusanamu
nuru hodo mo naku
akuru yo ni sen
The summer sun is
Briefly by heaven’s clouds
Concealed!
No time to sleep in
The bright night they’ve made!

68

Right

郭公なきつる夏の山辺にはくつていださぬ人やすむらむ

hototogisu
nakitsuru natsu no
yamabe ni wa
kutsute idasanu
hito ya sumuramu
A cuckoo
Singing in summer
On the mountainside:
Does a man who will not reveal
The price of shoes live there?

69

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 34

Left

いつの間に花かれにけむながくだにありせば夏のかげとみましを

itsu no ma ni
hana karenikemu
nagaku dani
ariseba natsu no
kage to mimashi o
In an instant
The blossoms seems to wither!
If but longer
They were here, summer’s
Shape I would see in them…

66

Right

幾千たび鳴きかへるらむ足引の山ほととぎす声はわすれて

ikuchi tabi
nakikaeruramu
ashihiki no
yamahototogisu
koe wa wasurete
How many thousand times,
Does he return to sing?
The leg-wearying
Mountain cuckoo,
Forgetting his song…

67

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 33

Left

夏の夜のまつばもそよと吹く風はいづれか雨の声にかはれる

natsu no yo no
matsuba mo soyo to
fuku kaze wa
izure ka ame no
koe ni kawareru
On a summer night
The pine needles rustling
With the gusting wind
At some point to raindrops’
Sound has changed.

64

Right

夜やくらき道やまどへる郭公我が宿をしもすぎがてにする

yo ya kuraki
michi ya madoeru
hototogisu
wa ga yado o shimo
sugigateni naku
Is it night’s darkness?
Or, have you lost your way,
Oh, cuckoo?
By my house
You cannot pass, it seems, and so you sing.

65[1]


[1] Kokinshū III: 154, attributed to Ki no Tomonori.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 31

Left

なつの夜は水やまされる天の河ながるる月のかげもとどめぬ

natsu no yo wa
mizu ya masareru
ama no kawa
nagaruru tsuki no
kage mo todomenu
On a summer night
Is it that the waters are so fine
Of the River of Heaven?
Drifting, the moon’s
Face, too, tarries not.

61[1]

Right

去年の夏鳴きふるしてし郭公それかあらぬかこゑのかはらぬ

kozo no natsu
nakifurusiteshi
hototogisu
sore ka aranu ka
koe no kawaranu
Last summer
Did you sing as if there’d be no other,
O, cuckoo;
Is it you, or another,
For your song is quite unchanged.

62[2]


[1] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote identifying it as being from this contest, is included in Shokugosenshū (IV: 214): 夏の夜は水まさればやあまのがはながるる月のかげもとどめぬ natsu no yo wa / mizu masareba ya / ama no kawa / nagaruru tsuki no / kage mo todomenu ‘On a summer night / Perhaps, because the waters are so fine / Of the River of Heaven? / Drifting, the moon’s / Face, too, tarries not.’

[2] Kokinshū III: 159/Shinsen man’yōshū 63

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 30

Left

夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]

natsu no hi o
kurashiwabinuru
semi no ma ni
wa ga nakisouru
koe wa kikoyu ya
The summer sun
They know not how to endure,
So with the cicadas
My sobbing
Voice do you hear?

59

Right

恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく

uramitsutsu
todomuru hito no
nakereba ya
yama hototogisu
ukaredete naku
How I constantly despise
The one who’s staying here
If he were gone, would
The mountain cuckoo
Have aimlessly left his home to sing?

60


[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 29

Left

吹く風の我が宿にくる夏の夜は月の影こそすずしかりけれ

fuku kaze no
wa ga yado ni kuru
natsu no yo wa
tsuki no kage koso
suzushikarikere
The gusting breeze
Comes to my house
Upon a summer night
Making the moonlight
Feel cool, indeed!

57

Right

ゆふされば蛍よりけにもゆるとも光みえねば人ぞつれなき

yū sareba
hotaru yori ke ni
moyuredomo
hikari mineba ya
hito no tsurenaki
With the fall of evening,
The fireflies’ are as nothing beside
My burning, yet
I cast no light, so
Will my love stay chill?

Tomonori

58[1]


[1] Kokinshū XII: 562/Shinsen man’yōshū 69/Kokin rokujō VI: 4013

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 28

Left

なつの夜の露なとどめそ蓮葉のまことの玉と成りしはてずは

natsu no yo no
tsuyu na todome so
hasu no ha no
makoto no tama to
narishihatezu wa
On a summer night,
Tarry not, o, dewdrops, for
On the lotus leaves
True jewels,
I would not you cease to become…

55

Right

夏山にこひしき人や入りにけむ声ふりたてて鳴く郭公

natsuyama ni
koishiki hito ya
irinikemu
koe furitatete
naku hototogisu
Into the summer mountains
Has my darling
Gone, I wonder?
Spilling out your song,
O, calling cuckoo!

Ki no Akimine

56[1]


[1] Kokinshū III: 158/Shinsen man’yōshū 71/Kokin rokujō VI: 4447

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 27

Left

草しげみ下葉かれ行く夏の日もわくとしわけば袖やひちなん

kusa shigemi
shitaba kareyuku
natsu no hi mo
waku to shi wakeba
sode ya hichinan
The grass is thick, with
Underleaves withering
In the summer sun, but
When I try to forge on through,
Will my sleeves seem soaked?

53

Right

五月雨に物思ひをればほととぎす夜ぶかく鳴きていづち行くらん

samidare ni
mono’omoi oreba
hototogisu
yo fukaku nakite
izuchi yukuramu
When in the drizzling rain,
I’m sunk in gloomy thoughts,
A cuckoo
Sings in night’s depths:
And where might it be going?

Tomonori

54[1]


[1] Kokinshū III: 153/Shinsen man’yōshū 47/Kokin rokujō VI: 4441