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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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