Topic unknown.
夏草のつゆわけ衣きもせぬになどわが袖のかはく時なき
natsu kusa no
tsuyu wake koromo
ki mo senu ni
nado wa ga sode no
kawaku toki naki |
Summer grasses’
Dew parting garb
I do not don, yet
Why are my sleeves
Never dry? |
Hitomaro
人麻呂
Topic unknown.
夏野ゆくをしかのつのゝつかのまもわすれずおもへいもが心を
natsu no yuku
oshika no tsuno no
tsuka no ma mo
wasurezu omoe
imo ga kokoro o |
To the fields in summer goes
The stag with antlers nubbins –
Not for an instant
Will I forget
My darling’s love. |
Hitomaro
人麻呂
Topic unknown.
夏かりのたまえのあしをふみしだきむれゐる鳥のたつ空ぞなき
natukari no
tamae no asi wo
Fumisidaki
murewiru tori no
tatu sora zo naki |
Reaped in summer
The reeds of Tamae
Lie trampled all around
For the flocking birds
Cannot take wing into this sky. |
Minamoto no Shigeyuki
On a folding screen of the moon, in the Engi period (901-923).
みそぎする河のせみればからころも日もゆふぐれに浪ぞたちける
misogi suru
kawa no semi nareba
karakoromo
hi mo yūgure ni
nami zo tachikeru |
The purifying
River rapids: all in
Cathay robes
Sashes wound around, at evening time
The waves are rising. |
Tsurayuki
貫之
Composed watching fireflies flying upwards.
いづちとかよるは蛍のゝぼるらんゆくかたしらぬ草の枕に
izuchi to ka
yoru wa hotaru no
noboruran
yuku kata shiranu
kusa no makura ni |
Whither bound?
At night the fireflies
Ascend;
Destination unknown,
Pausing briefly, pillowed on the grasses. |
Mibu no Tadami
When she presented a hundred poem sequence:
なくせみのこゑもすゞしきゆふぐれに秋をかけたるもりの下露
naku semi no
koe mo suzushiki
yūgure ni
aki o kaketaru
mori no shitatsuyu |
The singing cicadas
Call, too, in the cool
Of evening,
Evokes the autumn, as
Dewdrops beneath the forest boughs. |
[Lady] Sanuki of the Nijō Palace
Topic unknown.
をのがつまこひつゝなくやさ月やみ神なび山のやま郭公
ono ga tsuma
koitsutsu naku ya
satsuki yami
kaminabi yama no
yama hototogisu |
For his mate,
In yearning, does he call?
In the Fifth Month’s darkness,
On Mount Kaminabi,
A mountain cuckoo… |
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
さ月山うの花月よほとゝぎすきけどもあかず又なかんかも
satsuki yama
u no hana zuku yo
hototogisu
kikedomo akazu
mata nakan ka mo |
Summer rain in the mountains,
The moon white as deutzia blooms:
Cuckoo calls
I hear, yet never get my fill;
I wonder, will he call again? |
Anonymous.
One morning, when she was in seclusion at Kamo, she heard a cuckoo calling:
ほとゝぎすみ山いづなるはつこゑをいづれのやどのたれかきくらん
hototogisu
miyama izunaru
hatsu koe o
izure no yado no
tare ka kikuran |
A cuckoo
Emerging from the mountains:
His first call:
Where’s the house and
The one who’ll hear it, I wonder? |
Ben no Menoto
Topic unknown.
なくこゑをえやはしのばぬほとゝぎすはつうの花のかげにかくれて
naku koe o
e yawa shinobanu
hototogisu
hatsu u no hana no
kage ni kakurete |
A breath of song:
You cannot let it slip,
O, cuckoo,
In the early deutzia blooms’
Shade concealed. |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
柿本人麻呂
'Simply moving and elegant'