On seeing fisherfolk burning salt when he was on the road to Kumano, and felt particularly unwell.
旅の空夜半のけぶりとのぼりなばあまのもしほ火たくかとやみん
tabi no sora yowa no keburi to noborinaba ama no mosiobi taku ka to ya min | Should into my travel’s skies One night as smoke I rise, The fisherfolk seaweed salt fires Kindling—would it appear so, I wonder? |
Former Emperor Kazan
Created with Soan.
Sent to a lady he had been seeing secretly on the morning after he had returned home, after they had met at a temporary lodging.
かぎりなくむすびおきつる草枕いつこのたびをおもひわすれん
kagirinaku musubi’okitsuru kusamakura itsu kono tabi o omoiwasuren | Beyond all limits were The ties laid down between Our grassy pillows, so When this journey Might we ever be able to forget? |
Kentoku-kō
Created with Soan.
For a folding screen depicting a large number of travellers lying beneath blossom.
木のもとにやどりはすべし桜花ちらまくをしみ旅ならなくに
ko no moto ni yadori wa subeshi sakurabana chiramaku oshimi tabi naranaku ni | Beneath this tree Let me lodge a while, for The cherry blossoms’ Scattering I do regret, so I’ve no cause to journey on my way… |
Created with Soan.
Left (Tie)
ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ
furusato ni kasumi tobiwake yuku kari wa tabi no sora ni ya haru o suguramu | Above an ancient estate Flying through the parting haze Go the geese: In the skies they journey through, I wonder, will they pass the springtime? |
Mitsune
19
Right
ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ
chiru hana o nukishi tomeneba aoyagi no ito wa yoru tomo kai ya nakaramu | The scattered blossom Has been pierced, but not stayed, so, The green willow’s Threaded fronds are spun together, yet It useless seems… |
20
‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’
客尓為而 妻恋為良思 霍公鳥 神名備山尓 左夜深而鳴
旅にして妻恋すらし霍公鳥神なび山にさ夜更けて鳴く
tabi ni site tuma kopisurasi pototogisu kamunabiyama ni sayo pukete naku | On your journey You must love your wife as I O, cuckoo, Upon sacred Kaminabi Mountain That you cry at brief night’s dawn… |
Anonymous
On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].
いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな
ika ni sen semete wa tabi no soradanome munashiku matan yūgure mogana | O, what am I to do? At least, it’s due to travel’s Unreliable skies that Emptily I would wait This evening—if only that were so! |
Iehira, Junior Third Rank
従三位家衡
Geese
Left (Win)
わがせこがたびのころもをうちはへてまつかりがねのいまもなかなむ
wa ga seko ga tabi no koromo o uchihaete matsu kari ga ne no ima mo nakanamu | My darling man’s Journey garb I will spread out, for The long-awaited goose cries Are now sounding out. |
Korenari
9
Right
わぎもこがかけてまつらんたまづさとかきつらねたるはつかりのこゑ
wagimoko ga kakete matsuran tamazusa to kakitsuranetaru hatsu kari no koe | My darling girl Does ever seem to wait! Jewelled missives Written with The first goose calls… |
10
Left
明けぬ間に箱根の山の時鳥二声とだに鳴き渡るらむ
akenu ma ni
Fakone no yama no
Fototogisu
Futakowe to dani
nakiwataruramu |
Before the dawn no
Hakone Mountain
Cuckoos’
Twin calls simply
Seem to sing back and forth |
17
Right (Win)
深山出でていづこも旅ぞ時鳥ここにを結べ草の枕は
miyama idete
iduko mo tabi zo
Fototogisu
koko ni wo musube
kusa no makura wa |
Emerging from the mountains’ depths
Where does your journey take you,
O, cuckoo?
Here will I twine strands
Of grass for my pillow… |
18
取りすがる恋の奴に慕はれて立ち止まりぬる旅衣かな
torisugaru
koFi no yatuko ni
sitaFarete
tatidomarinuru
tabi no koromo kana |
Trailing after comes,
Love’s slave,
So sweet that I
Have halted
In my travelling garb! |
Shun’e
俊恵
泉川渡り瀬深み我が背子が旅行き衣ひづちなむかも
idumigapa
watarise pukami
wa ga seko ga
tabi yukigoromo
pidutinamu kamo |
Upon the River Izumi,
The ford is deep, indeed;
My darling’s
Traveller’s robes
Never will stay dry! |
'Simply moving and elegant'