When I was awake and gazing out at the dawn, the mists arose extremely densely all around, and all I could do was heartfeltly say this, thinking that I should be able to see the sky.
からにしき染むる山には立田姫きりのまくをぞ引きまはしたる
| karanishiki somuru yama ni wa tatsuta-hime kirimaku o zo hikimawashitaru | Cathay brocade Dyed are the mountains where Princess Tatsuta The mists for her curtain Has drawn around. |
Dharma Master Zōki
Round Seven
Left (Tie)
色色にそむる紅葉に立田姫心のほどのみえもするかな
| iroiro ni somuru momiji ni tatsutahime kokoro no hodo no mie mo suru kana | In the multitude of shades Dyeing the scarlet leaves, Princess Tatsuta’s Deep thought and care Can be seen! |
Sadanaga
85
Right
いろいろにとり染めてけり立田姫はしむらごなる衣手の杜
| iroiro ni torisometekeri tatsutahime hashi muragonaru koromode no mori | In a multitude of shades Has her dye taken; Princess Tatsuta stains The edges dark and light of The sacred grove at Koromode. |
Lord Suetsune
86
The Left has nothing remarkable about it, and its ending is old-fashioned, I think. The Right, too, seems to be in the eccentric style, and so it’s impossible for me to say anything else about either of them.
Composed when he presented a Hundred Poem Sequence to former Emperor Sutoku.
たつたひめかざしのたまのををよわみみだれにけりとみゆるしらつゆ
| tatutaFime kazasi no tama no wo wo yowami midarenikeri to miyuru siratuyu | Princess Tatsuta’s Jewelled hairpin Has threads so frail that Confused do Appear the silver dewdrops. |
Lord Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
あきかぜにすむよもぎふのかれゆけばこゑのことごとむしぞなくなる
| akikaze ni sumu yomogyū no kareyukeba koe no kotogoto mushi zo nakunaru | With the autumn wind, Their home, the mugwort, Begins to wither, so Every single Insect cries out. |
45
みるごとにあきにもあるかたつたひめもみぢそむとや山はきるらん[1]
| miru goto ni aki ni mo aru ka tatsutahime momiji somu to ya yama wa kiruran | Each time I see her Is it autumn? Princess Tatsuta, I wonder, are she dying scarlet leaves, So that she may wear the mountains? |
46
[1] This poem occurs in Kokin rokujō (648); and also in Tomonori-shū (27), suggesting that it may be by Ki no Tomonori.
山ざとは秋こそものはかなしけれねざめねざめにしかはなきつつ
| yamazato wa aki koso mono wa kanashikere nezame nezame ni shika wa nakitsutsu | A mountain retreat in Autumn is much more Sad; Waking, ever waking To the stags constant cries… |
29
ことのねをかぜのしらべにまかせてはたつたひめこそあきはひくらし
| koto no ne o kaze no shirabe ni makasete wa tatsustahime koso aki wa hikurashi | A zither’s strains By the wind tuned Up— Princess Tatsuta Is plucking out the notes of autumn, it seems. |
30
Round One
Left
山だもるあきのかりほにおく露はいなおほせどりのなみだなりけり
| yamada moru aki no kariho ni oku tsuyu wa inaosedori no namida narikeri | Warding mountain fields, in Autumn upon a hasty hut The dripping dewdrops are Migrating birds’ Tears. |
Tadamine
1
Right
たつたひめいかなるかみにあればかは山をちくさにあきはそむらん
| tatsutahime ika naru kami ni areba ka wa yama o chikusa ni aki wa somuran | Princess Tatsuta: What manner of deity Might she be, that All the mountain’s thousand grasses She dyes with autumn hues? |
2