A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.
水の面にあやをりみだる春雨や山のみどりをなべて染むらん
mizu no omo ni ayaori midaru harusame ya yama no midori o nabete somuran | Upon the water’s surface A confusing pattern paints The rain of spring— Will it now the mountains All dye with green, I wonder? |
Ōchikōchi no Mitsune
Waterweed 萍
水の上によるべさだめぬうき草のよそへられぬる我が身なりけり
mizu no ue ni yorube sadamenu ukikusa no yosoerarenuru wa ga mi narikeri | Upon the water, With no hope of haven, A waterweed is How I imagine Myself to be. |
Nakazane
Temples 寺
谷ふかみ跡だに見えぬ山寺はかけひの水のゆくにてぞ知る
tani fukami ato dani mienu yamadera wa kakehi no mizu no yuku nite zo shiru | Deep within the valley No tracks lead to This mountain temple: Water through the culverts’ Passing reveals it. |
Akinaka
すべらぎのながゐの池は水すみてのどかにちよのかげぞ見えける
suberagi no nagai no ike wa mizu sumite nodoka ni chiyo no kage zo miekeru | Our Sovereign’s Nagai Pond has Water so clear, that In peaceful calm a thousand generations Shape is revealed. |
Higo
Waterfalls 滝
谷川やおちくる滝のしらいとを水のあやには織るにやあるらん
tanikawa ya ochikuru taki no shira’ito o mizu no aya ni wa oru ni ya aruran | From a stream within the valley Comes tumbling a cataract of White threads: A motley pattern of water Do they seem to weave? |
Daishin
Composed on the conception of the beginning of winter at the time a hundred poem sequence was presented during the reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.
泉川水の水曲のふしづけに岩間の氷る冬は来にけり
idumigaFa
midu no miwada no
Fusiduke ni
iFama no koForu
Fuyu Fa kinikeri |
On the River Izumi
The water pools
Around the fish-traps,
Frozen between the rocks,
Winter has come, indeed. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
五月雨に畔の細道水深み田中の里は人ぞ通はぬ
samidare ni
aze no Fosomiti
midu Fukami
tanaka no sato Fa
Fito zo kayoFanu |
In the drizzle
Above the narrow paths between the paddies
So deep is the water that
The dwelling within the rice fields
Is visited by no one at all… |
Composed at the River Ōi.
水もなくみえこそわたれ大井河岸の紅葉は雨とふれども
midu mo naku
mie koso watare
oFowigaFa
kisi no momidi Fa
ame to Furedomo |
No water
To be seen around at
The River Ōi
Yet on the banks the scarlet leave
Do fall as rain… |
Fujiwara no Sadayori
藤原定頼
その駒ぞや 我に 我に草請ふ 草は取り飼はむ 水は取り飼はむや
sono koma ya
ware ni
ware ni kusa kau
kusa wa torikawamu
mizu wa torikawamu ya |
O, my steed,
From me
From me you beg for fodder, so
I’ll go gather grass to feed you;
I’ll go gather water to give you! |
Anonymous
水の面にをはうち触れて立つ鳥のやや天さかる人ぞ恋しき
mizu no omo ni
owa uchifurete
tatsu tori no
yaya ama sakaru
hito zo koishiki |
The face of the water,
Is brushed by tails and wings
As the birds take flight
Returning briefly to the skies –
O, how I do love her! |
Minamoto no Yorimasa
源頼政
'Simply moving and elegant'