Tag Archives: water

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Winter

Winter

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冬くれば紅葉ふりしく神無月佐保の山辺はむべもりぬらん

fuyu kureba
momiji furishiku
kaminazuki
saho no yamabe wa
mube morinuran
When the winter comes,
Scarlet leaves, falling and scattering
In the Godless Month,
Upon the slopes of Mount Saho,
Indeed, are at their finest.

19

冬ごもりかれてみゆらん梅がえは今はた花の春はにほはん

fuyugomori
karete miyuran
ume ga e wa
ima hata hana no
haru wa niowan
Sealed in winter, and
All withered seeming,
The plum tree’s branches,
Now, for sure, the blossoms’
Spring will scent.

20

冬みれば水もまかせぬ小山田にいつすき返し種をまきけん

fuyu mireba
mizu mo makasenu
oyamada ni
itsu sukikaeshi
tane o makiken
‘Tis winter, I see, so
There’s no water to draw for
The little mountain paddies:
O, when might I till them, and
Sow my seeds, I wonder?

21

Right

時雨降る宿にすまへば冬の夜に錦とみゆる木木の花かな

shigure furu
yado ni sumaeba
fuyu no yo ni
nishiki to miyuru
kigi no hana kana
Showers fall
Upon the house where I do dwell, so
Upon a winter’s night
As brocade do seem
The blossoming trees!

22

ゆふだすき神の社にかけつればしもし降るにもたのもしきかな

yūdasuki
kami no yashiro ni
kaketsureba
shimo shi furu ni mo
tanomashiki kana
Sacred mulberry cords
Around the God’s shrine
Are hung, so
Even amidst the frost fall,
The future does seem bright!

23

白雲のふたへふりしくときは山うらはへとしはみどりなりけれ

shiragumo no
futae furishiku
tokiwa yama
ura hae toshi wa
midori narikere
Clouds of white
Lie scattered, twofold, upon
The unchanging mountain:
Stretching out behind, the year
Is simply green.

24

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 7

たつたがはあきはみづなくあせななむあかぬもみぢのながるればをし[1]

tatsutagawa
aki wa mizu naku
asena namu
akanu momiji no
nagarureba oshi
The river Tatsuta
In autumn, lacks water and
Is shallow, indeed, but though
I never tire of the scarlet leaves
When they flow by, how I do regret it!

13

いなづまはあるかなきかに見ゆれどもあきのたのみはほにぞいでける

inazuma wa
aru ka naki ka ni
miyuredomo
aki no tanomi wa
ho ni zo idekeru
A flash of lightning:
It may, or may not
Appear, yet
In autumn you can trust that
Ripened ears of rice will.

14


[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (VII: 416).

SKKS I: 65

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

SZS VI: 389

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