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- Sankashu
Yuki tsumite ki mo wakazu saku hana nare ya tokiwa no matsu mo miene narikeri
Heaped with snow, are these blossoms that bloom on every tree alike? Even the evergreen pine can no longer be seen.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Hana to miru kozue no yuki ni tsuki saete tatoen kata mo naki kokochi suru
With the moon shining cold and clear on the treetop snow that looks like blossoms, I feel something beyond all comparison.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Magau iro wa ume to nomi mite sugiyuku ni yuki no hana ni wa ka zo nakarikeru
Taking that confusing color for plum blossoms, I passed on by—only to find that the blossoms of snow have no fragrance.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Ori shimo are ureshiku yuki no uzumu kana kakikomorinan to omou yamaji o
Just at the right moment, how glad I am that the snow is burying the mountain path, where I meant to shut myself away completely.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Nakanaka ni tani no hosomichi uzume yuki ari tote hito no kayou beki ka wa
Better yet, bury the narrow valley path, O snow—even if it were there, would anyone come along it?
Sankashu - Saigyō
Tani no io ni tama no sudare o kakemashi ya sugaru taruhi no noki o tojizu wa
Would a blind of jewels ever hang in my valley hut, were it not for the icicles dangling down to close the eaves?
Sankashu - Saigyō
Shikimi oku aka no oshiki no fuchi naku wa nani ni arare no tama to chiramashi
Had the tray for holy water bearing the shikimi had no rim, on what would the hailstones have scattered as jewels?
Sankashu - Saigyō
Iwa ni seku akai no mizu no warinaki ni kokoro sume to mo yadoru tsuki kana
Though the water of the holy well, dammed by rocks, is so scant, the moon lodges in it as if to say, "Let your heart grow clear."
Sankashu - Saigyō
Aware nari onaji noyama ni tateru ki no kakaru shirushi no chigiri arikeru
How deeply moving! It is a tree standing in the same fields and hills as any other, yet it had the karmic bond to become the sign of such a sacred place.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Meguriawan koto no chigiri zo arigataki kibishiki yama no chikai miru ni mo
How rare and precious is the bond by which I may one day meet him—so I feel as I see the traces of his vow upon this rugged mountain.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Fude no yama ni kakinoborite mo mitsuru kana koke no shita naru iwa no keshiki o
Clambering up Mount Fude, the Brush Mountain, I have seen at last the stones lying beneath the moss.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Tatesomuru ami toru ura no hatsuzao wa tsumi no naka ni mo suguretaru kana
The first pole set up in the bay where they catch the tiny shrimp—among all sins, how it stands out!
Sankashu - Saigyō
Oritachite urata ni hirou ama no ko wa tsumi yori tsumi o narau narikeri
The fishermen's children who go down to gather on the tidal flats learn sin itself from gathering the shells called tsumi.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Manabe yori shiwaku e kayou akibito wa tsumi o kai nite wataru narikeri
The merchants who sail back and forth from Manabe to Shiwaku cross the sea with sin for their oar, buying up their cargo of it.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Onajiku wa kaki o zo sashite hoshi mo su beki hamaguri yori wa na mo tayori ari
If it is all the same, they ought to skewer and dry oysters—kaki—instead, for unlike the clams their name has a fitting link, like skewered dried persimmons.
Sankashu - Saigyō
Sadae sumu seto no iwatsubo motome idete isogishi ama no keshiki naru kana
How quickly the divers go down, having sought out the rock hollows in the strait where the turban shells live!
Sankashu - Saigyō