Here is the archive of Waka of the month on the top page (in Japanese Waka denotes a Japanese poem).
Mi watase ba yanagi sakura wo koki maze te miyako zo haru no nishiki nari keru
If you glance over Kyoto City, its splendid view looks like a spring brocade into which willows and cherries are woven.
Haru sugi te natsu ki taru rashi shirotahe no koromo hoshi tari Ame no Kaguyama
Spring has passed and summer seems to have arrived:
garments of white are hung to dry on Ame no Kaguyama.
Ame no kaguyama (Mt. Ama-no-Kagu) is
one of three famous mountains in Nara;
so-called Yamato Sanzan, consisting of
Mt. Miminashi, Mt. Unebi and Mt. Ama-no-Kagu. A variant of this poet:
Haru sugi te natsu ki ni ke rashi shirotahe no koromo hosu tehu Ama no Kaguyama
is also famous as the second Waka of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Natsu mo naho kokoro ha tsuki nu adisawi no yohira no tsuyu ni tsuki mo sumi keri
You have very emotional scenery even in summer:
look at a dewdrop on four petals of hydrangeas
which dewdrop reflects the moonlight.
Shunzei composed this poem motivated by another poem in Kokin Wakashū 184
(created by an anonymous person)
Ko no ma yori mori kuru tsuki no kage mire ba
kokoro dukushi no aki ha ki ni keri
(You can know that autumn has come filled with emotional scenery
when you see bright moonlight coming through trees).
Ama no gawa ahugi no kaze ni kiri hare te sora sumi wataru kasasagi no hashi
You can clearly see the Milky way since a fog has lifted by a wind of a fan; there is a bridge of magpies on this clear sky.
According to an ancient Chinese-Japanese legend, 7th July is the anniversary day when Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) are allowed to meet only once a year by crossing a bridge of magpies (Cygnus) on the Milky way; refer also to Tanabata---Wikipedia
Soko hukaki ike no kagami ni murasaki no iro sahe kake te nihohu fuji nami
The smooth waterfront of a deep lake reflects as a mirror vivid lilac wisteria blossoms rusting in winds like waves
Akikaze ni tanabiku kumo no tae ma yori more iduru tsuki no kage no sayakesa
How bright moonlight is, which light is peeping from behind clouds trailing in an autumnal breeze!
Nanigoto mo iki te inora mu to omohi shi ni Kaminaduki ni mo nari ni keru kana
October has already come before I know it while I hesitated to go to a shrine and pray about everything to the God.
In Japan October is the month when Gods throughout Japan
gather at Izumo,
hence They are not at Their local shrines.
“Kaminaduki” (Kannazuki) —a Japanese ancient word
which stands for October— signifies “the month without Gods.”
Konjiki no chihisaki tori no katachi shi te itehu chiru nari oka no yûhi ni
Leaves of ginkgoes are scattering on a hill of sunset, which leaves look like golden little birds
Hitotose ha hakanaki yume no kokochi shi te kure nuru kehu zo odoroka re nuru
A year is like an ephemeral dream for me, and I have finally realised that this year has been passing today.
Aratashiki toshi no hajime no hatsuharu no kehu huru yuki no iyashike yogoto
I hope that there is as much good news this year as snow we have today —the New Year's day.
This poem is often quoted as a new year greeting in Japan.
Tachi yori shi sode ni utsure ru ume ga ka ha ko no moto tohoku sugi te koso shire
I did not notice a smell of ume blossoms from a sleeve
of my clothes
until I came here far from the ume tree
which I called at.
Nami nu kwin tumari kaji nu kwin tumari Shuyui-ting Ganashi miunchi wugama
Be calm, waves. Die down, winds.
Since the King of Shuri
has come here, we would like to have an audience with Him.
Shuri is the capital city of Ryūkyū, ancient Okinawa,
which now belongs to Naha city.
Sui-ten Ganashi (Shuyui-ting Ganashi in Okinawan language)
is the honorary title of the King of Ryūkyū Kingdom.
Fukakusa no nobe no sakura shi kokoro ara ba kotoshi bakari ha sumizome ni sake
If cherry blossoms on fields around Mount Fukakusa had sentiment,
I wish they bloomed in pale grey this year, at least.
A requiem for Fujiwara no Mototsune (Kampaku, that is, a senior regent) who died in January 891.
Satsuki yami na wo arahase ru koyohi kana tasokare toki mo sugi nu to omofu ni
“ In complete darkness of May, you won great fame this evening.”
“ I just gave my name because one could not recognize each other after twilight.”
This poem was said to be exchanged by the then Minister of the Right
Fujiwara no Kinyoshi and Minamoto no Yorimasa,
who was famous for slaying the Japanese phantom Nue according to folklore.
Kamitsuke no Suta no Akagi no kara yashiro Yamato ni ika-de ato wo tare kemu
Why the Buddhist Saint did not go to Yamato (present
Nara Prefecture) but came here:
the shrine on Mt. Akagi at Seta, Kamitsuke (present Gumma Prefecture).
There are two (or more) interpretations on the terminology kara
yashiro;
one insists that this is a variant of kami yashiro and
it means just ‘a shrine’;
the other insists that
it means ‘a Chinese or Korean exotic shrine’ because
kara denotes the ancient kingdom of China or Korea.
Mt. Akagi is a mountain near Tambara.
Kaki kurashi hare nu omohi no hima naki ni ame shiduku tomo nagare keru kana
The cloudy sky makes me depressed, and my heart will never be diverted.
It is raining endlessly, and now my eyes are brimming with a flood of tears.
Kokoro naki mi ni dani tsuki wo Matsushima ya aki no monaka no yuhugure no sora
Even though I have only a boorish heart,
I am looking forward to moonrise at Matsushima this evening
------under the evening sky of the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month.
Matsushima is a picturesque place consisting of about 260 islands
on the Matsushima Gulf.
It is one of the three great views of Japan.
Hakone-yama futago no yama mo aki fukami ake kure kaze ni ko no ha chirikahu
Autumn deepens at Mount Hakone-Futago-yama:
leaves are falling in winds blowing at dawn and at dusk.
Mount Hakone-Futago-yama is a pair of volcanoes by the Lake Ashi-no-ko,
consisting of Mount Kami-Futago-yama and
Mount Shimo-Futago-yama.
Tumai-Takahashi ni nanja jifa utuchi ichika yu nu aki ti tumi ti sasu ra
I have dropped my favorite silver hairpin from Tomari-Takahashi Bridge.
I wonder whether I can find and wear it again after the sun rise.
Tomari-Takahashi is a bridge at Tomari Port in Naha City (Okinawa),
which is famous for its great lunar view.
This poem is said to have been composed by an anonymous man
to comfort his lover;
she had lost her favorite silver hairpin and got disappointed.
Banju, awa wo sosoi de, shûki ni kudaku
aogi miru, kensen no, suibi wo kwakusuru wo
sanpû, i wo nashi te, kisei wo arasohi
yokosama ni, kouyou wo hui te, manzen ni toba shimu
Water spray splashes like ten thousands of pearls in rays
of autumn sunshine.
I look up at a splendid waterfall against green mountains.
Mountain winds rush to give their names,
and blow up autumnal tints on their sides under my very nose.
This is a shichigon zekku (a poem of four lines, each of seven
Chinese characters) composed by Rai San'yō
when he visited Minoh Waterfall for sightseeing
with his mother Shizuko.
Atarashiki toshi no hikari ni mukahu kana shihasu no tsuki no ariake no sora
The sky getting brightened with the moon of December is now, well, proceeding to a light of the new year.
Mine no yuki mo mada huru toshi no sora nagara katahe kasume ru haru no kayohi ji
It is still snowing on mountainsides and the sky looks like the same one as it did last year.
By contrast a haze lays on one side of the sky,
which side is a path spring comes on.
This poem is homage to the poem composed by Ohshikouchi no Mitsune
in Kokin Wakashū 168
Natsu to aki to ikikahu sora no kayohi ji ha
katahe suzushiki kaze ya huku ramu
(I wonder if cool winds are blowing or not on one side of a sky path
which summer goes and autumn comes on).
Momoshiki no ohomiyabito wo kiki tugi te oni ohu hodo ni yo ha nari ni keri
Since I had heard courtiers driving the evil away one after another,
I joined them and got too enthusiastic to notice that night has fallen!
This poem is on Tsuina or Oniyarae which is an
indispensable event of Setsubun on 3rd February.
For details, refer to the
Wikipedia page.
Shahunahu no nihohi mo madaki hako iri no musume no gotoshi kehu no hatsu hina
The scent of camphor has still remained.
The dolls I has just desplayed look like daughters kept in cotton wool.
March Third is Shangsi Festival, which is also known as Hinamatsuri
or Doll's Festival in Japan.
In ancient Japan, courtiers held a festival to pray for health and
to ward off evils.
Meanwhile playing with paper dolls (Hiina-asobi) became popular
in the court.
It is said that these got combined into today's customs: that is,
displaying graceful dolls
(Hina-ningyo) on that day.
For details, refer to the
Wikipedia page.
Sakura bana toshi no hitotose nihohu tomo satemo aka de ya konoyo tsuki namu
Even if cherry blossoms smell not only in spring but in a whole year,
I will not become tired of them till the end of the world.
This poem describes well how much Japanese LOVE cherry blossoms.
Kehu sahe ya hiku hito mo naki mi kakure ni ohuru ayame no ne nomi nakare mu
Although it is Tango no Sekku today,
no one pick up Siberian irises hidden in the riverside;
only their roots will be carried by the flow.
And then I will isolate myself and cry out lacking discretion.
This is a love poem sended by Hotaru Hyōbuykoh-no-miya
(a younger brother of Hikaru Genji)
to Princess
Tamakazura (quoted from The tale of Genji).
This poem was criticised
by the narrator as kotonaru koto nashi ya (It's not so great),
and moreover the answer from Tamakazura
was also severe:
Arahare te itodo asaku mo miyuru kana
ayame mo waka zu naka re keru ne no
(As you described explicitly "I will isolate myself and cry out lacking discretion,"
you seem more and more superficial to me).
Siberian iris is dispensable to celebrating
Tango no Sekku (Duanwu Festival in Chinese), which is
also called Shōbu no Sekku
(Shōbu is one of Japanese names of Siberian iris).
Minatsuki no teru hi to ihe do waga yado no nara no ha kage ha suzushikari keri
Even though the sunlight of June blazes down,
I feel so cool in the shade of Japanese oaks at home.
Hisakata no hoshi no hayashi no aki kaze no tachi nuru mie te tamoto suzushi mo
There are thousands of stars which look like broad forests,
and I feel the wind of autumn at sleeves of my kimono.
Itoh Sachio is one of the leading persons of Araragi school.
Poets belonging to Araragi school tried to compose poems
based on realism or Man'yoh-chō.
Sekishun-chou shikiri ni naki te yama hukami kasokeki michi wo iyuki kane tsu mo
I am getting deeper and deeper into the mountain hearing dollarbirds singing
incessantly.
I have to go ahead, even though I noticed that I hesitated to do so.
Wakabayashi Bokushun is a portry / a teacher, who is popular especially
at Hachiōji City.
He was one of the eldest desciples of Kitahara Hakushū.
There is a monument on which this poem is inscribed at Mount Takao.
Ichidou no seien hekibin wo tsuki
gohou kezuru ga gotoku rinjun wo kisou
ikukai ka raiousu aso no michi
hajime te miru meizan memmoku no shin
There is wisp of smoke in the clear sky.
Five peaks are too steep as if they are scraping the sky.
I cannot count how many times I have been to the trail of Aso,
but the brave figure of Mount Aso today is truly so impressive.
Mount Aso is an active volcano in Japan, which is one of the most famous picturesque scenery in Kumamoto Prefecture.
It consists of Aso-gogaku (Central five peaks) called
Taka-dake, Naka-dake, Neko-dake,
Eboshi-dake and Kishima-dake, and is known to have
one of the largest caldera craters in the world.
Tokutomi Sohō, one of the famous Japanese poets in Chinese style,
seemed to be especially pleased with Mount Aso.
Kaminaduki sora no hate yori ki taru toki me hiraku hana ha ahare naru ka mo
October comes from the end of the sky, and
a flower is blooming as if it has woken up now.
How impressive it is!
Saito Mokichi is also one of the leading Japanese poets of Araragi school.
This poem is so romantic and rather different from his other realistic works,
but if one reads it carefully, one can find several characteristics
of Mokichi's poetry in it.
Yuhu sare ba hagi wominaheshi nabikashi te yasashi no nobe no kaze no keshiki ya
An autumn bleeze blows in the field with bushclovers and yellow patrinias fluttering.
How graceful it is!
The seven flowers of autumn (aki no nanakusa), including
Hagi (bushclovers)
and ominaeshi (patrinia scabiosaefolia),
are representative flowers of Japanese autumn.
They are so beautiful that ancient poets adopted them as the motif
of their compositions.
“Shirokanipe ranran pishkan, konkanipe ranran pishkan.”
Arian rekpo chiki kane petesoro sapash aine,
ainukotan enkashike chikush kor shichorpokun inkarash ko
teeta wenkur tane nishpa ne,
teeta nishpa tane wenkur ne kotom shiran.
“Around silver drops falling and falling,
around golden drops falling and falling.”
Singing such a song, I flew down along a stream,
and glanced over when I passed a village of human being.
Then I noticed that those who had been poor became rich,
and those who had been rich became poor.
A Kamuy Yukar is an epic of the gods handed down among the Ainu
(aborigines of Hokkaido).
The epic above is quoted from the beginning part of Kamuichikap kamui
yaieyukar
(the song sung by the god of Blakiston's fish owl himself)
“Around silver drops falling and falling,”
and after this part it describes the tale of the god of Blakiston's fish owl
visiting a young boy whose family has reduced to poverty.
Tsuki ya ara nu haru ya mukashi no haru nara nu waga mi hitotsu ha moto no mi ni shi te
Has the moon chaged? Isn't the spring this year the same as that in the past?
I'm feeling as if I was the last person who remained unchanged.
According to Section 4 of The Tales of Ise, this poem describes
the feeling of Ariwara no Narihira
(one of the most famous poets in the Heian period);
he missed Princess of Nijhō (Fujiwara no Takaiko) who had got married to the Emperor at that time and left her house.
Mukashi yori ima ni watari kuru kurofune,
wen ga tsukure ba fuka no we to naru,
Santa Maria.
Many black ships has come from abroad for a long, long time,
but they should sink deep into the sea and become baits of sharks
when they lose the will of the God of the sea.
Santa Maria.
This is a samisen tune published in Matsu no ha inherited
around the exotic sity Nagasaki,
where had been a base port of Nanban trade (“Southern barbarian trade”) for a long time.
This tune was very popular among lovers of Nagasaki;
for instance, it was quoted at the beginning part of Kitahara Hakushū's
Jashūmon
and also quoted in Takehisa Yumeji's Samisen-soh.
Nanahe yahe hana ha sake domo yamabuki no mi no hitotsu dani naki zo ayashiki
Although Kerria blossoms are fully in bloom, strangely they bear no seeds at all.
(And I am very sorry that there is not a single straw raincoat to lend you)
This poem is famous for so-called «the legend of a Kerria village» which tells;
Ōta Dōkan (famous as the person who built Edo Castle) went hunting with a falcon around Waseda
and then he was caught in a shower. So he called at a house at Omokage Bridge,
where he was received by a little girl.
When he asked her to lend him a raincoat,
she passed a Kerria branch to him and indirectly declined his request after this poem.
(the words mi no have double meanings; one is a seed and the other is a straw raincoat)
Hana mire ba sono ihare toha nakere domo kokoro no uchi zo kurushikari keru
I feel so sorry when I see cherry blossoms;
although there is no particular reason.
Wasure-gusa tsumi te kahera mu Sumiyoshi no ki-shi kata no yo ha omohide mo nashi
I'll pick flowers of Wasure-gusa at Sumiyoshi and go back home;
there have been no good memories in my life.
Wasure-gusa is another name for a daylily, which is said to make one forget bad memories.
Ahuchi saku sotomo no kokage tsuyu ochi te samidare haruru kaze wataru nari
Dew drops in the shade of chinaberry trees outside the room.
Wind seems to blow through the clear sky thrusting rain clouds away.
This is one of the most popular descriptive poems dealing with
the vivid scenary appearing at a break in the rainy season.
The contrast between chinaberries wet in dew and pleasant wind is also
very impressive.
Waga seko ga ku beki yohi nari sasa ga ne no kumo no okonahi koyohi shirushi mo
I am sure that my darling will come this evening,
for I can clearly see a spider weaving a web near the root of bamboo grass.
In ancient China, one regarded a spider as a sign of having a familiar guest.
Mizu no omo ni shiduku hana no iro sayakani mo kimi ga mikage no omohoyuru kana
The waterfront reflects blossoms so vividly,
which reminds me the spirit of the past Emperor.
This is an impressive requiem for the Emperor at the time.
Ono no Takamura, the composer of this requiem,
is said to be born at Kouchi-cho, Higashihiroshima city.
Kehu mo mata yuhuhi ni nari nu nagatsuki no utsuri tomara nu aki no momidi ba
The sum has declined again today. In mid-September, the maple leaves
continuously turn crimson.
How great this autumnal scenery is!
Ohowigawa ihanami takashi ikadashi yo kishi no momidi ni akarame na se so
Waves on the &332;igawa River are very high and washing up rocks.
Hey, the raftsman, don't be careless about your work seeing great red leaves on the shore.
Tsure mo naki hito mo ahare to ihi te mashi koisuru hodo wo shirase dani se ba
No matter how cruel he was, he would have given comfort to me.
If I had told him how deeply I had been in love.
Miduumi no kohori ha toke te naho samushi mikaduki no kage nami ni utsurohu
Lake ice has melted but it is still so cold. The crescent moon is reflected on the wavy lake surface.
Aratama no toshi no ake yuku yama-kadura kasumi wo kake te haru ha ki ni keri
At the dawn of the new year —
spring has come decorating the top of the mountain with spring haze
like a woman with a barette.
Yama-kadura is the Japanese name for club moss.
Club moss was thought to have spiritual power, and hence
one put on it as a barette at religious services in ancient Japan.
Huru yuki ni maki no soma yama ato tae te ono no hibiki mo kesa ha kikoe zu
Because of heacy snow, there is no indication of a person in the timber mountains.
I cannot even hear a clash of an ax this morning.
Kusamakura tabi yuku kimi wo hitome oo mi sode hura zu shi te amata kuyashi mo
I feel very sorry that I could not wave the sleeves at you,
worrying about being in the public eye.
In ancient Japan, one “waved the sleeves” of their clothes (Kimonos) to express farewell.
Yuku haru ya tori naki uo no me ha namida
Alas, spring has been passing—
Birds are plaintively singing, and the eyes of fish seem to be wet with tears.
This is the initial haiku in Matsuo Bashō's Oku no Hosomichi.
Bashō composed this haiku when he left the boat at Senju, the starting point of his long journey.
Haru kure te satsuki matsu ma no hototogisu hatsune wo shinobe miyamabe no sato
Spring has gone, and a lesser cuckoo sings waiting for the advent of May.
Let us appreciate its first song, at this village deep in the mountain.
Sakamoto Ryōma is a Japanese prominent figure at the end of Edo era.
He made efforts for Taisei Hōkan (the voluntary resignation of Edo Bakufu)
and had a great effect on Meiji Restoration, the beginning of the modern era in Japan.
But before the new government was established, he was assassinated in Kyoto (so called Omiya Incident).
See Wikipedia page for details.
Miyabito no natsu no yosohi no hutaawi ni kayohu mo suzushi adisawi no hana
Bluish purple in bloom, hydrangeas look like coutiers' summer clothes
— it is so refreshing scenary!!!
Futa-ai is a traditional color of Japan;
bluish purple obtained by dyeing with both deep red and indigo blue.
See the Wikipedia page for details (written in Japanese).
Nagusamuru tomo naki yado no yuhugure ni ahare ha nokose wogi no uhakaze
I'm spending an autumn evening at a hermitage without any friends.
Alas, have pity on me —the breeze running above amur silver grass.
Ohowigaha huruki nagare wo tadune ki te arashi no yama no momidi wo zo miru
I have come here to visit historic Ōigawa River (where I heard that several ancient Emperors had also come).
And I see many maple leaves at Arashiyama dancing in the strong wind!
Sakura chiru hana no tokoro ha haru nagara yuki zo huri tsutsu kie gate ni suru
Cherry blossoms are falling here
—they look like snow remaining in spring!!!