Thomas McAuley
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Thomas McAuley
@wakapoet.bsky.social
Translator of premodern Japanese poetry.
When I was at a place called Moriyama in Ise, and my hut was saturated with the scent of plum.

しばのいほにとくとくむめのにほひきてやさしきかたもあるすみかかな

To a brushwood hut
Swiftly, so swiftly, plum’s
Scent comes and,
An elegant element
Does the dwelling have!

Saigyō
Sankashū 40
October 8, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Composed looking at the plum before my hut.

梅が香をたにふところにふきためていりこん人にしめよ春風

With the scent of plum
My hidden valley
Has been filled, so
Let folk coming here
Be bathed with it, O, breeze of spring!

Saigyō
Sankashū 39
October 8, 2026 at 2:37 PM
When I was living in Saga, and the way was blocked by plum blossom scattering from my hermitage on the breeze.

ぬしいかに風わたるとていとふらんよそにうれしき梅のにほひを

How their master
By the passing breeze
Must be disgusted, though
From a distance happy at
The scent of plum…

Saigyō
Sankashū 38
October 8, 2026 at 2:36 PM
このはるはしづが垣ねにふればひてむめがかとめん人したしまん

This spring
From the woodsman’s brushwood fence
Go wafting;
Let the scent of plum halt
Folk with kindly care!

Saigyō
Sankashū 37
October 8, 2026 at 2:34 PM
心せんしづがかきねの梅はあやなよしなくすぐる人とどめけり

O, they linger in the heart!
By a woodsman’s brushwood fence
The plum, strangely,
For no reason, passing
Folk’s feet bring to a stop.

Saigyō
Sankashū 36
October 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
はるのほどはわがすむいほのともに成りてふるすないでそ谷の鶯

While spring endures
At the hut where I do dwell
My companion be, and
Depart not from your former nest,
O, warbler in my valley!

Saigyō
Sankashū 30
October 7, 2026 at 3:32 PM
うぐひすは我をすもりにたのみてやたにのをかべはいでてなくらむ

Has the warbler
His nest to guard
Requested me?
As he to the valley’s hillsides
Sets out to sing…

Saigyō
Sankashū 29
October 7, 2026 at 3:30 PM
鶯はたにのふるすを出でぬともわがゆくへをばわすれざらなん

The warbler from
His former nest within my valley
Has departed, yet
My fate
I would not have him forget!

Saigyō
Sankashū 28
October 7, 2026 at 3:29 PM
When a warbler did not sing in the valley where I was living.

ふるすうとくたにの鶯なりはてば我やかはりてなかんとすらん

Heedless of his former nest,
Has the warbler in my valley
Finally become, so
I, in place of him,
Shall weep away…

Saigyō
Sankashū 27
October 7, 2026 at 3:28 PM
A warbler in the rain.

鶯のはるさめざめとなきゐたるたけのしづくやなみだなるらん

A warbler
In a spring shower lets fall
His cries:
Are the droplets on the bamboo
His tears, perhaps?

Saigyō
Sankashū 26
October 7, 2026 at 3:27 PM
When he was staying somewhere with bamboo before his bedroom.

竹ちかくよどこねはせじ鶯のなく声きけばあさいせられず

Close by the bamboo
My bed, but sleep eludes me, for
When the warbler’s
Crying song I hear
I cannot doze away the morning.

Lord Fujiwara no Korehira
Gosenshū II: 48
October 7, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Warbler [uguhisu].

心から花のしづくにそほちつつうくひずとのみ鳥のなくらむ

kokoro kara
hana no shizuku ni
sōchitsutsu
uku hizu to nomi
tori no nakuramu

Even his heart
By droplets from the blossoms
Is ever drenched:
Sadly simply never dry,
Does the bird seem to cry…

Lord Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Kokinshū X: 422
October 7, 2026 at 3:23 PM
At the foot of a bridge.

かづらきや高間の山の山かぜに花こそわたれくめの岩ばし

In Kazuragi,
From Takama peak
The mountain breeze
Carries e’en the blossom
Over the broken stone bridge of Kume.

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 22
October 6, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Lakes

にほの海はるは霞のしがの波花に吹きなすひらの山かぜ

At the Sea of Grebes
In spring the haze
Upon Shiga’s waves is
Blossom blown by
The breeze from Hira mountain.

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 21
October 6, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Composed as a poem on blossom.

さくらさくひらの山かぜ吹くままに花になりゆくしがのうら浪

Cherries flower on
Hira Mountain while
Breezes blow
All turned to blossom are
The waves on Shiga’s shore.

Yoshitsune, Middle Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, Left Division
Senzaishū II: 89
October 6, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Blossom at an ancient temple.

なべて世の花ともいはじをはつせの山の桜の曙の色

The general run of
Blossom, I will not describe, but…
On Hatsuse
Mountain, the cherries
Hue at dawn…

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 20
October 6, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Fifty Poems on the Moon and Blossom

Blossom on the mountains blooming unevenly.

おしなべて風こそかをれ春の山咲く桜あればさかぬ梢も

Each and every
Breeze is truly scented!
The mountains in spring
Have blossoming cherries, but
Bloomless treetops, too…

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 19
October 6, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Spring

いづくより花のにほひをさそひきてさかぬ梢も風かをるらむ

From somewhere
The scent of blossom
Invites;
The bloomless treetops, too,
Have a fragrant breeze.

The Third Prince
[Imperial Prince Kore’akira 惟明親王]
Shōji shodo hyakushu 113
October 6, 2026 at 2:22 PM
こぎはなれゆく月影ぞあはれなる虫明の松の風の音かな

Drifting ever
Further, the moonlight
Moves my heart with
The pines at Mushiake
Sounding in the wind!

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 18
October 6, 2026 at 1:59 PM
From a Fifty Poem Sequence on the Moon.

むしあけのせとのしほひのあけがたになみの月かげとほざかるなり

At Mushiake
Strait the receding tide
At dawn,
The waves carrying the moonlight
Into the distance.

Yoshitsune
Akishino gesseishū 64
October 6, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Seaways.

何となく心ぞとまるそれとみてこぎはなれゆくむしあけの松

Somehow,
They linger in my heart
Having seen them
Drifting ever further,
The pines of Mushiake.

Shunzei gosha hyakushu 491
October 6, 2026 at 1:55 PM
A warbler at my hermitage.

鶯のこゑぞかすみにもれてくる人めともしき春の山ざと

A warbler’s
Cry from out the haze
Does drift to,
Secluded from other’s eyes,
My mountain retreat in springtime.

Saigyō
Sankashū 25
September 30, 2026 at 3:17 PM
On personal grievance and warblers.

うき身にてきくもをしきはうぐひすの霞にむせぶあけぼのの山

Even to my pitiful self
Hearing it brings regret:
A warbler,
Choked by the haze
In the mountains at dawn…

Saigyō
Sankashū 24
September 30, 2026 at 3:16 PM
On a personal grievance and picking fresh herbs.

わかなおふるはるののもりに我なりてうき世を人につみしらせばや

For fresh herbs growing
On the plains in springtime a warder
Have I become—
That this world is cruel, to folk
Garnering sins, I would let them know!

Saigyō
Sankashū 23
September 30, 2026 at 3:15 PM
On an old man picking fresh herbs.

うづゑつきななくさにこそおいにけれとしをかさねてつめるわかなに

With sacred staff in hand,
Even with the Seven Herbs
He has grown old!
The years have piled up
While garnering fresh herbs…

Saigyō
Sankashū 22
September 30, 2026 at 3:13 PM