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Saga no Haru

嵯峨の春

[Genre]Jiuta
[Style]Tegotomono
[School]Ikuta Ryû - 生田
[Also Known As]Spring in Saga
[Composed]Urazaki Kengyo - Koto
Matsuura Kengyō - Shamisen

Poem (translated by John Tedford)

Just as I saw it last year
in the middle of March:
the springtime in Saga.

The mountain cherry
of Arashi-yama,
its color and fragrance unchanging,
is like a wedding banquet of. blossoms.
The flowers have scattered
but petals still linger in my heart

and disturb my thoughts.
And again this spring
they come back [to brighten up]
my life of misery.

I set forth to fetch
water from the River Oi

I wish I were a flowered raft
floating downstream and escaping;

a flower to be taken in hand
and redeemed from bondage.

I have none to blame but myself,
that I wander hopelessly.

II I am to be redeemed,
it will be only through the
Buddha's mercy [which commands]
"Journey one by one
to the temples of Saga."

The waterwheel
which blocks the river at Risen-ji
spins at the mercy of the waves.

The branches of the river willow
are at the mercy of the rushing water.
The ruffled sparrow
is at the mercy of the
[wind in the] bamboo.
The bull in Kyoto
is at the mercy of the ox-cart [driver]
The hand-mill for tea
is at the mercy of its crooked handle.

And I am at the mercy,
at the mercy of my rampant passion.
This precious jewel of life
rushes to its end
on a river of suffering love.

My bed has become a deep abyss
of midnight trysts and partings.
一 こぞ見にし、弥生なかばの嵯峨の春。嵐の山の山桜、
三 嵯峨の寺々、廻らば廻はれ。水車の輪のりんせんぜきの川波、
  都の牛は車に揉まるる、茶臼はひきぎに揉まるる、

Saga no Haru appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Sagano no Shirabe Voice : Kikuhara Hatsuko
Koto : Kikumitsu Yoshie
Shamisen : Kikuhara Koji

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū (zoku) vol. 5 (続三曲合奏大全集5) Koto : Shimada Yōko
Shakuhachi : Koyama Seizan
Voice : Shimada Shigehiro
Shamisen : Shimada Shigehiro

Sōkyoku (Ikuta-Ryū) - Koten no Shirabe volume 2 Koto : Kanō Hiroe
Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Matsuo Keiko