Year-end Presentations of Waka Poems

Year-end Presentation of Five Waka Poems by His Majesty the Emperor

SPRING

In the courtyard
Plum trees are blooming
In white and pink
And fill the air with springtime mood
on this auspicious day. (Crown Prince's Investiture)

ERUPTION OF MT. UNZEN

Ashes gather deep
On the ground
On which people labored
Month after month, year after year,
To earn their livelihood.

HEARING OF A TYPHOON ON A TOUR

I learned with grief
While staying in Thailand
That many people of my home land
Lost their lives
Owing to a typhoon.

AFTER A TOUR OF THAILAND, MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA

It was raining
At the airport I landed
Afetr returning from the tour,
And I thought of the dry weather
Of the land I had visited.

WELCOMING AS STATE GUEST THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS

With fond memories
I now hail and talk
To the Queen of the Netherlands
With whom I met when young
And have ever been on close terms.

Year-end Presentation of Three Waka Poems by Her Majesty the Empress

ON THE INVESTITURE OF THE CROWN PRINCE

These words celebrate the spring
When you, young Prince,
Became heir to the imperial throne,
Radiant, from within,
Like a crimson gem

ON VISITING TAMA ZENSHOEN

(a home for those afflicted with Hansen's disease)

To those, who,
With failing eyesight,
Dwell in this home,
May the wind bring
The fragrance of threes and flowers

THOUGHTS OF CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE OF UNZEN

These autumn days
When birds migrate,
What anxiety
For those who dwell
Near the fiery volcano