Teiji-in uta’awase 30

Left (Tie)

あふことのきみにたえにしわがみよりいくらのなみだながれいでぬらむ

au koto no
kimi ni taenishi
wa ga mi yori
ikura no namida
nagare’idenuramu
My meetings with
You, my lord, have ceased, and
From my flesh
What a torrent of tears
Flow out!

Ise

59

Right

きみこひのあまりにしかばしのぶれどひとのしるらんことのわびしさ

kimi koi no
amari nishikaba
shinoburedo
hito no shiruran
koto no wabishiki
Loving you
Beyond all measure,
I kept it secret, yet
That folk seem to know
Is a cause of heartache.

Tsurayuki
60

On hearing His Highness, the Prince of the Right remark in irritation that the Left’s poem had appealed to His Majesty’s heart, His Majesty composed

ゆきかへりちどりなくなるはまゆふのこころへだてておもふものかは

yukikaeri
chidori naku naru
hamayū no
kokoro hedatete
omou mono ka wa
Going back and forth
Plovers cry from
The beach among the spider lilies
Do their hearts distinguish
Do you think?

His Majesty
61

Teiji-in uta’awase 29

Left

うつつにもゆめにもひとによるしあへばくれゆくばかりうれしきはなし

utsutsu ni mo
yume ni mo hito ni
yoru shi aeba
kureyuku bakari
ureshiki wa nashi
In reality and
In dreams both, ‘tis her
I meet at night, so
Until the twilight comes
I have no joy, at all.

Mitsune
57

Right (Win)

たまもかるあまとはなしにきみこふるわがころもでのかわくときなき

tamamo karu
ama to wa nashi ni
kimi kouru
wa ga koromode no
kawaku toki naki
Reaping gemweed,
A seaman, I am not, but
Loving you, my lady,
My sleeves are
Dry for not a moment.

58

Teiji-in uta’awase 28

Left (Tie)

ひとのうへとおもひしものをわがこひになしてやきみがただにやみぬる

hito no ue to
omoishi mono o
wa ga koi ni
nashite ya kimi ga
tada ni ya minuru
Upon me
The coals of passion have lain, yet
After my love has been
So clear, why, my lady
Do you seem so calm?

Mitsune
55

Right

あしまよふなにはのうらにひくふねのつなでながくもこひわたるかな

ashi mayou
naniwa no ura ni
hiku fune no
tsunade nagaku mo
koi wataru kana
Lost among the reeds
Of Naniwa Bay,
Pulling a boat with
Tug-ropes stretching long
As my love endures!

56

Teiji-in uta’awase 27

Left (Tie)

たれによりおもひくだくるこころぞはしらぬぞひとのつらさなりける

tare ni yori
omoi’kudakuru
kokoro zo wa
shiranu zo hito no
tsurasa narikeru
For who is it that
Love should distraught make
My heart?
That she realises not reveals
Her cruelty!

Mitsune
53

Right

はづかしのもりのはつかにみしものをなどしたくさのしげきこひなる

hazukashi no
mori no hatsuka ni
mishi mono o
nado shitakusa no
shigeki koi naru
Shyly in Hazukashi
Forest, briefly
Did I glimpse her, so
Why as undergrowth
So lush has my love grown?

Mitsune
54

Teiji-in uta’awase 26

Love

Five poems, stopping at five

Left (Win)

なみだがはいかなるみづかながるらんなどわがこひをけすひとのなき

namidagawa
ika naru mizu ka
nagaruran
nado wa ga koi o
kesu hito no naki
In the River of Tears
What sort of water is it
That does flow?
Why is it that my love’s burn
To extinguish is there no one?

Okikaze
51

Right

みをもかへおもふものからこひといへばもゆるなかにもいるこころかな

mi o mo kae
omou mono kara
koi to ieba
moyuru naka ni
iru kokoro kana
Staking my life is
Often in my thoughts, but
Within the fires of love,
Burning,
Does my heart lie!

Okikaze
52

Heike monogatari 76

Third Rank Lay Priest [Minamoto no Yorimasa] summoned his retainer, Watanabe Chōjitsu.

‘Take my head,’ he ordered, but overcome with the sorrow of taking his master’s life, Chōjitsu cried, overcome with tears, ‘Such a service is unthinkable. I would only dare to do it afterwards, should my Lord take his own life.’

‘I see,’ Yorimasa replied, then faced the west and chanted the name of Amida Buddha ten times in a loud voice, before reciting:

埋木の花さく事も無かりしにみのなるはてぞ哀なりける

umoregi no
hana saku koto mo
nakarishi ni
mi no naru hate zo
aware narikeru
On a drowned tree
Blossoms flower
Not a one—
To reach the end of life
Is sad, indeed!

With these as his last words, he ran the tip of his great sword through his belly, collapsing over it and died. At such a time, one would not normally be able to compose a poem, but Yorimasa had loved the Way of Waka extravagantly since he was young, so at the last he did not forget it.

Teiji-in uta’awase 25

Left

さよふけてなどかなくらむほととぎすたびねのやどをかすひとやなき

sayo fukete
nado ka nakuramu
hototogisu
tabine no yado o
kasu hito ya naki
Brief night breaks, so
Why does he cry so?
The cuckoo
A lodging on his journey
Has no one to lend him!

49

Right (Win)

なつのいけによるべさだめぬうきくさのみづよりほかにゆくかたもなし

natsu no ike ni
yorube sadamenu
ukikusa no
mizu yori hoka ni
yuku kata mo nashi
Upon the pond in summer
No destination has
The waterweed, so
Other than the water
It has no place to go…

Okikaze
50

Teiji-in uta’awase 24

Left (Win)

われききてひとにはつげむほととぎすおもふもしるくまづここになけ

ware kikite
hito ni wa tsugeku
hototogisu
omou shiruku
mazu koko ni nake
I listen, and
To folk will tell,
O, cuckoo, so
Where I am lost in thoughts of you,
Sing here first!

Mitsune
47

Right

かたをかのあしたのはらをとよむまでやまほととぎすいまぞなくなる

kataoka no
ashita no hara o
toyomu made
yamahototogisu
ima zo nakunaru
Until in Kataoka
The plain of Ashita
Does resound
The mountain cuckoos
Are singing now!

48

When ‘Until in Kataoka / The plain of Ashita / Does resound’ had been recited, His Majesty laughed, saying, ‘It would be impossible for it to resound,’ so the final part of the poem was not recited and it lost.

Teiji-in uta’awase 23

Left (Tie)

むらさきにあふみづなれやかきつばたそこのいろさへかはらざるらむ

murasaki ni
au mizu nare ya
kakitsubata
soko no iro sae
kawararuramu
Violet
Suits the water here!
Irises
The hues beneath
Seem to have changed.

Mitsune
45

Right

ほととぎすこゑのみするはふくかぜのおとはのやまになけばなりけり

hototogisu
koe nomi suru wa
fuku kaze no
otowa no yama ni
nakeba narikeri
A cuckoo’s
Call alone upon
The gusting wind;
Wingbeats sound on
Otowa Mountain
Where he does sing.

46

Teiji-in uta’awase 22

Left (Tie)

やまざとにしるひともがなほととぎすなきぬときかばつげもくるがに

yamazato ni
shiru hito mogana
hototogisu
nakinu to kikaba
tsuge mo kuru gani
At a mountain retreat,
I would I had a friend,
O, cuckoo,
That on hearing your call,
He would tell me so…

Okikaze

43

Right

なつきぬとひとしもつげぬわがやどにやまほととぎすはやくなくなり

natsu kinu to
hito shimo tsugenu
wa ga yado ni
yamahototogisu
hayaku nakunari
Summer has come—that
Folk do tell;
At my home
A mountain cuckoo
Gives an early call.

44