Love and blinds.
つのくにのこやのまろやの蘆すだれまどほに成りぬ行きあはずして
| tsu no kuni no koya no maroya no ashisudare madō ni narinu yukiawazushite | In the land of Tsu, At Koya is a crude hut, Hung with reed-blinds, Slats lost and desolate, Never meeting… |
545
Monthly Archives: April 2026
Kinkai wakashū 544
Kinkai wakashū 543
Kinkai wakashū 542
Nishinomiya uta’awase 12
Round Twelve
Left
あふことをいなみ野に咲く女郎花をらぬものゆゑ袖ぞ露けき
| au koto o inamino ni saku ominaeshi oranu mono yue sode zo tsuyukeki | A meeting she Declines—blooming upon Inami Plain, A maidenflower I have not picked, yet How dew-drenched my sleeves! |
Taiyu no Suke
23
Right
うき人の心なりせばをみなへし吹くとも風になびかざらまし
| ukibito no kokoro nariseba ominaeshi fuku tomo kaze ni nabikazaramashi | That cruel girl’s Heart did they but have, then The maidenflowers, With the gusting of the wind Would not bend at all, no doubt… |
Tadasue
24
‘With the gusting of the wind’ and so forth sounds more in keeping with the topic at present than ‘blooming upon Inami Plain, / A maidenflower’.
Nishinomiya uta’awase 11
The Same and Maidenflowers
Round Eleven
Left
恋しさにおもひよそへて女郎花折るわが袖ぞいとど露けき
| koishisa ni omoi’yosoete ominaeshi oru wa ga sode zo itodo tsuyukeki | In my yearning Alike, I feel, is This maidenflower— The sleeve I picked her with is Utterly drenched with dew! |
The Former Assistant Governor-General
21
Right
なつかしく折る手にかをれ女郎花恋しき人もわするばかりに
| natsukashiku oru te ni kaore ominaeshi koishiki hito mo wasuru bakari ni | So sweetly In my hand that picked you shine, O, maidenflower! That the one I love I would forget a while… |
His Excellency, the Head
22
The Left’s ‘sleeve I picked her with is / Utterly drenched with dew’ is a form of words entirely in tune with the topic—it appears charmingly exactly how a poem in a poetry match should be. Then the Right expresses as somewhat shallow and unreliable conception of love that might be forgotten in the face of the shine of a maidenflower picked and held in the hand. Thus, I feel the dew-drenched sleeves are superior here, aren’t they.
Nishinomiya uta’awase 10
Round Ten
Left
秋はぎの下葉の露にあらねども消えぬばかりぞ人は恋しき
| akihagi no shitaba no tsuyu ni aranedomo kienu bakari zo hito wa koishiki | Upon the autumn bush clover’s Underleaves a dewdrop I am not, yet Simply will I fade away So much do I love him! |
Taiyu no Suke
19
Right
わすられて年ふる里の浅茅生に誰がためしける萩の錦ぞ
| wasurarete toshi furu sato no asajū ni ta ga tame shikeru hagi no nishiki zo | All forgotten Through the passing years, at my home Among the tangled mugwort, For whose sake is spread The bush clover’s brocade? |
The Daughter of His Excellency, the Head
20
I feel that the poem of the Left is conspicuously poetic, saying ‘Simply will I fade away / So much do I love him!’ while the poem of the Right’s ‘Through the passing years, at my home / Among the tangled mugwort, / For whose sake is spread / The bush clover’s brocade?’ makes me want to ask the bush clover the same question! The pull my heart in more than one direction, so here, too, I feel it’s not possible to decide on a winner or loser.
Nishinomiya uta’awase 09
Round Nine
Left
忍びねを我が袖のみと思ひしを劣らざりけり萩の下露
| shinobine o wa ga sode nomi to omoishi o otorazarikeri hagi no shitazuyu | Secretly Upon my sleeves, alone, I thought, but ‘Twas not lesser than The dewfall ‘neath the bush clover. |
Minor Captain Kin’nori, Fourth Rank
17
Right
色かはる萩の下葉の露けさは我が身のうへと成りにけるかな
| iro kawaru hagi no shitaba no tsuyukesa wa wa ga mi no ue to narinikeru kana | A change of hue To the bush clover’s underleaves Drenched with dew— Upon my sorry self Has it befallen, too! |
Tadasue, Senior Assistant Minister of the Sovereign’s Household
18
The image of the droplets of secretly wept upon the poet’s sleeves not being less than those of the dewdrops beneath the bush clover appears extremely charming and moving. In addition, the pain expressed by one’s sorry self being as dew-drenched as the bush clover’s underleaves—this has left my own sleeves, both left and right, seeming as soaked with dewdrops from the bush clover.
