忍ぐさしのびしのびに置く露を人こそとはねやどはふりにき
| shinobugusa shinobishinobi ni oku tsuyu o hito koso towane yado wa furiniki | Upon the ferns, Secretly, so secretly, Fall dewdrops, where He never calls My house has grown so old. |
552
Monthly Archives: May 2026
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 07
The scent of orange blossom incense on the breeze[i]
Left
ふくかぜに花たちばなぞにほふなるむかしのそでにあやまたれつつ
| fuku kaze ni hanatachibana zo niou naru mukashi no sode ni ayamataretsutsu | With the gusting breeze Orange blossom’s Fragrance comes— For those sleeves of bygone days Do I ever mistake it… |
13
Right
つねよりもことにもあるかなけふをまつはなたちばなのかぜのにほひは
| tsune yori mo koto ni mo aru kana kyō o matsu hanatachibana no kaze no nioi wa | More than ever So special it is! For today have I awaited, Orange blossom’s Scented breeze… |
14
In general, orange blossom is scented during early summer showers or has its fragrance carried on the evening breeze, so I wonder about the folk of bygone days: there’s nothing to compare it with, making the Left’s poem as hackneyed as one on Isonokami, yet there’s nothing special about it, like a weed growing under the eaves. The Right’s poem has ‘for today have I awaited’, which I think requires a reference to sweet-flags. My overall impression of both poems is that their conceptions are unclear.
[Judge’s poem missing]
[i] Rōkitsu bōfū 盧橘芳風
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 06
Dark shade beneath the mountain trees[i]
Left
よとともにはれずもあるかなこがくれて山びといかであくとしるらん
| yo to tomo ni harezu mo aru kana kogakurete yamabito ikade aku to shiruran | Even with the end of night, It never clears at all! Hidden ‘neath the trees How can a mountain man Ever find the light? |
11
Right
よもの山こぐらくなりてなつのよの月ばかりこそもりてみゆらめ
| yomo no yama koguraku narite natsu no yo no tsuki bakari koso morite miyurame | All around, the mountains Are dark beneath the trees; On a summer night ‘Tis truly only the moon That one might see dripping between them! |
12
This topic refers to a hunted stag concealed among the trees in the summer mountains. There is not a particular strong feeling of either evergreen or other types of mountain forests,[ii] but the Left’s poem has ‘Even with the end of night’, forgetting that this implies a season of biting wind and showers striking the leaves on the trees—thus the darkness here is excessively conceived. While the Right takes ‘dark shade’ as an opportunity to compose with the elevated conception of the moon dripping between the trees—and surpasses the peaks in doing this—I wonder if the conceptions of both poems don’t contain brightness? Thus, both Left and Right are examples of the ‘Reizei Palace’,[iii] so I would decide on a tie for these.
| satsuki yama koguraki kage no shigeshisa wa masarite miyuru hito mo naki kana | The Fifth Month mountains Dark shade beneath the trees is So deep that Skillfully seeing— There no one who can do that! |
Judge 6
[i] Yamagi no kagegurashi山樹蔭暗
[ii] The expression Noritada uses here Tokiwayama makeyama is obscure, so this interpretation is speculative.
[iii] Another unclear expression, but from the context apparently an idiom that means ‘poems not matching the topic’.
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 05
Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains[i]
Left
なつくればのべのくさばもしげりあひていづれかみちとみえぞわかれぬ
| natsu kureba nobe no kusaba mo shigeriaite izure ka michi to mie zo wakarenu | When the summer comes, The blades of grass upon the plains Grow lushly together, so Which is the path to take I cannot tell by looking! |
9
Right
をちこちのみちみえぬまでなつののはくさばしげくもなりにけるかな
| ochikochi no michi mienu made natsuno no wa kusaba shigeku mo narinikeru kana | Until both distant and nearby Paths I cannot see Across the summer plains Have the blades of grass so lushly Grown, indeed! |
10
Do they not know the features of the summer plains conveyed by ‘Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains’? While both Left and Right use ‘blades of grass’, this puts one in mind of fresh grass sprouting in spring showers; and then of the two of them, the Right uses ‘distant and nearby’, which is nothing more than an archaic expression from the Age of Gods used for leg-wearying mountain paths, while at least the Left does not have a tangled argument.
| ato miezu natsuno no kusaba shigeku tomo yamaji o kakete madoubeshi ya wa | No folk’s tracks visible Upon the summer plains—the blades of grass Lush, yet I wonder if upon mountain paths One would lose ones way? |
Judge 5
[i] Yasō no michi shigeshi 野草路滋
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 04
Maidens spinning thread
Left
てにかけてくるなつごとにわぎもこがおほくのいとをひきてけるかな
| te ni kakete kuru natsu goto ni wagimoko ga ōku no ito o hikitekeru kana | Through her hands a’running Again, with every summer’s coming, My darling girl So much thread Has spun! |
7
Right
てもたゆくひきおくいとのたえまなくきみがみちよのさかゆべきかな
| te mo tayuku hiki’oku ito no taemanaku kimi ga michiyo no sakayubeki kana | Her weary hands A’spinning thread, Never ending My Lord’s reign through three thousand years Of prosperity! |
8
‘Maidens spinning’ is about their expertise at it, and is not something that you need to need to ponder over and over like a peasant’s hempen thread or struggle to pull apart like a hardened silk cocoon, but both Left and Right really seem to have spun things out, and I feel that, although there’s an air of elegance to start with, the diction at the end of both poems is confused, so I would make these a tie.
| hidari migi hiku te mo tayuku tatsu ito wa izukata e ka wa yorubekaruran | Left and Right, The hands spinning wearily, Produce thread that Heads off but, I wonder where to? |
Judge 4
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 03
Rice seedling Planters[i]
Left
てもたゆくむろのはやなへとりもあへずおのがおのがもいそぐめるかな
| te mo tayuku muro no hanae tori mo aezu ono ga ono ga mo isogumeru kana | With gentle hands The young seedlings in the root-house Swiftly taking Each and every one Hurries along! |
5
Right
なはしろとはるみしものをいつのまにたごおりたちてさなへとるらん
| nawashiro to haru mishi mono o itsu no ma ni tago oritachite sanae toruran | The seed-shoots that I saw in springtime have, In but a moment, by The lads standing in the paddies, Taken for seedlings. |
6
While it lacks a depth of conception of fallow paddies resembling the marshy mud between the reeds, surveying the scene in line with this time of year, it is certainly the case that men planting rice-seedlings appear—this is the superficial content of the Left’s poem, but its diction is somewhat stiff. The Right seem superior for its balance between the initial and latter section of the poem, it’s bright overall impression and its configuration implying the swift flow of water around the seedlings.
| tori mo aezu kokorogokoro ni isogedomo ama wa so shiranu muro no hayanae | Swiftly over Both conceptions Have I hurried, yet As a fisherman, am ignorant of Young seedlings in the root-house! |
Judge 3
[i] Torinaehito 取苗人
Aru tokoro no uta’awase zassai
水の泡や種となるらむ浮草のまく人なみの上に生ふれば
| mizu no awa ya tane to naruramu ukikusa no maku hitonami no ue ni oureba | Might the foam upon the waters Be its seeds, perhaps? When the drifting waterweed Twines atop a wave Where it does grow… |
1[i]
山里は冬ぞさびしさまさりける人めも草もかれぬとおもへば
| yamazato wa fuyu zo sabishisa masarikeru hitome mo kusa mo karenu to omoeba | In a mountain retreat Winter’s loneliness Overwhelms As both folks’ gaze and the grasses, too Have withered away, I feel… |
2[ii]
今日人をこふる心はあすか川流るる水に劣らざりけり
| kyō hito o kouru kokoro wa asukagawa nagaruru mizu ni otorazarikeri | Today, for her The love within my heart, By the River Asuka’s Running waters Will not be outdone! |
[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (IX: 524) as an anonymous poem with the headnote ‘Produced but not matched in a poetry contest.’
[ii] This poem is included in Muneyuki-shū (15) with the headnote ‘For a poetry match’.
[iii] This poem is included in Muneyuki-shū (16) with the headnote ‘For a poetry match’.
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 02
Mugwort in the Grounds[i]
Left
よろづよもときはならなんけふのためいはひておほすそののよもぎは
| yorozuyo mo tokiwa naranan kyō no tame iwaite ōsu sono no yomogi wa | For ten thousand ages more Evergreen, I would you be! For today’s Celebration, lushly growing Mugwort in the grounds… |
3
Right
そののうちにおふるよもぎのえだしげみすゑさかゆべくみゆるきみかな
| sono no uchi ni ouru yomogi no eda shigemi sue sakayubeku miyuru kimi kana | Within the grounds A’growing, the mugwort’s Branches are lush To the very end they flourish, As do you appear to, my Lord! |
4
In ancient times, folk arose on this day with the dawn together with the birds and, taking those branches of mugwort from within their grounds that resembled people, dried them in the shade and made medicinal draughts—I wonder, were both Left and Right unaware of this? There is not even a dewdrop’s worth of diction in accordance with the topic, so I must make this round a tie.
かたかたにとるかたもなきよもぎぐさひとかずならぬここちこそすれ
| katakata ni toru kata mo naki yomogigusa hito kazu naranu kokochi koso sure | Both sides say Nothing noteworthy about Mugwort plants,so Neither is worth much, I feel! |
Judge 2
[i] Sono no naka no yomogi 園中蓬
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 01
Poetry Match held by Noritada, Confucian Tutor to the Heir Apparent[i]
Topics
Poets
Judge
Sweet-flags in the Valley
Left
たにふかみたづねてぞひくあやめぐさちとせあるべきくすりとおもへば
| tani fukami tazunete zo hiku ayamegusa chitose arubeki kusuri to omoeba | Deep within the valley Seek and pick Sweet-flags! For a thousand years longevity Will their draught bring, I feel… |
1
Right
たにふかみおふるあやめのながきねはひきかつ人もあらじとぞおもふ
| tani fukami ouru ayame no nagaki ne wa hiki katsu hito mo araji to zo omou | Deep within the valley Grow sweet-flags— So long their roots that A skillful picker Is there none, I feel! |
2
Nine-knotted sweet-flags grow in valleys atop rocks, so every year on this day, folk gather together and pick sweet-flag roots to make medicine from them, so one should compose as though cupping the water of this conception in one’s hands. The overall impression of the Right’s poem, while it may be something encountered occasionally, is that it shows ignorance of the conception of the topic and only refers to how long the roots are—it loses, but there may be some depth there.
こころあさきみぎはにおふるあやめぐさひきどころなきものにざりける
| kokoro asaki migiwa ni ouru ayamegusa hikidokoro naki mono ni zarikeru | Conception shallow Right by the water’s edge a’growing Are sweet flags: There’s no value in picking Such things! |
Judge 1
[i] Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 東宮学士義忠歌合