Reikeiden no nyōgo uta’awase 04

Warblers

Left (Win)

うぐひすのこゑなかりせばゆききえぬやまざといかではるをしらまし

uguisu no
koe nakariseba
yuki kienu
yamazato to ikade
haru o shiramashi
Should the warbler’s
Song be made to cease, then though
The snow has vanished from
This mountain retreat, how
Would one know ‘tis spring?

Nakatsukasa
7[i]

Right

かがみやまはるくるかげやみえつらむたにのうぐひすいでてなくなり

kagamiyama
haru kuru kage ya
mietsuramu
tani no uguisu
idete naku nari
Upon Mirror Mountain
Signs of coming spring
Have appeared, it seems, for
In the valleys warblers
Have emerged to sing.

8


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 10), attributed to Middle Counsellor [Fujiwara no] Asatada, with the headnote ‘From a palace poetry match on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’ [12.5.956]. It is also included in Shūishō (I: 6) as an anonymous poem in some texts, or attributed to Nakatsukasa in others, with the headnote ‘When a poetry match was held at the palace on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’.

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