sayo fukete nezamezariseba hototogisu hitozute ni koso kikubekarikere
When brief night broke, and I failed to awaken to The cuckoo, Via a message, indeed, Was I able to hear it!
Tadami 27
Right
人ならばまててふべきをほととぎすふたこゑとだにきかですぎぬる
hito naraba mate chōbeki o hototogisu futa koe to dani kikade suginuru
Were you a man, ‘Wait!’ is what I’d tell you, O, cuckoo! For without even a second call For me to hear have you passed by.
Motozane 28
The Left’s poem, where the poet seems to awaken without a thought of hearing the cuckoo, is certainly somewhat odd. Nevertheless, the poem overall is charming. As for the Right’s poem, well, what is the poet trying to say by asking the cuckoo to wait when he will hear its first call, if it were a man? Is the conception, perhaps, for the cuckoo to wait a while? There’s not enough diction for the conception here, I feel. Both of these are about the same standard, so I make this a tie.
natsugoromo tachi’izuru kyō wa hanazakura katami no iro mo nugi ya kauran
Summer garb: Cut out from today, departing The blossom of the cherries’ Hues—a keepsake—, too, Will I put off and change?
Nakatsukasa
23
The Left’s poem gives the impression of the beginning of summer, but the Right’s ‘Sewn from today, departing’ suggests that it is the year that is doing so. In addition, it seems to use ‘put off and change’, and so sounds as if time has passed more swiftly than in the Left’s poem. Thus, because the poems’ quality is about the same, I make this a tie.
[1]Shuka 首夏. This Sinitic expression was also used to refer to the the Fourth Month.
Tenryaku jū-nen san-gatsu goro reikeiden no nyōgo ōnkata tōka 天暦十年三月比麗景殿女御御方闘歌 (‘Poetry Contest held by the retainers of the Reikeiden Junior Consort in the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’); Reikeiden no nyōgo sōshi joō uta’awase 麗景殿女御荘子女王歌合 (‘Poetry Match held by Princess Sōshi, the Reikeiden Junior Consort’)
Haze (kasumi 霞); Spring breezes (harukaze 春風); Plum blossom (ume no hana 梅花); Bush warblers (uguisu 鶯); Spring showers (harusame春雨); Fresh herbs (wakana 若菜); Cherry blossom (sakurabana 桜花); Willows (yanagi 柳); Kerria (yamabuki 款冬); Wisteria blossom (fuji no hana 藤花); Love without meeting (awanu koi 不会恋); Love on meeting (au koi 会恋)
[i] This poem is not included the extant texts of the match, but from its headnote must have been composed for it and been subsequently lost among with the others.
[i] This poem is included in Gyokuyōshū (V: 794/795) with the headnote, ‘For the scarlet leaves match during the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.
[ii] This poem is included in Gyokuyōshū (V: 795/796) with the headnote, ‘For the scarlet leaves match during the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’. It is also included in Mandaishū (V: 1223) with the headnote, ‘A poem from the autumn leaves match held at the palace in the intercalary Ninth Month, Tenryaku 9’ and in Kiyotada-shū (38), with the headnote ‘From an autumn leaves match at the palace, in a year when there were two ninth months’.
On the 28th day of the Tenth Month, Tenryaku 7, a chrysanthemum match was held at the palace. On that day, His Majesty’s courtiers and retainers were divided into teams of the Left and Right, and competed with chrysanthemums. Courtiers, Princes and senior nobles were ordered to attend at the hour of the Monkey. Both Left and Right presented chrysanthemum blooms. The Left’s victory performance was ‘Prince of Langling’. The page Tachibana no Nobuyuki danced. Following this, Left and Right performed music one after another. The event ended with the award of gifts to the Princes, senior nobles and retainers according to rank.
Palace Chrysanthemum Match, Tenth Month Tenryaku 7: The courtiers were divided into teams and the Left wore robes of deep green overlaid with purple, while the Right both under- and over-robes of scarlet. Every single one of the chamberlains was assigned to a team. The leader of the Left team was Lord Arisuke and the leader of the Right was Lord Nobumitsu. Poems were placed on the diorama.
千歳経る霜の露をばおきながら菊の花こそひさしかりけれ
chitose furu shimo no tsuyu oba okinagara kiku no hana koso hisashikarikere
O’er a thousand years Frosty dew Does fall, but The chrysanthemum blooms, above all, Last forever!
[i] A minor variant of this poem is included in Fubokushō (XXVII: 12611), with the headnote, ‘A poem from the Palace Chrysanthemum Match, Tenth Month Tenryaku 7’ 千年ふる霜のつるをばおきながらきくの華こそひさしかりけれ chitose furu / shimo no tsuru oba / okinagara / kiku no hana koso / hisashikarikere ‘O’er a thousand years / Frost upon the cranes / Does fall, but / The chrysanthemum blooms, above all, / Last forever!’ Anonymous. This poem is included in Tadami-shū (116) with the headnote, ‘There were chrysanthemums planted on the diorama, with cranes standing among them.’
[ii] This poem is included in Gyokuyōshū (V: 779/780) with the headnote, ‘Composed for the Palace Poetry Match, Tenryaku 7’. It is also included in two separate versions Nakatsukasa’s personal collection, Nakatsukasa-shū, first with the headnote ‘For a chrysanthemum match held during the reign of the Murakami Emperor, when there were cranes and chrysanthemums on the diorama’, and also ‘For the Left, when there were cranes on the ‘rama, at a chrysanthemum match held during the reign of the Murakami emperor’. A minor variant, which differs only in the intial line, tazu no iru たづのゐる ‘Where cranes rest…’occurs in Fubokushō (XIV: 5898) with the headnote, ‘For a chrysanthemum match held at the palace in the Tenth Month, Tenryaku 7, when there were cranes and chrysanthemums on the diorama.’
hito shirezu au o matsu ma ni koishinaba nani ni kaetaru inochi to ka iwan
Unknown to all, While pining to meet with you Should I die of love, Then what compensation For my life might I request?
Hon’in Jijū 35
Right
ことならばくもゐの月となりななむこひしきかげやそらにみゆると
koto naraba kumoi no tsuki to nari na namu koishiki kage ya sora ni miyuru to
Should that be the case, then Above the clouds, the moon I would you become, that Your beloved light I would behold within the skies…
Nakatsukasa 36
The Left’s poem really tells it like it is! The Right’s poem seems to have identical characters beginning its first and fourth lines, and this is a bit distasteful. When I asked how this should be measured, neither Left nor Right said anything. Then the Left seemed to mutter, ‘My poem doesn’t use these characters,’ but I don’t see this as a fault worth mentioning, so thus I make this tie.
