Category Archives: Chūjō miyasudokoro uta’awase

Chūjō miyasudokoro uta’awase

Shinpen kokka taikan no.
Heian-chō uta’awase taisei no.2
Title中将御息所歌合
Romanised TitleChūjō miyasudokoro uta’awase
Translated TitlePoetry Contest held by the Chūjō Lady of the Bedchamber
Alternative Title(s)
DateBefore 26/8 Ninna3 [7.9.887]
Extant Poems2
Identifiable ParticipantsY
JudgementsN
TopicsWarblers; blossom

The only knowledge we have of this contest is the fact that two of its poems were included in Kokinshū, and one, by Sosei, is included in his personal collection with a slightly variant and more informative headnote. The identity of the Chūjō Lady of the Bedchamber is also unclear: it is possible that she could have been an Imperial Concubine (kōi 更衣) to Emperor Kōkō 光孝 (830-887; r. 884-887), but due to where Sosei’s poem is situated in his personal collection, where the dates of composition of the surrounding poems are more clear, it is also not possible to discount the theory that she was a concubine of Emperor Uda 宇多 (866-931; 887-897). It is also not possible to say definitively that this was a full contest which actually took place: it might be that these were poems which were composed with a mind to inclusion in another contest and then not used.

Go to the contest

Chūjō miyasudokoro uta’awase

Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Ninna Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber.
花のちることやわびしき春霞たつたの山のうぐひすのこゑ

Fana no tiru
koto ya wabisiki
Farugasumi
tatuta no yama no
uguFisu no kowe
The falling of the flowers
Is sad, indeed;
In the spring haze
On Tatsuta Mountain
A warbler cries…

Fujiwara no Chikage
藤原後蔭

1[1]

Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Ninna Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber.
惜しと思ふ心は糸に縒られなむ散る花ごとに貫きてとどめむ

osi to omoFu
kokoro Fa ito ni
yorarenamu
tiru Fana goto ni
nukite todomemu
A regretful
Heart with threads
Does seem to be entangled;
Every single scattered bloom
Will I thread on them to keep.

Sosei
素性

2[2]


[1]This poem is included in Kokinshū (II: 108).

[2]This poem is included in Kokinshū (II: 114) and also in Sosei-shū 素性集 (16), where in some versions the headnote reads ‘[Composed] on the profusion of blossom when it was decided there would be poetry match at the residence of the Ninnaji Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber’.