Round Fourteen
Left (Win)
みやゐしていくよへぬらむすみよしのまつふくかぜもかみさびにけり
| miya’ishite iku yo henuramu sumiyoshi no matsu fuku kaze mo kamisabinikeri | Since He manifested here How many ages might have passed? At Sumiyoshi The wind gusting through the pines, too, Is touched with divinity… |
Tsunemasa
127
Right
よのなかをいとふこころはさきだちていつまでとまるうきみなるらむ
| yo no naka o itou kokoro wa sakidachite itsu made tomaru ukimi naruramu | This mundane world My heart does despise and Would depart, but How long will I remain, Suffering as I am? |
Nakatsuna
128
Both Left and Right are expressions of grievance, but the Left is merely concerned with ‘Since He manifested here / How many ages might have passed?’, while the Right simply wonders ‘How long will I remain’ while despising the mundane world. I cannot really say that either is superior in the emotions they express, yet due to its reference to the deity, I should say that the Left wins.
Personal Grievances
Round One
Left
むかしとてみのおもひではなけれどもきみしのびねぞたえずなかるる
| mukashi tote mi no omoide wa nakeredomo kimi shinobine zo taezu nakaruru | Bygone days— Memories of me then Have I none, yet Thinking fondly of my Lord I weep constantly. |
Hyōenosuke
101
Right
いくよしもありへむものとしらぬみはうきもつらきもなにかなげかむ
| iku yo shimo ariemu mono to shiranu mi wa uki mo tsuraki mo nanika nagekamu | However many ages I may live through I know not, so For the coldness and cruelties Why should I grieve so? |
Lord Naganori
102
The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning ‘Memories of me then / Have I none, yet’ appears elegant. The conception of self-effacingly not recalling oneself but thinking fondly of one’s former master seems sadly moving. The Right’s poem appears splendidly direct in its emotional stance. With that being said, the Right lacks clear source of grief, whereas the Left has its fond recollections, and thus I have to say it wins.
On a folding screen for the celebrations of the birthday of Her Majesty, the Empress in Shōhei 4.[1]
色かへぬ松と竹とのすゑの世をいづれひさしと君のみぞ見む
| iro kaFenu matu to take no suwe no yo wo idure hisasi to kimi nomi zo mimu | Ever unchanging hues Have the pine and bamboo— In the ages to come Which is more eternal? My Lady, alone, will see! |
The Handmaid to the Ise Virgin
[1] The empress in question was Fujiwara no Onshi (Yasuko) 藤原穏子 (885-954), the consort of Emperor Daigo. The birthday being marked was her fiftieth, with the celebrations taking place on the 26th day of the Third Month, Shōhei 承平 4 [12.5.934].
Left
ひとりぬる我が手枕を昼はほし夜はぬらして幾代へぬらん
| hitori nuru wa ga tamakura o hiru wa hoshi yo wa nurashite iku yo henuran | Sleeping alone, Pillowed on my arm, In daytime it’s dry, and At night it’s drenched— How many ages will pass by so? |
184[1]
Right
ほのに見し人におもひをつけそめて心からこそしたにこがるれ
| hono ni mishi hito ni omoi o tsukesomete kokoro kara koso shita ni kogarure | Faintly did I see Her, and the fires of passion First ignited; From within my heart, I secretly smoulder. |
185[2]
[1] Shinsenzaishū XII: 1251/This poem is also included in Mandaishū (XII: 2360) with the headnote, ‘A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress’.
[2] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote attributing it to this contest, appears in Shokukokinshū (XI: 1038): よそにみし人におもひをつけそめてこころからこそしたにこがるれ yoso ni mishi / hito ni omoi o / tsukesomete / kokoro kara koso / shita ni kogarure ‘Casually did I see / Her, and the fires of passion / First ignited; / From within my heart, / I secretly smoulder.’
A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.
朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは
| asapi sasi sogapi ni miyuru kamu nagara mina ni obasesu sirakumo no tipe wo osiwake ama sosori takaki tatiyama puyu natu to waku koto mo naku sirotape ni yuki pa puri okite inisipe yu arikinikereba kogosikamo ipa no kamusabi tama kiparu ikuyo penikemu tatiwite miredomo ayasi minedakami tani wo pukami to otitagitu kiyoki ka puti ni asa sarazu kiri tati watari yupu sareba kumowi tanabiki kumowi nasu kokoro mo sino ni tatu kiri no omopi sugusazu yuku midu no woto mo sayakeku yoroduyo ni ipitugi yukamu kapa si taezu wa |
The morning sun shines At my back,and Divine Your great name links: Clouds of white In a thousand layers, you pierce, and Tower into the heavens, Tall Tachiyama! In winter and, in summer both Indistinguishably are you Clad in mulberry white Fallen drifts of snow; Since ancient days Ever has been your estate, Fastened round with Crags divine； ‘til all souls end Have countless ages passed! Standing here, I see you, yet am awed by Your lofty peak and Valley’s deep, where Plunge seething cataracts of Waters pure to pools where Morning never leaves – Mists rise and roll across, and When the evening comes Clouds trail in and Cover all, Even, with sadness, my heart, so The rising mists Never leave my thoughts, and of Your running waters’ Clear, pure sound Through ten thousand ages Will I ever tell Unending as a river’s flow… |
Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主
