Tag Archives: ake

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 20

Left (Win)

たまがきにひかりさしそふゆふづくよかみにたむくるかげにやあるらむ

tamagaki ni
hikari sashisouru
yūzukuyo
kami ni tamukuru
kage ni ya aruramu
The jewelled fences,
Trailed with light,
On an early moonlit evening:
Is this to the Deity an offering
Of light, I wonder?

Lord Fujiwara no Kunisuke
Supernumerary Senior Secretary of the Empress Household Office
Exalted Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade
39

Right

くもはらふあらしのみがく月にまたひかりをそふるあけのたまがき

kumo harau
arashi no migaku
tsuki ni mata
hikari o souru
ake no tamagaki
Clouds swept away
By the storm wind, polish
The moon, so once more
Light trails across
The vermillion jewelled fences.

Horikawa, from the Residence of the Former Chancellor[1]
40

The Left’s poem is extremely charming with the solicitousness it displays in the sequence ‘On an early moonlit evening: / Is this to the Deity an offering’, but it is truly regrettable that it does not use the full moon or that at the dawn. The Right’s poem focusses on ‘light trailing’ and, as I get the impression that I have heard this a lot recently, the earlier instances have said all there is to say here, so once more the overall style of the Left is superior.


[1] Zen-dajō daijin no ie Horikawa 前太政大臣家堀川

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 11

Round Eleven

Left (Tie)

すみよしのかみさびにけるたまがきをみがくは月のひかりなりけり

sumiyoshi no
kamisabinikeru
tamagaki o
migaku wa tsuki no
hikari narikeri
Sumiyoshi’s
Awesome
Begemmed fences are
Polished by the moon’s
Light.

Hyōenokami, in service to the Junior Consort[1]
21

Right

くまもなくさえゆく月にみがかれてひかりをそふるあけのたまがき

kuma mo naku
saeyuku tsuki ni
migakurete
hikari o souru
ake no tamagaki
Not a cloud mars
The chill moon
Polishing
With trailing light
The vermillion begemmed fences.

Lord Minamoto no Michichika,
Supernumerary Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division,
Exalted Senior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade[2]
22

Both Left and Right take up the image of the moon’s light polishing the begemmed fences, and the Right’s final section expresses emotions which are frequently heard, while the Left, furthermore, is repetitive [it concludes two lines with the ending –keru/keri] and thus I make the round a tie.


[1] Nyōgo no ie Hyōenokami女御家兵衛督

[2] Shōyon’ige-gyō ukonoe gonshōjō Minamoto ason Michichika 正四位下行右近衛権少将源朝臣通親