Singing Girls 妓女
あけぼのにかすみこめたる花よりもあかぬはいもがにほひなりけり
| akebono ni kasumi kometaru hana yori mo akanu wa imo ga nioi narikeri | At the dawning Mingled with the hazes are The blossoms, yet far more Unsated am I by my darling’s Scent. |
Daishin
Tag Archives: akebono
Eikyū hyakushu 26
Spring Dawn
山のはのよこ雲ばかりわたりつつみどりにみゆるあけぼのの空
| yama no ha no yokogumo bakari wataritsutsu midori ni miyuru akebono no sora | The mountains’ edge is Simply streaked with cloud, Ever trailing ‘cross; Verdant green does seem The sky at dawn. |
Kanemasa
SZS I: 29
Topic unknown.
風わたる軒端の梅に鴬の鳴きてこつたふ春の曙
| kaze wataru nokiba no mume ni uguFisu no nakite ko tutaFu Faru no akebono |
Breeze brushed, Upon the plum beneath my eaves The bush-warbler’s Song tells me this: it is The dawn in springtime. |
Provisional Major Councillor Sane’ie (1145-1193)
権大納言実家
SZS I: 28
Topic unknown.
梅が枝の花にこつたふ鶯の声さへにほふ春の曙
| mume ga e no Fana ni ko tutaFu uguFisu no kowe saFe niFoFu Faru no akebono |
A branch of plum Blossom tells me this: The bush-warbler’s Very voice does shine at The dawn in springtime. |
Cloistered Prince Shukaku
Eikyū hyakushu 28
Spring Dawn
花盛り心も空にあくがれておきゐてぞ見る春の曙
| hana sakari kokoro mo sora ni akugarete oki’ite zo miru haru no akebono |
The blossoms are profuse, and My heart to the skies Is drawn, Resting my gaze This spring dawn. |
Daishin
Eikyū hyakushu 25
Spring Dawn
憂きことのまぎるる年もなけれども眺められける春の曙
| uki koto no magiruru toshi mo nakeredomo nagamerarekeru haru no akebono |
With sad events Occupied this year Is not, yet, What I have gazed upon is The dawn in spring. |
Tadafusa
Minishū 2063
沢田川真木のつきはしなかたえて霞ぞ渡る春の曙
| sawadagawa maki no tsugihashi nakadaete kasumi zo wataru haru no akebono |
At Sawada River The bridge of boards Has broken in the middle, and Only the haze does cross On this spring dawn. |
Love IV: 24
Left (Win).
戀詫びて我と眺めし夕暮も馴るれば人の形見がほなる
| koiwabite ware to nagameshi yūgure mo narureba hito no katamigao naru |
Suffering with love I have gazed Upon the evening dark, So used to it that it Has become your keepsake! |
Lord Sada’ie.
827
Right.
明ぼののあはればかりは忍ぶれど今日をば出でず春の夕暮
| akebono no aware bakari wa shinoburedo kyō oba idezu haru no yūgure |
The dawn’s Sadness, I do just Bear, but, oh, Today, it will never come – The evening in springtime! |
Nobusada.
828
The Right state: when one understands the purport of the Left’s poem, it comes as a revelation. The Left state: in the Right’s poem we are unable to grasp the sense of ‘it will never come’ (idezu). In addition, the conception of Love seems lacking.
In judgement: both poems ‘evenings’ are support by little diction, yet the conception of Love is profound, indeed, such that my own shallow knowledge finds it difficult to grasp. However, the Right’s ‘Today, it will never come’ (kyō oba idezu) certainly does seem difficult to comprehend. I would have to say that the Left’s ‘So used to it that it’ (narureba hito no) is marginally superior.
Love IV: 11
Left.
雲かゝり重なる山を越えもせず隔てまさるは明くる日の影
| kumo kakari kasanaru yama o koe mo sezu hedate masaru wa akuru hi no kage |
Trailed with cloud, The layered mountains I have not gone beyond, but What stands between us most is The light of the brightening sun. |
Lord Sada’ie.
801
Right (Win).
いさ命思ひは夜半に盡き果てぬ夕も待たじ秋の曙
| isa inochi omoi wa yowa ni tsukihatenu yūbe mo mataji aki no akebono |
I know not what’s to become of my life! All my thoughts of love in the hours of night Are quite exhausted, and I cannot wait for evening On this autumn dawn… |
Nobusada.
802
The Right state: from ‘Trailed with cloud’ (kumo kakari) to ‘The light of the brightening sun’ (akuru hi no kage), all is entirely unacceptable, is it not? The Left state: we wonder about the acceptability of ‘I know not what’s to become of my life’ (isa inochi).
In judgement: the Right have said that the Left’s poem is unacceptable from beginning to end, but can one really go so far as to say that? Furthermore, the Left query whether ‘I know not what’s to become of my life’, but I wonder whether I can recall this phrase being that bad. However, one is accustomed to saying that ‘this spring dawn’ (haru no akebono) is elegant, and although ‘this autumn dawn’ (aki no akebono) is a modern expression, the faults of the Left’s poem are particularly problematic, so the Right should win.
Autumn III: 23
Left.
初霜や秋をこめても置きつらん今朝色變る野路の篠原
| hatsujimo ya aki o kometemo okitsuran kesa iro kawaru noji no shinohara |
Have the first frosts In the midst of autumn Fallen? This morning has brought a change of hue To the arrow-bamboo groves in Noji! |
465
Right (Win).
いかに又秋は夕と眺め來て花に霜置く野邊の明ぼの
| ika ni mata aki wa yūbe to nagamekite hana ni shimo oku nobe no akebono |
How much more striking Than an autumn evening Spent gazing, is The frost fallen on the flowers In the fields at dawn! |
466
Neither team finds any fault with the other’s poem this round and say as much.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘frost’ (shimo) on the ‘arrow-bamboo groves in Noji’ (noji no shinohara) is certainly elegant [yū ni wa haberubeshi]. The Right’s ‘frost fallen on the flowers’ (hana ni oku shimo) is, too; although there is no difference in formal quality [uta no sama wa ikuhodo sabetsu naku] between them, ‘frost fallen on the flowers’ at ‘dawn’ (akebono) is more arresting [midokoro ya haberu] than ‘arrow-bamboo groves’.