Scarlet Leaves

Round One

Left (Win)

山姫やきてふる郷へ帰るらんにしきとみゆる衣手の杜

yamahime ya kite furusato e kaeruran nishiki to miyuru koromode no mori

Does the mountain princess Wear it, when to her ancient home Returning? As brocade does seem The sacred grove at Koromode…

Lord Shige’ie

73

Right

色色の木木のにしきを立田川ひとつはたにもおりながすかな

iroiro no kigi no nishiki o tatsutagawa hitotsu hata ni mo orinagasu kana

Many hued is The trees brocade that The Tatsuta River’s Loom into one Does weave and float along!

Shun’e
74

The Left’s ‘mountain princess’ is normally used, but where is the ‘ancient estate’? As for the Right, when the trees’ brocade is scattered, only then, indeed, can it be woven and made to flow along by a river. A long time ago there was a poem composed which, indeed, began, ‘The scarlet leaves in such confusion / Drift’ and then continued, ‘Were I to ford across, this brocade / Would be split in two, I’d say…’[1] Furthermore, what are we to make of ‘Tatsuta River’s / Loom into one’? There should be reference to a location which has some connection with looms, but to simply shoehorn in ‘Tatsuta River’s / Loom into one’ smacks of pleasing oneself. There is the earlier poem ‘Without a loom / Are brocade’,[2] too. The way in which this poem is constructed is charming, but these features are difficult to ignore, so thus the Left should win, I think.

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[1] The poem is Kokinshū V: 283, with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’. It is officially anonymous, but is accompanied by an endnote stating ‘It is said by some that this poem was composed by the Nara Emperor.’

[2] Topic unknown. から衣たつたの山のもみぢばははた物もなき錦なりけり karakoromo / Tatsuta no yama no / momijiba wa / hatamono mo naki / nishiki narikeri ‘A Cathay robe— / Tatsuta Mountain’s / Scarlet leaves, / Without a loom / Are brocade.’ Anonymous (GSS VII: 386)