The end of the year[i]
塵をだにすゑじとや思ふ行く年の跡なき庭をはらふ松風
| chiri o dani sueji to ya omou yuku toshi no ato naki niwa o harau matsukaze | Will the dust Not even linger, I wonder; The departing year Leaves no footprints in my garden Swept by the wind from off the pines. |
398
My reply:
ぬししれと引きける駒の雪を分けばかしこき跡にかへれとぞ思ふ
| nushi shire to hikikeru koma no yuki o wakeba kashikoki ato ni kaere to zo omou | ‘Know your master!’ Following such a mount Forged through the snow did you, then In his fine footsteps Returned home, I feel! |
387
I wrote this myself and sent it with Naitō Tomochika, Secretary of the Bureau of Horses, having selected him as a trustworthy individual.
Round Thirteen
Left (Tie)
われもいかでよにながらへてすみよしのまつのちとせのゆくすゑもみむ
| ware mo ikade yo ni nagaraete sumiyoshi no matsu no chitose no yukusue mo mimu | Somehow, I, too, Would endure in this world, that Sumiyoshi’s Pine’s thousand years End I would see! |
Masahira
125
Right
たとへけむなみはわがみにあらはれぬこぎゆくふねのあとはほかかは
| tatoekemu nami wa wagami ni arawarenu kogiyuku fune no ato wa hoka ka wa | Might I compare The waves, which on my sorry self Have made their mark, with A boat rowing out, leaving A wake, or if not that then what? [1] |
Chikashige
126
The Left seems to be imagining something very unrealistic. The Right has the poem ‘To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking’ in mind, and appears to have the charming conception of sorrowing over the face of Grand Duke Jiang appearing in the waves on the Wei River, but ‘if not that then what?’ sounds a bit overblown. With that being said, the Left feels like a plea for good fortune, and the Right evokes impermanence. The matters are only distantly connected, and thus in terms of faults and merits they are equal.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 世の中をなににたとへむあさぼらけこぎゆく舟のあとのしら浪 yo no naka o / nani ni tatoemu / asaborake / kogiyuku fune no / ato no shiranami ‘This mundane world: / To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking, / A boat rows out / Whitecaps in its wake.’ Novice Mansei (SIS XX: 1327)
Round Thirty-Five
Left
われが身はさそふ水まつ浮草のあとたえぬとも誰かたづねん
| ware ga mi wa sasou mizu matsu ukigusa no ato taenu to mo tare ka tazunen | O, my sorry self— Pining for the water’s invitation A hapless waterweed, am I; And even should my tracks end here, Is there any who would seek me still? |
Masashige
69
Right
うきながら今はとなればをしき身をこころのままにいとひつるかな
| ukinagara ima wa to nareba oshiki mi o kokoro no mama ni itoitsuru kana | Deep in depression Should now be my time, ‘Twould be that my sad self, In my heart of hearts, I did despise! |
Lord Kiyosuke
70
Both are straightforwardly charming.
Round Twelve
Left
うつり行く花の下道跡もなしながめも白き春の山風
| utsuriyuku hana no shita michi ato mo nashi nagame mo shiroki haru no yamakaze | The shifting Blossom on the paths beneath Leaves no footprints there; My gaze with whiteness filled By spring’s breezes in the mountains. |
Dōchin
23
Right (Win)
身にかへておもふもくるし桜花さかぬみ山に宿もとめてん
| mi ni kaete omou mo kurushi sakurabana sakanu miyama ni yado mo tometen | It should be me instead, I think, but even that brings pain; Where cherry blossoms Fail to bloom, deep within the mountains Should I make my home. |
Dharma Master Nyokan
24
The Left’s poem does not sound poor, but has ‘gaze with whiteness’—a long time ago, Lay Priest Toshinari repeatedly said that it is not appropriate to compose about looking at something specific using ‘gaze’. The initial and concluding section of the Right’s poem sound fine—it should win.
Composed on the conception of the beginning of spring, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
雪ふかきいはのかけみち跡たゆるよしののさとも春はきにけり
| yuki Fukaki iFa no kakemiti ato tayuru yosino no sato mo Faru Fa kinikeri | Where snow lay deep Across the rocks, upon the path of boards, Footprints are fading— At the Yoshino estate Spring has arrived! |
Taikenmon’in no Horikawa
He composed this, thinking of when his father Lord Yoshifumi had was in Tamazushima and composed:
和歌の浦に名をとどめけるゆゑあらば道しるべせよ玉津島姫
waka no ura ni / na o todomekeru / yue araba / michishirube seyo / tamazushima-hime
‘Upon the Bay of Waka / To leave my name— / If only there was a way, then / I would have you guide me, / O Princess of Tamazushima!’
尋行く和歌のうら路のはま千鳥跡ある方に道しるべせよ
| tazuneyuku waka no uraji no hamachidori ato aru kata ni michishirube seyo | Coming to pay a visit To the ways of Waka Bay, O, plovers on the beach, How to follow in your footsteps I would have you guide me! |
Lord Ki no Yoshito
紀淑氏朝臣
On making a pilgrimage to the Hōrin Temple, he went there and composed this, before the grave of Major Counsellor Toshi’ie in Sagano.
さらでだに露けきさがの野べにきて昔のあとにしをれぬるかな
| sarade dani tsuyukeki saga no nobe ni kite mukashi no ato ni shiorenuru kana | Even had I not to Dew-drenched Saga’s Meadows come, The remnants of bygone days Would leave me drenched! |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Toshitada
