Tag Archives: aware

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 53

Round Three

Left (Tie)

あはれとやかみもおもはむすみのえのふかくたのみをかくるみなれば

aware to ya
kami mo omowamu
suminoe no
fukaku tanomi o
kakuru mi nareba
‘How sad,’ does
The God, too, think?
For at Suminoe
Deep in devotions
Am I entangled…

Lord Tsunemori
105

Right

たのみつるこのひとむらの人ごとにちとせをゆづれすみよしのまつ

tanomitsuru
kono hitomura no
hito goto ni
chitose o yuzure
sumiyoshi no matsu
Devoted are
This group of folk, so
To each and every one
Grant a thousand years,
O, pines of Sumiyoshi!

Lord Yorisuke
106

The poem of the Left, saying ‘deep in devotions’ and suchlike, is pleasant, I have to say. Does the poem of the Right’s ‘this group of folk’ refer to the current poets or to the speaker’s own household? Well, whichever it is, the conception of devotion does not appear to be slight, but again I say this is a tie.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 50

Round Twenty-Five

Left

うちしぐれものさびしかるあしのやのこやのねざめにみやここひしも

uchishigure
mono sabishikaru
ashi no ya no
koya no nezame ni
miyako koishi mo
A slight shower is
All the more lonely
In a reed-roofed
Hut in Koya, starting awake and
Longing for the capital more…

Lord Sanesada
99

Right

あはれにもよはにすぐなるしぐれかななれもやたびのそらにいでつる

aware ni mo
yowa ni sugu naru
shigure kana
nare mo ya tabi no
sora ni idetsuru
How sad is
At midnight a passing
Shower!
Have you, too, on a journey
Into the skies departed?

Lord Toshinari
100

The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning with ‘All the more lonely’ and concluding with ‘Longing for the capital more’, has already penetrated the boundaries of mystery and depth. It sounds particularly pleasant. The poem of the Right is the judge’s own meagre work. Thus, in accordance with precedent I shall refrain from rendering a judgement.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 35

Round Ten

Left (Tie)

くさまくらしぐれもそでをぬらしけりみやこをこふるなみだならねど

kusamakura
shigure mo sode o
nurashikeri
miyako o kouru
namida naranedo
On a pillow of grass
The showers, too, my sleeves
Have soaked;
Longing for the capital
These tears are not, yet…

Hiromori
69

Right

かりいほさすならのからはのむらしぐれあはれはまきのおとばかりかは

kari’io sasu
nara no karawa no
murashigure
aware wa maki no
oto bakari ka wa
Erecting a crude hut,
The withered leaves of oak are
Struck by cloudbursts;
Does sadness in the evergreens’
Sound solely lie?

Dharma Master Chikyō
70

Both Left and Right appear to have elegant configuration and diction, but the Left seems to presents the soaking of sleeves by showers as something novel, while the Right gives a feeling that it is only the sound of evergreens that makes one sad. Thus, these tie.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 34

Round Nine

Left (Win)

うらさむくしぐるるよはのたびごろもきしのはにふにいたくにほひぬ

ura samuku
shigururu yowa no
tabigoromo
kishi no hanyū ni
itaku nioinu
The bay is cold with
Midnight showers, as
My traveller’s robe
With the shore’s ochre clay
Is deeply stained.

Taifu
67

Right

おもへただみやこのうちのねざめだにしぐるるそらはあはれならずや

omoe tada
miyako no uchi no
nezame dani
shigururu sora wa
aware narazu ya
Simply think of me, when
Within the capital
You start from sleep—
A showery sky is
Sad, isn’t it?

Sadanaga
68

While configuration of the Left’s poem, saying ‘With the shore’s ochre clay / Is deeply stained’ feels crude, it does appear to be in the style of the Myriad Leaves. As for the Right’s poem, its conception is good, but starting, ‘Simply think of me’ begs the question of who this is said to. Such diction is used in poetry exchanges or love poems, in particular. The Left’s poem is most likely superior.

GSS XVIII: 1271

Composed when I was at a certain place and telling tales with sundry others before a lady’s curtains and heard a woman’s voice – one of her attendants, no doubt – say, ‘He seems to be strangely knowledgeable about matters of the heart for such an old man!’

あはれてふ事にしるしはなけれどもいはではえこそあらぬ物なれ

aFare teFu
koto ni sirusi Fa
nakeredomo
iFade Fa e koso
aranu mono nare
Of sensitivity
Surface signs
Are their none, yet
Saying nothing, indeed, is
What makes it plain!

Tsurayuki

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 22

Round Ten

Left (Tie)

夜もすがら妻こふるまにさをしかのめさへあはでや鳴きあかすらん

yomosugara
tsuma kouru ma ni
saoshika no
me sae awade ya
naki’akasuran
All night long,
Yearning for his mate,
Does the stag
Fail to close his eyes,
Belling until the dawn?

Mikawa
43

Right

独のみみねのをしかのなくこゑにあはれ吹きそふ風の音かな

hitori nomi
mine no oshika no
naku koe ni
aware fukisou
kaze no oto kana
A single, solitary,
Stag from the peak
Belling out
Laces sadness into the gusting
Sound of the wind!

Kojijū
44

The Left’s ‘fail to close his eyes’ is a commonly utilised viewpoint, while the Right’s ‘lacing sadness into the gusts’ is unsatisfactory—simply ‘laced’ would be preferable. Nevertheless, neither of these are particularly significant faults, so these should tie.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 08

Round Eight

Left (Tie)

うづら鳴く遠里小野の小萩はら心なき身も過ぎうかりけり

uzura naku
tōsato ono no
kohagiwara
kokoronaki mi mo
sugi’ukarikeri
Quails cry from
Tōsato plain’s
Bush-clover groves—
Even one as insensitive as I
Finds it hard to pass them by.

Kenshō Sukenokimi
15

Right

あきの野の花に心をそめしよりくさかやひめもあはれとぞ思ふ

aki no no no
hana ni kokoro o
someshi yori
kusakayahime mo
aware to zo omou
Since the autumn meadows’
Blooms my heart
Did fill, for
Kusakayahime
Fondness, I feel!

Tōren
16

As for the Left, if one is composing about bush-clover groves, then I would want the poem to mention Miyagi Plain. As for the Right’s Kusakayahime, I wondered if she appeared in the Chronicles of Japan, but in that work you have Izanagi-no-miko and Izanami-no-miko, who wed and create the first land, Akitsushima, and then many provinces, mountains, rivers and seas and thus trees and plants, too. It further states that the primordial tree was Kukunochi and the primordial plant was Kayanohime. The conception of the Right’s poem does not differ from this, yet it continues to mention Kusakayahime, which is unclear. I get the feeling that this poem was composed with the works composed for the banquet held for the completion of the Chronicles of Japan in mind, which refer to each and every spring and the ancient Kayanohime, but even these poems did not differ in conception from that of the main work. It’s impossible to pick a loser or winner.

SZS XVI: 1026

I had asked that Master of Discipline Kōkaku be accorded the honour of the role of reader at the ceremony for the recitation of the Vimalakīrti nirdeśa Sutra, and when he was constantly passed over, had complained to the Hosshōji Lay Priest and former Palace Minister; even though he mentioned ‘Shimeji plain’, the following year Kōkaku was once more passed over, so I composed this and sent it to him.

契りおきしさせもが露をいのちにてあはれことしの秋もいぬめり

tigiri okisi
sasemo ga tuyu wo
inoti nite
aFare kotosi no
aki mo inumeri
A promise dropped, as
Dewfall on the mugwort—
Such is life, so
Miserable, this year’s
Autumn must arrive.

Fujiwara no Mototoshi

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.