Round Thirty-Three
Left (Tie)
人数にあらずなるみのうらに又老の浪さへよるぞかなしき
| hito kazu ni arazu narumi no ura ni mata oi no nami sae yoru zo kanashiki | Numbered among proper folk I am not, as at Narumi Bay, yet again do cruel Waves of age Break—so sad! |
Lord Kinshige
65
Right
うきながらなほをしまるる命かな後の世とてもたのみなければ
| ukinagara nao oshimaruru inochi kana nochi no yo tote mo tanominakereba | In constant suffering Still do I regret This life! For even in the world to come Can I place no trust… |
Moromitsu
66
Neither has any parts I can’t understand.
Composed to accompany a picture on a folding screen of a traveller at the Bay of Tako, picking wisteria blooms.
たこのうらの岸の藤なみ立ちかへりをらではゆかじ袖はぬるとも
| tako no ura no kishi no fujinami tachikaeri orade wa yukaji sode wa nuru tomo | At the Bay of Tako Upon the shore wisteria waves Break, returning Never would I go without picking them Though it wet my sleeves. |
Round Seven
Left (Tie)
けさはまたそれともみえず淡路島霞のしたに浦風ぞ吹く
| kesa wa mata sore tomo miezu awajishima kasumi no shita ni urakaze zo fuku | This morning, once again, I cannot that clearly see Awaji Isle, but Beneath the haze The winds are blowing o’er the beach! |
Chikanari, Ranked without Office
13
Right
春霞なびく朝けの塩風にあらぬけぶりや浦に立つらん
| harugasumi nabiku asake no shiokaze ni aranu keburi ya ura ni tatsuran | Spring haze Trails over with the morn— Salt-fire breezes It is not, yet does smoke Seem to rise across the bay? |
Ie’kiyo, Ranked without Office
14
Both Left and Right don’t seem bad. I make them a tie.
Round Two
Left (Tie)
大はらやをしほの里の朝霞ゆききになれし春ぞ忘れぬ
| ōhara ya oshio no sato no asagasumi yukiki ni nareshi haru zo wasurenu | In Ōhara At Oshio estate among The morning haze Accustomed to go back and forth, Never will I forget that springtime! |
The Former Minister of the Centre
3
Right
浦人のしほやく里のあさ霞春の物とやわかでみるらん
| urabito no shio yaku sato no asagasumi haru no mono to ya wakade miruran | Folk dwelling by the bay Roasting salt in their village: The morning haze From a scene in spring ‘tis Hard to distinguish, is it not?[1] |
Kozaishō
4
The Left’s poem composes ‘Oshio estate among the morning haze accustomed to go back and forth’ and, in addition to seeming to have some feeling in it, displays fine configuration and diction, while the Right’s poem ‘From as scene in spring ‘tis hard to distinguish, is it not?’ recollects Narihira’s poem ‘a scene from spring: ever-falling rain to gaze upon all day’ and has a gentle air about it, so both are difficult to distinguish from each other. I make this a tie.
[1] An allusive variation on KKS XIII: 616.
Morning Haze
Round One
Left (Tie)
しほがまの浦のひがたのあけぼのに霞にのこる浮島の松
| shiogama no ura no higata no akebono ni kasumi ni nokoru ukishima no matsu | At Shiogama Bay uponn the tide-sands With the dawn Lingering in the haze are The pines on Ukishima. |
A Court Lady
1
Right
春の夜の朧月夜の名残とや出づる朝日も猶かすむらん
| haru no yo no oborozukiyo no nagori to ya izuru asahi mo nao kasumuran | A spring night’s Misty moon— Does it leave a keepsake in The rising sun Yet seeming hazed? |
Ietaka, Junior Second Rank
2
Generally, for the judging of poetry, one chooses people who have been permitted to take this Way, who can distinguish the good from the bad among the reeds of Naniwa Bay and plumb the depths and shallows of the sea. And now I do so, when I have passed through the mulberry gate, but have no time for the Three Tiers and Nine Levels of Rebirth, or even for dipping into Tomi stream, and have but distantly heard the waves of Waka Bay these past sixteen springtimes, though I was wont, in the ancient blossom-filled capital, to string together a mere thirty-one syllables from time to time.
Though now I do not divert myself with this Way, Ietaka of the Junior Second Rank is a long-standing officer of the Poetry Office and a compiler of the New Ancient and Modern collection. His dewdrop life of almost eighty has begun to vanish now with the wind on Adashi Plain, but I thought to converse with him and just this once, debate over his deeply considered words and compare the configuration of his works. Thus, through the jewelled missives we exchanged, I had him assemble poems on ten topics by those from whom I am not estranged and write them down in pairs.
The numbers of such folk were not great, and among them are those who have only recently begun to have an interest in the learning the Six Principles. That the words of Shinobu’s sacred groves would be scattered by the wind and encounter hindrances here and there, I had thought, but in the end, I paid no heed to folk’s criticisms in order to avoid barriers on the path to rebirth. Among these, I match my own foolish compositions with those of Ietaka—it may not be an appropriate thing to do for the Way, but given our association, as ancient as Furu in Isonokami, I have done this out of special consideration for him.
Nevertheless, long ago I perused the poems of the Eight Anthologies from time to time, and they certainly have some spectacle about them, but yet many are now unclear. Indeed, among the poems of folk of modern times, over the past ten years I have not heard of even a single poem, for all that they are composed the same way, that it is possible to view as outstanding. Not only that, but as I approach my sixties and descend into my dotage, the signs of my own foolishness become increasingly apparent.
The first poem of the Left often wins, yet this has nothing remarkable about it. The Right’s poem, on the morning following a misty moonlit night, has a true link with the morning haze, and the sequencing of its diction and configuration are particularly charming. Nevertheless, the Left’s poem in the first round is in accordance with the matter, and I am thus not able to pick a winner or loser.
Topic unknown.
たごのうらにうち出でてみればしろたへのふじのたかねに雪はふりつつ
| tago no ura ni uchi’idete mireba shirotae no fuji no takane ni yuki wa furitsutsu | From the bay at Tago I see, when gazing out, White as mulberry cloth On the heights of Fuji’s peak— The snow is ever falling. |
Akahito
On the autumn moon by the sea, for the poetry match held at the Poetry Office on the night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month.
わすれじな難波の秋の夜半の空ことうらにすむ月はみるとも
| wasureji na naniwa no aki no yowa no sora koto’ura ni sumu tsuki wa miru tomo | Never would I forget Naniwa’s autumn Midnight skies, though Clear above another distant bay The moon I see… |
Gishūmon’in no Tango
Left (Tie)
ひとのうへとおもひしものをわがこひになしてやきみがただにやみぬる
| hito no ue to omoishi mono o wa ga koi ni nashite ya kimi ga tada ni ya minuru | Upon me The coals of passion have lain, yet After my love has been So clear, why, my lady Do you seem so calm? |
Mitsune
55
Right
あしまよふなにはのうらにひくふねのつなでながくもこひわたるかな
| ashi mayou naniwa no ura ni hiku fune no tsunade nagaku mo koi wataru kana | Lost among the reeds Of Naniwa Bay, Pulling a boat with Tug-ropes stretching long As my love endures! |
56
