Tag Archives: bed

Love IV: 25

Left.
拂ひつる夜床は咎もなき物を來ぬ人ゆへにうとく成ぬる

haraitsuru
yodoko wa toga mo
naki mono o
konu hito yue ni
utoku narinuru
I swept clean
My bed tonight, and faults
Has it none, but
Because he has failed to come
I hate it now!

Kenshō.
829

Right.
戀かぬる我をばをきて誰にさは枕かはして妹が寢ぬらん

koi kanuru
ware o ba okite
tare ni sa wa
makura kawashite
imo ga nenuran
Unable to bear this love
Am I, abandoned;
With whom, I wonder,
Does she swap pillows,
When my darling sleeps now?

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
830

The Right state: we wonder about the use of ‘faults’ (toga). The Left state: this style of poem is commonplace.

In judgement: both Left and Right are the same level, and there is no difference between them.

Love IV: 3

Left.
きぬぎぬにいまやならんのあらましに逢はぬ床さへ起きぞやられぬ

kinuginu ni
ima ya naran mo
aramashi ni
awanu toko sae
oki zo yararenu
The time to dress, and part
Is now and
So it must be,
Even from my lonely bed
I find I cannot rise…

Lord Suetsune.
785

Right.
明けぬとて別れし空の鐘の音は訪るゝさへ恨めしき哉

akenu tote
wakareshi sora no
kane no oto wa
otozururu sae
urameshiki kana
Dawn has come and
Our parting to the skies
The bells do sound;
That they have rung –
I hate it!

Ietaka.
786

Left and Right both have nothing particular to say.

In judgement: One would have no reason to force oneself from a ‘lonely bed’ (awanu toko) would one [shiite okubekarazu ya]? The Right’s ‘that they have rung’ (otozururu sae) sounds insufficient
[orokani kikoyu]. So, the round should tie.

Love I: 12

Left (Win).

忍つゝこの世盡きなば思ふこと苔の下にや共に朽なん

shinobitsutsu
kono yo tsukinaba
omou koto
koke no shita ni ya
tomo ni kuchinan
Continually concealing:
Should this world end, then
My love for you
Beneath the moss,
With me, would rot away…

Lord Ari’ie.

623

Right.

あくがるゝ心の誰が床に行てあやむばかりの夢に見ゆらん

akugaruru
kokoro no tare ga
toko ni yukite
ayamu bakari no
yume ni miyuran
Summoned
My heart to someone’s
Bed does go;
Simply a strange
Dream, would she see?

Lord Takanobu.

624

The Gentlemen of both Left and Right state: the final section of the other team’s poem is not bad.

Shunzei’s judgement: while I feel that the conception and diction of both poems seems fine [sugata kotoba yoroshiku miehaberu], the Right’s heart, flitting off to someone quite plainly, seems rather frivolous. The Left’s ‘beneath the moss’ (koke no shita ni ya) closely resembles the conception of the topic. It should win.

Winter II: 21

Left.

厚衾和やが下は思やる心のみこそ夜をかさぬらめ

atsubusuma
nagoyaka ga shita wa
omoiyaru
kokoro nomi koso
yo o kasanurame
My piled bedding is
Soft, and beneath it
I am lost in thought;
Only those feelings
Come to me night after night…

Kenshō.

581

Right (Win).

いたづらに明くる夜をのみ重ぬれば獨り衾の床ぞさびしき

itazura ni
akuru yo o nomi
kasanureba
hitori fusuma no
toko zo sabishiki
Pointless
Dawn breaks night
Time and again;
A single blanket on
My bed is sad, indeed…

Nobusada.

582

Neither Left nor Right has anything to say.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘piled bedding’ (atsubusuma) is similar in style to the poems of the previous round. The Right’s ‘single blanket’ (hitori fusuma) is a comparable piece of bedding, but the configuration of ‘pointless dawn breaks night’ (itazura ni akuru yo o nomi) is elegantly beautiful [sugata yūbi ni kikoyu]. Thus I make the Right the winner.

Autumn I: 23

Left (Win).

ひとり寢る葦の丸屋の下露に床を傡べて鶉鳴く也

hitori nuru
ashi no maruya no
shimo tsuyu ni
toko o narabete
uzura nakunari
Sleeping singly
In a reed-roofed hut,
Dripped with dew,
Beside my bed
The quails are crying.

A Servant Girl.

345

Right.

秋風に靡く尾花の夕露や鶉が閨の雨と散るらむ

akikaze ni
nabiku obana no
yūzuyu ya
uzura ga neya no
ame to chiruramu
In the autumn breeze
Flutter fronds of silvergrass,
Scattering dewdrops
On the quails’ roost –
How like rain…

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

346

The Right state that the Left’s poem has no faults. The Left state that, ‘“On the quails’ roost – how like rain” (uzura ga neya no ame) suggests that this is what it actually is.’

Shunzei disagrees: ‘It is not the case that uzura ga neya no ame definitely implies that it is actually rain, particularly with the scene set by dew on silvergrass. However, “beside my bed” (toko o narabete) is particularly attractive in expression. It should win.’

Love 61

Left (Tie).

今のまの我身にかぎる鳥のねを誰うきものと歸りそめけん

ima no ma no
wagami ni kagiru
tori no ne o
tare ukimono to
kaerisomeken
At this time
For me, alone,
The cock does crow,
Asking, ‘Who’s this sad soul?’
Starting out for home…

121

Right

忘れずはなれし袖もや氷覧ねぬ夜の床の霜の小莚

wasurezu wa
nareshi sode mo ya
kōruran
nenu yo no toko no
shimo no samushiro
If she has forgot-me-not,
Might those so familiar sleeves, as mine,
Be frozen?
A sleepless night abed,
Frost forming on my mat of straw…

122