Mulberry Blossom
わだつみをこぎゆくふねのかぢのきのはなとはさらになみぞたちける
| wadatsumi o kogiyuku fune no kaji no ki no hana to wa sara ni nami zo tachikeru | Across the broad main, Rowing, goes a boat with Oars of mulberry Blossom, still In waves arising. |
11
Tag Archives: boat
Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 26
Round Two
Left (Win)
松浦ぶねあかしのしほに漕ぎとめよこよひの月はここにてをみむ
| matsurabune akashi no shio ni kogitomeyo koyoi no tsuki wa koko nite o mimu | O, boat from Matsura, Upon the tides of Akashi, Halt your rowing! For tonight, the moon I would gaze upon from there… |
Lord Tsunemori
51
Right
月影のさえゆくままにおく霜をおもひもあへず鐘やなるらん
| tsukikage no saeyuku mama ni oku shimo o omoi mo aezu kane ya naruran | While the moonlight Is so chill, Is it of the falling frost Quite heedless that The bells are tolling? |
Tōren
52
I wonder if the Right’s conception is that of the bells of Fengling? It appears to be said of them that they ‘rang of their own accord when frost fell’, or something like that. Hence, in the Cathay-style poem with the topic ‘the autumn moon seeming to be frost at night’ there is also the line ‘wouldn’t you have it make the Fengling bells ring out together?’ Here, our moonlight is being thought to be frost, and the bells are tolling in response to it. But, as bells are inanimate objects, it does not seem feasible to think that they would toll upon seeing frost. Thus, saying that they would view the moonlight as frost and heedlessly toll, is odd, I have to say. As for the Left, while there is no clear reason for the initial line, the remainder seems reasonable, and so I feel this should win.
Kinkai wakashū 102
SKKS XI: 1072
When His Majesty’s gentlemen were composing poems on love and the wind, during the reign of former emperor Toba.
おひかぜに八重のしほぢをこぐ舟のほのかにだにもあひみてしかな
| oikaze ni yae no shioji o kogu fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshi kana | The pursuing wind Tracks ‘cross eightfold tidal paths To reach the boat a’rowing out, Its sails, so distant, but Even a glimpse of you would do! |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Morotoki
SKKS IX: 883
When Cloistered Prince Shukaku ordered him to compose a fifty poem sequence.
たれとしもしらぬ別のかなしきはまつらがおきをいづるふな人
| tare to shimo shiranu wakare no kanashiki wa matsura ga oki o izuru funabito | Who that is I know not, but parting’s Sadness strikes On the offing at Matsura where He departs on his boat… |
Lord Fujiwara no Takanobu
Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 17
Left (Tie)
あふことのいまはかたほになるふねのかざままつ身はよるかたもなし
| au koto no ima wa katao ni naru fune no kazama matsu mi wa yoru kata mo nashi | Meeting you has made me Now a reef-sailed Boat Awaiting the wind, with No course to set. |
33
Right
ねでまちしはつかのつきのはつかにもあひみしことをいつかわすれむ
| nede machishi hatsuka no tsuki no hatsuka ni mo aimishi koto o itsuka wasuremu | Sleepless I awaited The twentieth night’s moon, when In the dimness We did meet— When might I forget it? |
34
SKKS XVII: 1595
Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Autumn
Autumn
Left
秋の夜の有明にみれど久堅の月のかつらはうつろはぬかな
| aki no yo no ariake ni miredo hisakata no tsuki no katsura wa utsurouwanu kana | An autumn night’s Dawn I see, yet The eternal Moon’s silver trees Show no sign of fading! |
13
秋萩の花咲く比の白露は下ばのためとわきて置くべし
| aki hagi no hana saku koro no shiratsuyu wa shitaba no tame to wakite okubeshi | In autumn, the bush clover Flowers bloom—just then Silver dewdrops For the under-leaves Do fall, marking every one. |
14
秋風はいなばもそよとふきつめりかりみる程と成りやしぬらん
| akikaze wa inaba mo soyo to fukitsumeri kari miru hodo to nari ya shinuran | The autumn breeze Seems to rustle the rice stalks As it blows; Seeing if ‘tis time to reap them— Is that what it is, I wonder? |
15
Right
銀河とわたる舟は花薄ほにいづるほどぞかげもみゆべき
| ama no kawa towataru fune wa hanasusuki ho ni izuru hodo zo kage mo miyubeki | Across the River of Heaven A boat goes ferrying: When the silver grass Ears burst into bloom, Can its shape be seen. |
16
女郎花さがの花をば色ながら秋をさかりといはれずもがな
| ominaeshi saga no hana oba iro nagara aki o sakari to iwarezu mogana | Maidenflowers: Blossoms from Saga Reveal their hues, and In autumn are most fine—that Goes without saying! |
17
小男鹿の朝たつ霧にうりふ山嶺の梢は色こかりけり
| saoshika no asa tatsu kiri ni urifuyama mine no kozue wa iro kokarikeri | Stags Within the rising morning mist on Urifu Moutain, where The treetops on the peak Have taken darker hues. |
18
Love X: 4
Left (Tie)
舟のうちにさしも浮きたる契までうらやむ程のえにこそ有けれ
| fune no uchi ni sashimo ukitaru chigiri made urayamu hodo no e ni koso arikere | Within a boat Such a brief Bond is formed; yet Do I envy it, I really do! |
Lord Ari’ie
1147
Right
その人と分きて待つらん妻よりもあはれは深き浪の上哉
| sono hito to wakite matsuran tsuma yori mo aware wa fukaki nami no ue kana | There is her, and My waiting Wife: Far fonder am I Upon the waves! |
Nobusada
1148
Left and Right state: neither has any fault.
In judgement: the configuration and diction of both poems sounds pleasant. I must make this a tie.
Love X: 3
Left
うき舟に一夜ばかりの契だになどありがたき我身なるらむ
| ukifune ni hitoyo bakari no chigiri dani nado arigataki wa ga mi naruramu | In a drifting boat A single night’s Brief bond – even that: Why so rarely Do I get it? |
Lord Suetsune
1145
Right (Win)
誰となきうき寢を忍ぶ海人の子も思へば淺き恨み也けり
| tare to naki ukine o shinobu ama no ko mo omoeba asaki urami narikeri | Knowing not with whom She’ll briefly sleep, and regret Is my diving girl: But considering, little Will it trouble her! |
Ietaka
1146
The Right state: ‘drifting boat’ (ukifune) fails to link properly with ‘single night’ (hitoyo). The Left state: although ‘diving girl’ (ama no ko) is used in the source poem in the section on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, we wonder about the appropriateness of simply using it to mean pleasure girl.
In judgement: there is no need to critique whether or not ‘drifting boat’ links with ‘single night’. In the final section ‘why so rarely’ (nado arigataki), though, makes me wonder why this should be the case! On the matter of the Right’s use of ‘diving girl’, our predecessors, including Lord Kintō, have provided poems on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, and who, indeed, would not utilize this? Furthermore, ‘knowing not with whom she’ll briefly sleep, and regret’ (tare to naki ukine o shinobu) certainly sounds like a pleasure girl! Thus, the Right must win over a pleasure girl finding it hard to get custom.