Brushwood
時雨つつふく山かぜに椎しばの枝はなびけど色はかはらず
| shiguretsutsu fuku yama kaze ni shiishiba no eda wa nabikedo iro wa kawarazu | Showers mixed with Gusting mountain winds The brushwood Branches bend down yet They show no change of hue. |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
Tag Archives: brushwood
Eikyū hyakushu 375
Eikyū hyakushu 374
Eikyū hyakushu 373
Eikyū hyakushu 372
SIS XIX: 1230
Eikyū hyakushu 337
MYS XII: 3048
Winter II: 18
Left.
椎柴は冬こそ人に知られけれ言問ふ霰殘す木枯
| shiishba wa fuyu koso hito ni shirarekere koto tou arare nokosu kogarashi |
The brushwood, That ‘tis winter to folk Does tell; Hail raising cries from leave Left by the freezing winds. |
575
Right (Win).
深山邊を夕越え來れば椎柴の末葉に傳ふ玉霰哉
| fukayamabe yū koekureba shiishiba no ureba ni tsutau tama arare kana |
Just on the edge of mountain deeps, When evening has passed by, The brushwood’s Leaf-tips display Gemstone hail! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
576
The Right state that the final section of the Left’s poem is ‘fierce’ [arashi]. The Left state that the Right’s ‘gemstone hail’ (tama arare) ‘sounds poor’ [kikiyokarazu].
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have stated that the final section of the Left’s poem is ‘fierce’ – how can they say this? I would say that it appears perfectly pleasant [yoroshiku koso miehabere, ikaga]. However, the Right’s ‘when evening has passed by’ (yū koekureba) and ‘leaf-tips’ (ureba) seem a rather overblown style to me [kotogotoshiki fūtei ni miehaberi]. ‘Gemstone’ (tama), though, in addition to being a word used to praise something, is used in conjunction with ‘hail’, in ‘the echoes are chill as pearls falling one by one from a dragon’s jaw’ . There is nothing to criticise about it. Thus, the Right should win.
Winter II: 17
Left.
落ち積もる朽葉も下に無かりけり色も變らぬ嶺の椎柴
| ochitsumoru kuchiba mo shita ni nakarikeri iro mo kawaranu mine no shiishiba |
Fallen, piled Leaves underfoot Are there none; Unchanging are the hues Of brushwood on the peak. |
573
Right.
椎柴のしばしと思し世の中の四十の冬に成りけるかな
| shiishiba no shibashi to omoishi yo no naka no yosoji no fuyu ni narikeru kana |
To brushwood Briefly turned my thoughts Within this sad world Forty winters Have I reached. |
574
The Right can find nothing to criticise in the Left’s poem. The Left say, ‘This is a personal lament, as in the previous round.’
Shunzei’s judgement: ‘The Left’s poem sounds like a congratulatory poem (shūgen) without being one, and its diction and overall conception are splendid [sugata kotoba yoroshiku]. With regard to the Right’s poem, while it is true that one does not normally compose personal laments for poetry competitions [jukkai wa uta’awase ni uchimakasenu koto], it is not the case that there are absolutely no examples of this. While it is true that I find the diction and overall conception of the poem difficult to grasp [uta no sugata kotoba koso nanigoto to wa kokoroezu nagara], it sounds tasteful [yū ni kikoete], and it’s difficult to declare a winner this round. I must make it a tie.’