New Year Archery
九重のうちにいるてふあづさ弓はるかに雲のほかにきくかな
| kokonoe no uchi ni iru chō azusayumi haruka ni kumo no hoka ni kiku kana | Within the ninefold Palace walls we are today; Catalpa bows – Other than the distant clouds Who might hear them! |
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Tag Archives: catalpa bows
Spring II: 3
Left (Win)
うちむれてなれぬる人の心をば野邊の霞もへだてやはせん
| uchimurete narenuru hito no kokoro o ba nobe no kasumi mo hedate ya wa sen |
To a gathering Of friendly folk With hearts all in accord, The haze across the fields Will be no hindrance, at all. |
65
Right.
梓弓春の日ぐらし引つれているさの原にまとゐをぞする
| azusayumi haru no higurashi hikitsurete irusa no hara ni matoi o zo suru |
A catalpa bow: Spring, all day long, Drawn out Upon Irusa Plain Let’s music make! |
66
The Right have nothing special to say about the Left’s poem, but the Left grumble that the Right’s seems to be more on the theme of bows, than ‘field pleasures’, and add that they ‘fail to understand’ the reason why Irusa Plain has been singled out, among all the plains in Japan.
Shunzei, however, says that this criticism is ‘completely unjustified’ and that the Right’s poem is ‘strictly in accord’ with the theme of ‘field pleasures’. He goes on to praise the use of association in the poem, with azusa yumi, ‘catalpa bow’, associating with haru (‘spring’, but also ‘draw (a bow)’), hiki (‘pull’), iru (‘shoot (a bow)’) and mato (‘target’). Moving on to the Left’s poem, he says that the final stanzas seem ‘particularly good’, and that it would ‘do a disservice’ to the composition of poetry if he awarded a victory based on association alone, so the Left’s poem must be the winner.
Spring I: 28
Left (Win).
もゝしきに引つらなれる梓弓はるも鞆音の珍しき哉
| momoshiki ni hikitsuranareru azusa yumi haru mo tomone no mezurashiki kana |
By the hundredfold palace Arrayed, Catalpa bows: Sprung in springtime, bowstring on bracer: How rare the sound! |
55
Right.
舎人子が鞆うち鳴らす梓弓射手引わたる春は來にけり
| toneriko ga tomo uchinarasu azusa yumi ite hikiwataru haru wa kinikeri |
The guardsmen lads’ Bracers sound; Catalpa bows, Drawn by archers: Springtime is here, indeed! |
56
Again, the Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem this round, but the Left say the initial line of the Right’s poem is ‘unsatisfactory’. Shunzei, once again, agrees, remarking that, ‘the initial line sounds like the name of the tree used when referring to adding water to an ink-stone. Again, the Left is the winner.’ What he means by this is that toneriko, ‘guardsmen lads’ was homophonous with the word for ‘ash tree’. The old Japanese extracted a wax from ash trees, which was used to ease the running of sliding doors and shutters, and so by association, toneriko was used in poetry to refer to adding water to an ink-stone so that the ink, produced in solid sticks, would slide over it more easily. This image is inappropriate for a poem about the New Year Archery festival, and so the poem is of inferior quality, compared to the Left’s offering.
Spring I: 27
Left (Win).
梓弓はるの雲居にひゞくまで鞆音にかよふ的の音かな
| azusa yumi haru no kumoi ni hibiku made tomone ni kayou mato no oto kana |
Catalpa bows In springtime round the cloud-borne palace Resound; Bowstring on bracer and Arrow on target – what a sound! |
53
Right.
梓弓まうけの箭にやひかるらんはてまでけふは當りぬる哉
| azusa yumi môke no ya ni ya hikaruran hate made kyô wa atarinuru kana |
Catalpa bows’ Spare arrows: will they Be drawn, I wonder? By this day’s end All will have struck the target… |
54
The Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem, but the Left state that the initial section of the Right’s poem is ‘prosaic [heikai]’. Shunzei agrees, saying that the term ‘spare arrows’ is ‘unsuitable diction for poetry’ [uta kotoba ni yoroshikarazaru] and so the Left’s poem must be adjudged the winner.