Groves 原
あさぢふの露にうはげやそほつらんあしたの原にうづら鳴くなり
| asajū no tsuyu ni uwage ya sōtsuran ashita no hara ni uzura nakunari | Is the cogon grass By dew upon its upper fronds So soaked? This morn among the groves The quail are crying. |
Kanemasa
Tag Archives: cogon grass
Love VIII: 22
Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき
| karakuni no tora fusu nobe ni iru yori mo madou koiji no sue zo ayauki |
In far Cathay are Meadows where tigers lie, But rather than entering there, The confusing paths of love Are, at the end, more dangerous… |
Lord Ari’ie
1063
Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず
| wa ga yado wa hito mo kareno no asajiwara kayoishi koma no ato mo todomezu |
At my home Is only a withered field Of cogon grass; The mount who once did cross it Has left no lingering tracks… |
Ietaka
1064
The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.
Love VIII: 5
Left
人待ちし庭の淺茅生茂りあひて心にならす道芝の露
| hito machishi niwa no asajū shigeriaite kokoro ni narasu michishiba no tsuyu |
Awaiting him, The cogon-grass in my garden Has grown lush, indeed; And I have taken to my heart The dew that falls upon my lawn! |
A Servant Girl
1029
Right (Win)
秋風になびく淺茅の色よりもかはるは人の心なりけり
| akikaze ni nabiku asaji no iro yori mo kawaru wa hito no kokoro narikeri |
With the autumn wind Waves the cogon grass, Colours Changing less than her Heart’s passions… |
Ietaka
1030
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the intial part of the Right’s poem is derived from an old poem, and so does the end!
In judgement: I wonder whether the cogon-grass (asajū), mentioned initially, is as clearly conceived as the ‘lawn’ (michishiba) mentioned at the end? The Right’s poem refers to ‘So full are my thoughts, what am I to do? With the autumn wind’, but reverses the beginning and end of that poem; it is extremely old-fashioned in style, but pleasant as it is plainly intended to be understood as a variant of its model. Thus, the Right wins over the combination of ‘cogon-grass’ and ‘lawn’.
GSIS IV: 270
Composed for a picture based on the Song of Everlasting Woe, for the scene where Xuanzong had returned home and the emperor was depicted weeping with insects calling from the withered cogon grass all around him.
ふるさとは浅茅が原と荒れはてて夜すがら虫の音をのみぞ鳴く
| Furusato Fa asadi ga Fara to areFatete yosugara musi no ne nomi zo naku |
My old home With cogon grass is Entirely overgrown; All night the insects Simply let forth their cries… |
Dōmei
道命
MYS VII: 1342
Composed on grass.
山高み夕日隠りぬ浅茅原後見むために標結はましを
| yama dakami yupupi kakurinu asadipara noti mimu tame ni sime yupamasi wo |
The mountains’ heights Have hid the setting sun; This field of cogon-grass: To gaze upon once more, I should have bound it round with sacred cords… |
Anonymous
KKS XIV: 725
Topic unknown.
思ふよりいかにせよとか秋風になびく浅茅の色ことになる
| omoFu yori ika ni seyo to ka akikaze ni nabiku asadi no iro koto ni naru |
So full are my thoughts What am I to do? With the autumn wind Waves the cogon grass – Colours – and passions – changing… |
Anonymous
MYS VIII: 1460
戯奴がため我が手もすまに春の野に抜ける茅花そ召して肥えませ
| wake ga tame a ga te mo suma ni paru no no ni tubana so mesite koemase |
Young man For you my hands have been ceaseless In the fields at springtime; Eat these ears of cogon grass And put some weight on! |
Lady Ki
紀郎女
tubana nuku
茅花抜く浅茅が原もおいにけり白綿引ける野辺と見るまで
| tubana nuku asadi ga Fara mo oFinikeri sirowata Fikeru nobe to miru made |
Ears thrusting The cogon grass fields Have grown; White cotton drawn Across the plains, it seems. |
Sone no Yoshitada
曾禰好忠
Love III: 25
Left (Win).
末までといひしばかりに浅茅原宿も我名も朽や果てなん
| sue made to iishi bakari ni asajibara yado mo wa ga na mo kuchi ya hatenan |
‘Until the very end,’ You simply said, but A field of cogon grass Surrounds my house; my name, too, Will it wither away…? |
A Servant Girl
769
Right.
斧の柄も年経る程は知る物をなど我恋の朽つる世もなき
| ono no e mo toshi heru hodo wa shiru mono o nado wa ga koi no kutsuru yo mo naki |
Even my axe handle, Endures through the passing years, I know it, but Why is it that this love Does not rot from this world? |
Jakuren
770
Neither poem has any errors.
In judgement: ‘My house; my name, too’ (yado mo wa ga na mo) sounds better than ‘Why is it that this love’ (nado wa ga koi). The Left wins.
Autumn III: 22
Left.
蟲の音の弱るもしるく淺茅生に今朝は寒けくはだれ霜降る
| mushi no ne no yowaru mo shiruku asajū ni kesa wa samukeku hadare shimo furu |
The insects’ cries Have plainly weakened; Cogon grass, where On this chilly morning Patchy frost has fallen. |
463
Right.
思ふより又あはれは重ねけり露に霜置く庭の蓬生
| omou yori mata aware wa kasanekeri tsuyu ni shimo oku niwa no yomogyū |
I feel Yet more sadness Laid upon me: Upon the dew has frost fallen In my tangled mugwort garden… |
464
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem. The Left wonder about the appropriateness of ‘upon the dew has frost fallen’ (tsuyu ni shimo oku).
The Right respond, ‘This refers to when frost falls upon something where dew has already fallen.’ In reply, the Left say, ‘Surely, it is when both of them fall together. We do wonder about frost falling on top of dew.’
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s poem has an unclear link between its initial and final sections. On the matter of the Right’s ‘frosty dew’, this has the same sense as in the Right’s poem in the previous round. The dew has frozen into frost, surely? However, as the Left’s poem is not worthy of a victory, the round must tie.