Composed when he presented a hundred poem sequence, during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.
山ざとはさびしかりけりこがらしのふく夕ぐれのひぐらしのこゑ
| yamazato Fa sabisikarikeri kogarasi no Fuku yuFugure no higurasi no kowe | A mountain retreat is Lonely, indeed; The biting wind Blows of an evening with The sundown cicadas’ cries. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
Insects
Left (Tie)
あきくればむしもやものをおもふらんこゑもをしまずねをもなくかな
| aki kureba mushi mo ya mono o omouran koe mo oshimazu ne mo naku kana | When the autumn comes, Do the insects, too, have gloomy Thoughts, I wonder? I’ll not regret their song at all As they cry on! |
His Majesty
11
Right
あきごとにとこめづらなるすずむしのふりてもふりぬこゑぞきこゆる
| akigoto ni tokomezuranaru suzumushi no furite mo furinu koe zo kikoyuru | Each and every autumn, Afresh The bell-crickets’ Aging in their aged Cries I hear. |
Lord Kintō
12
Monkeys 猿
さらぬだにおいては物のかなしきに夕のましら声なきかせそ
| saranu dani oite wa mono no kanashiki ni yū no mashira koe na kikase so | Not even leaving— Sunk in Sadness O, monkeys, this evening Let me not hear your cries! |
Daishin
Love Separated by Distant Roads 隔遠路恋
すくせかななどいなむやの関をしもへだてて人にねをなかすらん
| sukuse kana nado inamuya no seki o shimo hedatete hito ni ne o nakasuran | It must be fate! Why is it that with even Inamuya’s Barrier gate Between them, folk Must make such cries? |
Toshiyori
Mandarin Ducks 鴛鴦
冬さむみはだれしもふるさ夜なかにつがはぬをしの声ぞかなしき
| fuyu samumi hadareshimo furu sayonaka ni tsugawanu oshi no koe zo kanashiki | In winter’s chill A brush of frost does fall, At midnight, when The unmated mandarins’ Cries are sad, indeed! |
Tadafusa
Left (Win)
蟲の音も秋を限りと恨むなりたえぬ思やたぐひなるらん
| mushi no ne mo aki o kagiri to uramu nari taenu omoi ya tagui naruran |
The insects’ cries do Mark the bounds of autumn With despair; Are endless thoughts of love To be my only fellow? |
Lord Kanemune
1073
Right
夏蟲もうら山しきは秋の夜の露にはもえぬ思ひなりけり
| natsumushi mo urayamashiki wa aki no yo no tsuyu ni wa moenu omoi narikeri |
The fireflies are A source of envy, On an autumn night When dewfall damps down The fires of my passion… |
Ietaka
1074
The Gentlemen of the Right: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘dewfall damps down’ (tsuyu ni wa moenu).
In judgement: the Left’s poem has been stated to be without fault by the gentlemen present. In the Right’s poem, I wonder if saying, ‘dewfall damps down’ is meaning nothing burns in autumn? On the matter of using the term ‘summer insects’ (natsumushi) to refer to fireflies, I do wonder whether it is appropriate to imply with one’s composition that there are no such insects in autumn. Although in the Collection of Poems to Sing Aloud, fireflies occur in the Summer section, among the same collection’s Chinese poems there is ‘in the dark before dawn innumerable fireflies start from the autumn grasses’. Furthermore, in Pan Anren’s ‘Rhapsody on Autumn Inspirations’ he says, ‘Glittering fireflies shine by the palace gate, and crickets sing from the eaves of the fence’. Even though there are countless cases of Autumn fireflies, how can one have composed suggesting that there are not? Thus, the Left wins.
Left (Win)
ほかにまた待つ人あれや時鳥心長閑かに声の聞えぬ
| Foka ni mata matu Fito are ya Fototogisu kokoro nodoka ni kowe no kikoenu |
Is there any other who still Awaits as I, O, cuckoo? Heart at peace with Your song unheard… |
15
Right
二声と聞かでややまむ時鳥暁近くなりもしぬらむ
| Futakowe to kikade ya yamamu Fototogisu akatuki tikaku nari mo sinuramu |
Will your twin cries Cease before they’re heard, O, cuckoos? With approaching dawn It seems they die… |
16
Snipe
Left (Tie)
たれか又暁ごとに夢さめて羽掻く鴫の声を聞くらむ
| tareka mata akatuki goto ni yume samete Fane kaku sigi no kowe wo kikuramu | Who is it that yet With every single dawn Awakens from her dreams, and The wing-beating snipes’ Cries does hear? |
Koma
小馬
17
Right
我ならで誰か聞くらむ暁の羽掻く鴫の数を尽くして
| ware narade tare ka kikuramu akatuki no Fane kaku sigi no kazu wo tukusite | If not I, then Who is it that will hear? With the dawn The snipes’ wing-beats Coming to an end… |
Saemon
左衛門
18
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
Cicadas (蟬)
夏山のならのひろ葉にかくろへてこのもかのもに鳴く蟬のこゑ
| natsuyama no nara no hiroha ni kakuroete konomo kanomo ni naku semi no koe | In the summer mountains In the broad-leaved oaks Concealed, From here and from there Are the cries of singing cicadas. |
Kanemasa