Love and tales.[i]
| wakarenishi mukashi wa tsuyu ka asajiwara ato naki nobe ni akikaze zo fuku | Since they were parted, Were those ancient times dewdrop brief? Across the cogon grass Upon the trackless plain The autumn wind is blowing! |
546
[i] The ‘tale’ here is the Song of Everlasting Woe about the doomed love between Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong
Round Ten
Left
秋はぎの下葉の露にあらねども消えぬばかりぞ人は恋しき
| akihagi no shitaba no tsuyu ni aranedomo kienu bakari zo hito wa koishiki | Upon the autumn bush clover’s Underleaves a dewdrop I am not, yet Simply will I fade away So much do I love him! |
Taiyu no Suke
19
Right
わすられて年ふる里の浅茅生に誰がためしける萩の錦ぞ
| wasurarete toshi furu sato no asajū ni ta ga tame shikeru hagi no nishiki zo | All forgotten Through the passing years, at my home Among the tangled mugwort, For whose sake is spread The bush clover’s brocade? |
The Daughter of His Excellency, the Head
20
I feel that the poem of the Left is conspicuously poetic, saying ‘Simply will I fade away / So much do I love him!’ while the poem of the Right’s ‘Through the passing years, at my home / Among the tangled mugwort, / For whose sake is spread / The bush clover’s brocade?’ makes me want to ask the bush clover the same question! The pull my heart in more than one direction, so here, too, I feel it’s not possible to decide on a winner or loser.
Round Three
Left (Tie)
おきあかしくまなき月をながむれば野原の草の露もかくれず
| oki’akashi kumanaki tsuki o nagamureba nohara no kusa no tsuyu mo kakurezu | Lying awake ‘til dawn, and Upon the cloudless moon A’gazing— Upon the grasses o’er the plain Not a single dewdrop is concealed. |
Mikawa
53
Right
月をみて心をこよひつくすかなくまなき空は又もこそあれ
| tsuki o mite kokoro o koyoi tsukusu kana kumanaki sora wa mata mo koso are | Seeing the moon, Tonight, my heart Exhausts! The cloudless skies Once more are such! |
Lord Kinshige
54
The Left’s ‘lying awake ‘til dawn, gazing’ suggests that the poet is at their own residence, but then it finally turns out that they are on the plain – what to make of this? It’s also the case that the moon doesn’t necessarily always appear over the plains. This poem should really have included a clearer reason for the poet’s journey. As for the Right, while it isn’t bad, the final line certainly regrettable, so this round is a tie.
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆをのみくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o nomi kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | Simply as a dewdrop, Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]
つゆを見てくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Izumi Shikibu
[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’ If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.
つゆをみて草葉のうへとおもひしは時まつ程の命なりけり
| tsuyu o mite kusaba no ue to omoishi wa toki matsu hodo no inochi narikeri | As a dewdrop it appears Resting atop a blade of grass— So I did think; Such a short thing Is life. |
Left
つゆばかりたのみおかなんことのはにしばしもとまるいのちありやと
| tsuyu bakari tanomi okanan koto no ha ni shibashi mo tomaru inochi ari ya to | Dewdrop fragile Is my trust that dripping On the leaves, your words A little longer might hold My life here, perhaps… |
66
Right
はるさめのよにふるそらもおもほえずくもゐながらにひとこふるみは
| harusame no yo ni furu sora mo omohoezu kumoi nagara ni hito kouru mi wa | Spring showers Fall from night time skies—living on Is not for me, I think, for Beyond the clouds lies The one I love… |
67
Kerria
Left
はなをらでわれぞややまふきのはなるつゆをたまにてけたじとおもへば
| hana orade ware zo ya yamau ki no ha naru tsuyu o tama nite ketaji to omoeba | Leave the blossom unplucked, and As it is, I will, that From the tree’s leaves The dewdrop gems Will not disappear, or so I wish… |
Sadafun
13
Right (Win)
いづこともわかずはるさめふりやまふきのはなべてももえにけるかな
| izuko to mo wakazu harusame furiyamau ki no ha nabete mo moenikeru kana | Everywhere Without exception, springtime showers Have ceased to fall, so All the leaves upon the trees Have budded! |
14
