Spring Sun
春の日は杣やまとほき里なれやくれまつほどの心ともなき
haru no hi wa soma yama tōki sato nare ya kure matsu hodo no kokoro tomonaki | The spring sun: not only do Timber mountains’ distant Dwellings Awaiting dusk Feel it… |
Kanemasa
Spring Sun
春の日は杣やまとほき里なれやくれまつほどの心ともなき
haru no hi wa soma yama tōki sato nare ya kure matsu hodo no kokoro tomonaki | The spring sun: not only do Timber mountains’ distant Dwellings Awaiting dusk Feel it… |
Kanemasa
秋深み物哀れなる黄昏に小倉の山に鹿ぞ鳴くなる
aki Fukami mono’aFare naru tasogare ni wogura no yama ni sika zo nakunaru |
The depths of autumn Are melancholy At dusk Upon Ogura Mountain The stags are crying. |
Ei’en
永縁
妹が家路みち黄昏になる時は垣根の花を訪ねてぞ行く
imo ga iFedi miti tasogare ni naru toki Fa kakine no Fana wo tadunete zo yuku |
The way to my darling’s house is In full dusk; That is the hour The blossom in the brushwood fence I do go to visit! |
秋の日のあやしきほどの黄昏に荻吹く風の音ぞ聞ゆる
aki no Fi no ayasiki Fodo no tasogare ni wogi Fuku kaze no oto zo kikoyuru |
Autumn days Are most eerie At dusk, when The sound of wind blowing o’er the silver-grass Is all I hear… |
憂しと思ふ心に今朝は来つれども黄昏時はむなしからまし
usi to omoFu kokoro ni kesa Fa kituredomo tasogaredoki Fa munasikaramasi |
Feeling hopeless, To my heart has this morning Come, yet The hour of dusk is What I wish were brief… |
Minamoto no Shigeyuki
源重之
五月雨の-黄昏時は-月影の-朧けにやは-我が人を待つ
samidare no tasogaredoki Fa tukikage no oboroke ni ya Fa wa ga Fito o matu |
Drizzle at The hour of dusk Makes the moonlight Mistily uncertain As I await my man… |
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
凡河内躬恒
春まけてもの悲しきにさ夜更けて羽振き鳴く鴫誰が田にか住む
paru makete mono kanasiki ni sayo pukete pabuki naku sigi ta ga ta ni ka sumu |
I cannot wait for spring; Somehow sad, At the dusk, The snipe cry and beat their wings – I wonder, whose is the field where they take their ease? |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
大伴家持
Left.
ひとり寢の憂き身になるゝ秋風をつれなき人の心ともがな
hitorine no ukimi ni naruru akikaze o tsurenaki hito no kokoro tomo gana |
To sleeping alone In desolation am I accustomed; O, that the autumn wind were My cruel love’s Heart… |
Lord Suetsune.
925
Right (Win).
夕まぐれ吹くる秋の初風は戀せぬ人も身にやしむらん
yūmagure fukikuru aki no hatsukaze wa koisenu hito mo mi ni ya shimuran |
In the evening’s dusk Comes blowing autumn’s First breeze; Will one who loves not Be pierced as am I? |
Lord Tsune’ie.
926
Both Left and Right together state: we have nothing we feel we should say.
In judgement: the final section of the Left’s poem is clichéd. I also wonder about the sound of ‘in desolation am I’ (ukimi). The Right’s poem has nothing particularly remarkable about it, but it should win
Left (Win).
玉ほこの道行き人も心ありて來んと頼めよこの夕卜には
tamahoko no michi yukibito mo kokoro arite kon to tanomeyo kono yūke ni wa |
Jewelled spear straight The road for this traveller: If he longs for me, Let it say, ‘Come with me!’, This evening’s fortune! |
Lord Kanemune.
819
Right.
逢ことを頼むる暮と思せば入相の鐘も嬉しからまし
au koto o tanomuru kure to omoiseba iriai no kane mo ureshikaramashi |
‘We will meet, On that you can rely, at dusk,’ He made me think, so The sunset bell, too, Does seem full of joy! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
820
The Right state: evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are different things. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.
In judgement: both evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are conducted in the evening, and with either one could wish ‘Let it say, “Come with me!”’ (kon to tanomeyo), so this does not seem to be a mistake does it? The Right has the fault of having both ‘We will meet’ (au koto o) and ‘sunset bell, too’ (iriai no kane mo). The Left should win.
Topic unknown.
いつしかと暮を待つ間の大空は曇るさへこそ嬉しかりけれ
itusika to kure o matu ma no oFozora wa kumoru sae koso uresikarikere |
So impatiently Have I waited for the dusk, that The heavens Very clouding Is my joy! |
Anonymous