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Entō ōn’uta’awase 11

Round Eleven

Left

しら雲の朝たつ山のからにしき枝に一むら春風ぞ吹く

shirakumo no
asa tatsu yama no
karanishiki
eda ni hito mura
harukaze zo fuku
Clouds of white
Arising with the morning on the mountain:
Cathay brocade
In a single bunch upon the branch
Blown by the breeze of spring! [1]

Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
21

Right (Win)

かづらきや嶺の桜のさきしより心の空にかかるしら雲

kazuragi ya
mine no sakura no
sakishi yori
kokoro no sora ni
kakaru shirakumo
Upon Kazuragi
Peak, the cherries
Have bloomed and ever since
The heavens of my heart are
Draped with clouds of white.

Lord Nobunari
22

The Left’s poem has ‘Arising with the morning on the mountain: Cathay brocade in a single bunch upon the branch’ and, while it mentions spring breezes in its final section and does not fail to reflect the surface appearance of its source poem, conveys a feeling of scarlet leaves without mentioning blossom or cherry, which I have to say is something of a fault. The Right’s poem does not seem poor and lacks any faults worth mentioning, so it should win.


[1] An allusive variation on SIS IV: 220.

Teiji-in uta’awase 01

Spring

Ten Poems on the Second Month

Left

あをやぎのえだにかかれるはるさめはいともてぬけるたまかとぞみる

aoyagi no
eda ni kakareru
harusame wa
ito mo te nukeru
tama ka to zo miru
Upon the green willow
Branches hang
Spring raindrops—
As if each frond were hand-threaded
With gems do they appear.

Ise
1

Right

あさみどりそめてみだれるあをやぎのいとをばはるのかぜやよるらむ

asamidori
somete midareru
aoyagi no
ito oba haru no
kaze ya yoruramu
Pale green
Dyes the tangled
Willow
Fronds—do spring’s
Breeze they seem to beckon?

Korenori
2

I’d say both of these are good—a tie.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 15

These are poems which His Majesty had everyone in attendance compose on the day.

わがやどをみなへしひとのすぎゆかばあきのくさばはしぐれざらまし

wa ga yado o
mina heshi hito no
sugiyukaba
aki no kusaba wa
shigurezaramashi
Should my house
By all the passing folk
Be passed by, then
Would not the autumn grasses
Scatter showers?

Minamoto no Tsuruna
29

をしめどもえだにとまらぬもみぢばをみなへしおきてあきののちみむ

oshimedomo
eda ni tomaranu
momijiba o
mina heshi okite
aki no nochi mimu
I regret it, yet
On the branches have not lingered
Scarlet leaves—
I will press them, every one,
To gaze on after autumn’s passing.

Muneyuki
30

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 10

Left

をみなへしうつろふあきのほどをなみねさへうつしてをしむけふかな

ominaeshi
utsurou aki no
hodo o nami
ne sae utsushite
oshimu kyō kana
The maidenflower
With the autumn will fade
Soon away;
Being shifted here root and all
She must regret, today!

19[1]

Right

うつらずはふゆともわかじをみなへしときはのえだにさきかへらなむ

utsurazu wa
fuyu to mo wakaji
ominaeshi
tokiwa no eda ni
sakikaeranamu
Ever unfading and
All unknowing of the winter,
O, maidenflower,
On evergreen branches
I would you returned to bloom!

20


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 514

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 06

Left

かくをしむあきにしあはばをみなへしうつろふことはわすれやはせぬ

kaku oshimu
aki ni shi awaba
ominaeshi
utsurou koto wa
wasure ya wa senu
If feeling such regret
I should encounter autumn, then
O, maidenflower,
To fade
You should not forget, should you?

11

Right

ながきよにたれたのめけむをみなへしひとまつむしのえだごとになく

nagaki yo ni
tare tanomekemu
ominaeshi
hito matsumushi no
edagoto ni naku
On a long, long night
Who is it has made you believe,
O, maidenflower?
Pining for him while crickets
Cry from your every branch…

12[1]


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 536; Fubokushō 4231

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 74

Left 白雪の降りつもれる山里は人さへやおもひ消ゆらむ[1]

shirayuki no
furitsumoreru
yamazato wa
sumu hito sae ya
omoikiyuramu
White snow
Has fallen, drifted high around
The mountain home;
Might even he who lives there
Be buried in melancholy?

This poem is missing from some texts of the contest and thus is unnumbered.

Right

ひかりまつ枝にかかれる雪をこそ冬の花とはいふべかりけれ

hikari matsu
eda ni kakareru
yuki o koso
fuyu no hana to wa
iubekarikere
Awaiting the light
Upon the branches clings
Snow:
Winter’s blossom—that’s what
It should be called!

144


[1] Kokinshū VI: 328, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.