Tag Archives: folk

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 25

Moon

Round One

Left (Tie)

月きよみながむる人の心さへ雲井にすめる秋の夜はかな

tsuki kiyomi
nagamuru hito no
kokoro sae
kumoi ni sumeru
aki no yowa kana
The moon, so pure, that
Gazing folk feel
Their very hearts
Clearly in the heavens
On an autumn midnight!

Lord Shige’ie
49

Right

のこるべきかきねの雪は先消えてほかはつもるとみゆる月かな

nokorubeki
kakine no yuki wa
mazu kiete
hoka wa tsumoru to
miyuru tsuki kana
It should be lingering
On my brushwood fence, but the snow
First vanishes, then
Piling up elsewhere
Appears moonlight!

Lord Yorimasa
50

The Left seems extremely commonplace, and simply ending ‘autumn midnight’ feels incomplete. As for the Right, what does it mean to say that ‘the snow upon my brushwood fence first vanishes’? Might it mean that because of the fence’s shadow, the moon’s light cannot be seen? It really sounds as if the poet has gone too far in his quest for unusual expressions. Then there’s ‘piling up elsewhere’ along with ‘autumn midnight’—neither of these sound superior, so it’s impossible to say which poem is.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 10

Round Ten

Left (Win)

色色に心ぞうつる秋ののは露もあだなる花しなければ

iroiro ni
kokoro zo utsuru
aki no no wa
tsuyu mo adanaru
hana shi nakereba
From one to another
My heart does shift, for
In the autumn meadows
Even a slightly unattractive
Bloom is there not a one…

Master Shinkaku
19

Right

花すすき風のけしきにしたがひて心おこらぬ人なまねきそ

hanasusuki
kaze no keshiki ni
shitagaite
kokoro okoranu
hito na maneki so
O, silver grass!
The feelings of the wind
Follow, and
Folk whose hearts will not be moved
Beckon not!

Lay Priest and Supernumerary Director of the Bureau of Horses, Right Division Sanekiyo
20

The Left, in terms of both conception and diction seems to be much better composed than the Right.

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 05

Left

あひみてぞいとどこひしきたなばたのなぐさむばかりあらぬよなれば

aimite zo
itodo koishiki
tanabata no
nagusamu bakari
aranu yo nareba
Having met and seen her
How very dear is
The Weaver Maid
For simple consolation
Is not hers alone tonight…

9

Right (Win)

としごとにあかぬわかれはたなばたのあらぬ人さへなげくべらなり

toshigoto ni
akanu wakare wa
tanabata no
aranu hito sae
nagekuberanari
In every single year,
Parting, unsatisfied, and
Lacking the Weaver Maid,
Would be for other folk
A certain source of grief.

10

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 04

Round Four

Left

行人を野べの尾花にまねかせて色めきたてる女郎花かな

yuku hito o
nobe no obana ni
manekasete
iromeki tateru
ominaeshi kana
Folk going by
The meadows the silver grass
Is made to beckon by
The seductively standing
Maidenflowers!

Lord Fujiwara no Suetsune, Former Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs
7

Right (Win)

吹くをりぞ過ぐる人をばまねきけるかぜや尾花の心なるらん

fuku ori zo
suguru hito oba
manekikeru
kaze ya obana no
kokoro naruran
When it blows,
Folk passing by
Are beckoned—
Does the wind the silver grasses’
Heart become?

Minor Controller of the Left Fujiwara no Tamechika
8

The Left appears to have nothing remarkable about it, while the Right’s initial three sections sound clumsy, yet appear to have some degree of conception, so I would say it wins.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 33

Round Thirty-Three

Left (Tie)

人数にあらずなるみのうらに又老の浪さへよるぞかなしき

hito kazu ni
arazu narumi no
ura ni mata
oi no nami sae
yoru zo kanashiki
Numbered among proper folk
I am not, as at Narumi
Bay, yet again do cruel
Waves of age
Break—so sad!

Lord Kinshige
65

Right

うきながらなほをしまるる命かな後の世とてもたのみなければ

ukinagara
nao oshimaruru
inochi kana
nochi no yo tote mo
tanominakereba
In constant suffering
Still do I regret
This life!
For even in the world to come
Can I place no trust…

Moromitsu
66

Neither has any parts I can’t understand.

Kinkai wakashū 74

Composed for a folding screen with a picture of cherry trees blooming in the middle of the mountains.

山ざくらちらばをらなんをしげなみよしや人みず花のなたてに

yamazakura
chiraba oranan
oshigenami
yoshi ya hito mizu
hana no na tate ni
O, mountain cherry!
If you scatter, then do it
Without regret, for,
Well, even should folk not see
Your blossoms’ fame will spread still!
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.

SZS IV: 242

Composed on karukaya, when he presented a hundred poem sequence during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.

秋くればおもひみだるるかるかやのした葉や人の心なるらん

aki kureba
omoimidaruru
karukaya no
shitaba ya hito no
kokoro naruran
When the autumn comes
So confused are my thoughts—
As the tangled tufts of grass
Below are folk’s
Feelings, I wonder?

Major Counsellor Moroyori
大納言師頼