hagiwara | Waka Poetry

Round Thirty-One

Left

露すがる庭の萩原色付きぬいかなる人の思ひそむらん

tsuyu sugaru
niwa no hagiwara
irozukinu
ika naru hito no
omoisomuran

All clung with dew,
The bush clover grove in the grounds
Has taken on such hues, that
I wonder who it is
Might have just fallen into passion’s flames?

Chikanari
61

Right (Win)

おく露は秋のならひの萩が枝にあまるや雁の涙なるらん

oku tsuyu wa
aki no narai no
hagi ga e ni
amaru ya kari no
namida naruran

Dewdrops falling is
Autumn’s custom for
The bush clover branches, but
Added to them are the goose
Tears, perhaps?[1]

Ie’kiyo
62

The Left’s poem has a person’s feelings being dyed by the bush-clover, but I cannot think why this should be? The Right’s poem seems particularly pleasant. Thus, it wins.

[1] An allusive variation on: Composed on the occasion of a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋の夜のつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりの涙やのべをそむらむ aki no yo no / tsuyu oba tsuyu to / okinagara / kari no namida ya / nobe o somuran ‘On Autumn nights / The dew as dewdrops / Falls, but, / Perhaps goose tears / Stain the fields?’ Mibu no Tadamine (KKS V: 258)

Round Eight

Left (Tie)

うづら鳴く遠里小野の小萩はら心なき身も過ぎうかりけり

uzura naku
tōsato ono no
kohagiwara
kokoronaki mi mo
sugi’ukarikeri

Quails cry from
Tōsato plain’s
Bush-clover groves—
Even one as insensitive as I
Finds it hard to pass them by.

Kenshō Sukenokimi
15

Right

あきの野の花に心をそめしよりくさかやひめもあはれとぞ思ふ

aki no no no
hana ni kokoro o
someshi yori
kusakayahime mo
aware to zo omou

Since the autumn meadows’
Blooms my heart
Did fill, for
Kusakayahime
Fondness, I feel!

Tōren
16

As for the Left, if one is composing about bush-clover groves, then I would want the poem to mention Miyagi Plain. As for the Right’s Kusakayahime, I wondered if she appeared in the Chronicles of Japan, but in that work you have Izanagi-no-miko and Izanami-no-miko, who wed and create the first land, Akitsushima, and then many provinces, mountains, rivers and seas and thus trees and plants, too. It further states that the primordial tree was Kukunochi and the primordial plant was Kayanohime. The conception of the Right’s poem does not differ from this, yet it continues to mention Kusakayahime, which is unclear. I get the feeling that this poem was composed with the works composed for the banquet held for the completion of the Chronicles of Japan in mind, which refer to each and every spring and the ancient Kayanohime, but even these poems did not differ in conception from that of the main work. It’s impossible to pick a loser or winner.