ほのぼのと明石の浜を見渡しば春の浪わけ出づる船の帆
| Fonobono to akasi no Fama wo miwataseba Faru no namiwake iduru Fune no Fo |
In the gloaming When across the beach at Akashi I sweep my gaze, Cutting through the springtime waves Are the sails of departing boats. |
Minamoto no Shitagō
源順
Two poems composed by Prince Arima, on feeling sorrowful and tying the branches of a pine tree together.
磐白の浜松が枝を引き結びま幸くあらばまた帰り見む
| ipasiro no pamamatu ga e wo pikimusubi masakiku araba kaperimimu |
At Iwashiro, A beach-pine’s branches I draw and bind together; If fortune favours me, I’ll return to see them once more… |
Prince Arima
有間皇子
In the Tenryaku period, when the Ichijō Regent [Fujiwara no Koretada] was Head Chamberlain, His Majesty lost his belt to him while playing go. The games continued, and Koretada’s losses mounted, so His Majesty composed this poem to ask for the return of his belt.
白浪の打ちやかへすと待つほどに浜の真砂の数ぞ積もれる
| siranami no uti ya kaFesu to matu Fodo ni Fama no masago no kazu zo tumoreru |
Wondering when the whitecaps Will return, and While waiting The grains of sand upon the beach Increase in number! |
Emperor Murakami
Composed in the conception of travel, when he presented a hundred poem sequence.
東路の野島が埼の浜風に我が紐ゆひし妹がかほのみ面影に見ゆ
| azumadi no nozima ga saki no Famakaze ni wa ga Fimo yuFisi imo ga kaFo nomi omokage ni miyu |
On Eastern roads At Nojima Point In the breeze from off the beach: My belt was tied By my darling, her face, A vision, appears before me… |
Master of the Left Capital Office, Akisuke
左京大夫顕輔
Topic unknown.
むつのくの奥ゆかしくぞ思ほゆる壺の石文そとの浜風
| mutunoku no oku yukasiku zo omoFoyuru tubo no isibumi soto no Famakaze |
Michinoku’s Heart, I long For in Tsubo-no-ishibumi, where The wind blows from off the beach. |
Saigyō
沖つ潮指出の磯の浜千鳥風寒からし夜半に友呼ぶ
| oki tsu shio sashide no iso no hama chidori kaze samukarashi yowa ni tomo yobu |
From the offing the tides Strike the shore at Sashide; On the beach plovers, Chilled by the wind Call for their mates at midnight. |
Fujiwara no Nagakata (1139-1191)
藤原長方
Left (Win).
萩の葉にかはりし風の秋の聲やがて野分の露砕く也
| hagi no ha ni kawarishi kaze no aki no koe yagate nowaki no tsuyu kudakunari |
Bush clover leaves Brushed by the breeze Speak of autumn; Swift comes the gale, Scattering dewdrops… |
355
Right.
靡き行く尾花が末に浪越えて眞野の野分に續く濱風
| nabikiyuku obana ga sue ni nami koete mano no nowaki ni tsuzuku hamakaze |
Streaming Miscanthus fronds Wave At Mano in the gales Born from breezes off the beaches. |
356
The Left’s ‘speak of autumn’ (aki no koe) and the Right’s ‘born from’ (tsuzuku) are each found unsatisfactory by the opposing team.
Shunzei states, ‘Both the poems of the Left and Right have been found unsatisfactory by a number of modern poets, and is this not reasonable? However, the Left’s “Brushed by the breeze speak of autumn” (kawarishi kaze no aki no koe) is particularly fine. The Right’s “born from” is not a turn of phrase which could be considered pleasant; starting with “streaming” (nabikiyuku) and then continuing to “breezes off the beaches” (hamakaze) which lead to “Mano in the gales” (mano no nowaki ni) suggests an implicit meaning, but the Left’s upper and lower sections are finer. It should win.’