Tag Archives: hearts

Teiji-in uta’awase 30

Left (Tie)

あふことのきみにたえにしわがみよりいくらのなみだながれいでぬらむ

au koto no
kimi ni taenishi
wa ga mi yori
ikura no namida
nagare’idenuramu
My meetings with
You, my lord, have ceased, and
From my flesh
What a torrent of tears
Flow out!

Ise

59

Right

きみこひのあまりにしかばしのぶれどひとのしるらんことのわびしさ

kimi koi no
amari nishikaba
shinoburedo
hito no shiruran
koto no wabishiki
Loving you
Beyond all measure,
I kept it secret, yet
That folk seem to know
Is a cause of heartache.

Tsurayuki
60

On hearing His Highness, the Prince of the Right remark in irritation that the Left’s poem had appealed to His Majesty’s heart, His Majesty composed

ゆきかへりちどりなくなるはまゆふのこころへだてておもふものかは

yukikaeri
chidori naku naru
hamayū no
kokoro hedatete
omou mono ka wa
Going back and forth
Plovers cry from
The beach among the spider lilies
Do their hearts distinguish
Do you think?

His Majesty
61

Teiji-in uta’awase 05

Left (Win)

はるがすみたちしかくせばやまざくらひとしれずこそちりぬべらなれ

harugasumi
tachishi kakuseba
yamazakura
hito shirezu koso
chirinuberanare
If the spring haze
Has risen to conceal
The mountain cherries,
Then, indeed, will no one know
When they have seemed to scatter!

Tsurayuki
9

Right

たのまれぬはなのこころとおもへばやちらぬさきよりうぐひすのなく

tanomarenu
hana no kokoro to
omoeba ya
chiranu saki yori
uguisu no naku
Untrustworthy are
The blossoms’ hearts
I do think, so
While they are unscattered
Will the warbler sing.

Okikaze
10[i]

Both of these are the same—they tie.[ii]


[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XI: 1549), attributed to Okikaze, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’. It is also included twice in Kokin rokujō (I: 31) and (VI: 4395): in both cases the poem is attributed to Okikaze, but the first instance lacks a headnote, while the second is classified as a ‘Warbler’ poem. Finally, it is also included in Mandaishū (II: 254), again attributed to Okikaze, but this time with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’.

[ii] Given that the Left’s poem here is marked as winning, presumably Uda means that both poems are equally worthy of a win—that is, that this is a yoki ji, a ‘tie of quality’.

GSS IX: 595

His reply.

わびしさを同じ心と聞くからに我が身を棄てて君ぞかなしき

wabisisa wo
onadi kokoro to
kiku kara ni
wa ga mi wo sutete
kimi zo kanasiki
In pain
As one are the feelings within our hearts
I hear, but
Even should you abandon me
Ever dear to me will you remain!

Minamoto no Sane’akira
源信明

GSS IX: 594

Sent to a man’s residence.

はかなくて同じ心になりにしを思ふがごとは思らんやぞ

Fakanakute
onadi kokoro ni
narinisi o
omoFu ga goto Fa
omoFuran ya zo
Briefly
As one the feelings within our hearts
Were, but
Always I wonder whether
You still might think of me?

Nakatsukasa
中務

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 19

なにしおはばしひてたのまむをみなへしひとのこころのあきはうくとも[1]

na ni shi owaba
shiite tanomamu
ominaeshi
hito no kokoro no
aki wa uku tomo
If the name fits, then
Strongly, would I ask you,
Maidenflower:
Though folk’s full hearts
In autumn, be cruel…

37

あきのよをひとりねたらむあまのがはふちせたどらずいざわたりなむ

aki no yo o
hitori netaramu
ama no kawa
fuchise tadorazu
iza watarinamu
On an autumn night,
I sleep alone, it seems, for
To the River of Heaven’s
Depths and shallows I will not make my way—
However can I cross them?

39


[1] Shinchokusenshū 242; also a minor variant occurs in Kokin rokujō (3368) なにしおはばしひてたのまんをみなへし花の心の秋はうくともna ni shi owaba / shiite tanomamu / ominaeshi / hana no kokoro no / aki wa uku tomo ‘If the name fits, then / Forcefully, would I trust you, / Maidenflower: / Though a flower’s heart / In autumn, be cruel…’ Tsurayuki.

Uhyōe shōjō sadafumi uta’awase 6

A wave of chill in the heart due to snow (依雪波心寒)

Left

わだづもにふるしら雪は消えながら波の心にさむさをぞそむ

wadadumi ni
furu sirayuki Fa
kienagara
nami no kokoro ni
samusa wo zo somu
Across the broad sea sweep
Falls white snow;
It vanishes, yet
The waves’ hearts are
Dyed with cold.

10

Right (Win)

ふる雪に波の心もさむからし風とかくれやへたにだによる

furu yuki ni
nami no kokoro mo
samukarashi
kaze to kakure ya
Feta ni dani yoru
With the falling snow
The waves’ hearts, too,
Must be so cold;
Do they hide from the wind
Rushing to the shore?

11[1]


[1]Minor variants on these poems appear in Fubokushō (XVIII: 7269) and (XVIII: 7268).