Topic unknown.
池水や氷とくらむあしがもの夜ぶかくこゑのさわぐなるかな
| ikemizu ya kōri tokuramu ashigamo no yobukaku koe no sawagunaru kana | Above the pond waters The ice has melted, it seems, for The ducks Deep within the night are crying So noisily! |
Tachibana no Yukiyori
橘行頼
Tag Archives: ice
KKS I: 12
A poem from the Poetry Competition held in the reign of the Kanpyō Empress.
谷風にとくる氷のひまごとに打いづる波や春のはつ花
| tanikaze ni tokuru koFori no Fimagoto ni uti’iduru nami ya Faru no FatuFana |
In the valley’s breezes Does melt the ice, and From every crack Do burst waves – are these The first blooms of spring? |
Minamoto no Masazumi
源当純
Minishū 2565
竜田川紅葉葉とづる薄氷渡らばそれと中や絶えなむ
| tatsutagawa momijiba tozuru usukōri wataraba sore to naka ya taenamu |
The River Tatsuta: Scarlet leaves are sealed within Sheet ice; Should I cross would it Shatter in the centre? |
Ietaka
Tametadake godo hyakushu 546
とぢ渡すこほりに雪のうはぎして寒けに見ゆる衣川かな
| todiwatasu koFori ni yuki no uFagisite samuke ni miyuru koromogaFa kana |
Sealed across The ice has snow In a coat upon it; You can see the chill At the River Robe! |
Fujiwara no Nakamasa
藤原仲正
Tametadake godo hyakushu 545
衣川むすぶこほりのけぬが上につもる雪をやとぢかさぬらむ
| koromogaFa musubu koFori no kenu ga uFe ni tumoru yuki wo ya to todikasanuramu |
At the River Robe, Bound in ice that Never fades, upon it Piles the snows: is Not that why I am sealed in here? |
Shunzei
Horikawa hyakushu 993
ますらをが藻ふしつか鮒ふし漬けしかひやが下も氷りしにけり
| masurao ga mofushitsukabuna fushizukeshi kaiya ga shita mo kōrishinikeri |
Where brawny man Finger carp Did trap, Even beneath the keeping-hut Is thick with ice. |
Fujiwara no Kinzane
藤原公実
Love I: 11
Left.
氷ゐるみるめなぎさのたぐひかな上堰く袖の下のさゞ浪
| kōri iru mirume nagisa no tagui kana ue seku sode no shita no sazanami |
As ice-bound Algae on the beach Am I: The surface stopped up, but my sleeves Conceal a confusion of waves… |
621
Right.
我とはと思ふにかゝる涙こそ抑ふる袖の下になりぬれ
| ware to wa to omou ni kakaru namida koso osauru sode no shita ni narinure |
I should say nothing, I feel, and yet My tears, Held down by my sleeves, Do flow beneath them… |
622
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left do not seem to be expressing enough. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial line of the Right’s poem is difficult to pronounce. In addition, it is difficult to understand.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s ‘the surface stopped up, but my sleeves’ (ue seku sode no) and the Right’s ‘held down by my sleeves’ (osauru sode no) are both elegant in form [yū naru sama], but no matter how much I ponder them I find them difficult to comprehend, so again, there is no clear winner or loser this round.
Winter II: 19
Left (Win).
冴ゆる夜に鴛鴦の衾を方敷きて袖の氷を拂ひかねつゝ
| sayuru yo ni oshi no fusuma o katashikite sode no kōri o haraikanetsutu |
On a freezing night Beneath my duck-down bedding I lie alone; The ice upon my sleeve I can never brush away… |
577
Right.
木の葉をや鳥の上毛に殘すらん閨の衾も冴ゆる霜夜に
| ko no ha o ya tori no uwage ni nokosuran neya no fusuma mo sayuru shimo yo ni |
Are there any leaves Left by the birds For extra feathers? The bedding in my chamber Is frozen with frost tonight… |
578
Neither Left nor Right have anything in particular to say.
Shunzei’s judgement: I wonder about accepting the Left’s ‘Beneath my duck-down bedding I lie alone’ (oshi no fusuma o katashikite). The strengths and weaknesses are plain, and so there is not much more to say than that. The Left wins.
Winter II: 12
Left (Win).
清水もる谷の戸ぼそも閉ぢはてゝ氷を叩く嶺の松風
| shimizu moru tani no toboso mo tojihatete kōri o tataku mine no matsukaze |
Where spring waters flow From out the valley mouth Is stopped; Against the ice strikes The wind from off the pine-filled peaks. |
563
Right.
梢にも夜半の白雪積もるらし音弱り行嶺の松風
| kozue ni mo yowa no shirayuki tsumorurashi oto yowariyuku mine no matsukaze |
The treetops, too, Within the snows tonight Are buried, it seems: The sounds have softened of The wind from off the pine-filled peaks. |
564
Neither Left nor Right find any fault.
Shunzei’s judgement: The phrasing of both poems, such as ‘wind from off the pine-filled peaks’ (mine no matsukaze), ‘Against the ice strikes’ (kōri o tataku) and ‘sounds have softened’ (oto yowariyuku), has not particular strong or weak points [kōotsu nakuhaberedo], but still, ‘against the ice strikes’ seems a little superior.
Winter II: 1
Left.
山里は朝川渡る駒の音に瀬々の氷の程を知るかな
| yamazato wa asakawa wataru koma no oto ni seze no kōri no hodo o shiru kana |
Dwelling in the mountains, Crossing the river in the morning, The horses’ footfalls Upon the ice within the shallows Tells to me its depth… |
541
Right (Win).
谷河の氷るだにある山里に人も音せぬ今朝の白雪
| tanikawa no kōru dani aru yamazato ni hito mo oto senu kesa no shirayuki |
The streamlet, Even, has frozen At my mountain home; No folks’ footfalls On this snow-white morning… |
542
The Right have no criticisms to make of the Left’s poem. The Left just remark that the Right’s use of ‘even’ (dani aru) is ‘poor’ [yokarazu].
Shunzei’s judgement: Despite the Left starting their poem with ‘dwelling in the mountains’ (yamazato wa), even if it is on a winter morning, where must it take place? It must be at a riverside estate, or village. In addition, the only element of the conception of morning, is ‘crossing the river in the morning’ (asa kawa wataru). I do wonder about the sound of ‘even, has frozen’ (kōri dani aru), but the snow in the morning is more moving and charming [aware mo okashiku mo] than the Left’s mere sound of horses’ hooves on ice, so the Right’s is the better poem.