Tag Archives: Ikuta

Love II: 2

Left (Tie).

いざさらば生田の杜に祈りみん頼む方なき戀の病を

iza saraba
ikuta no mori ni
inorimin
tanomu kata naki
koi no yamai o
So, now,
To the sacred grove of Ikuta
Shall I go to pray
For this hopeless
Love’s sickness…

Lord Kanemune.

663

Right.

あはれとも思もやする我戀をなげきの杜の神に祈らん

aware tomo
omoi mo ya suru
wa ga koi o
nageki no mori no
kami ni inoruran
Pitiful
Do you think me?
So, the grief of love
Will I burn in Nageki’s sacred grove
As an offering…

The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office.

664

The Gentlemen of the Left and Right have nothing particular to say.

Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s ‘so, now’ (iza saraba) seems pleasant. The Right’s poem has a fairly direct style. After comparison, this is a tie again.

Winter I: 5

Left.

はかなしや浮きたる風に誘はれていづち生田の杜の木葉ぞ

hakanashi ya
ukitaru kaze ni
sasowarete
izuchi ikuta no
mori no konoha zo
How fleeting!
The fickle wind
Beckons, but
Where does Ikuta’s
Sacred grove send its leaves?

Lord Suetsune.

489

Right.

惜しみかね嶺の紅葉に染置きし心の色も散り果てにけり

oshimikane
mine no momiji ni
someokishi
kokoro no iro mo
chirihatenikeri
I cannot regret, that
Scarlet leaves from on the peak
Have laid a stain
Upon the hues within my heart
And scattered them all over!

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

490

The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem. The Left wonder whether the use of ‘I cannot regret’ (oshimikane) implies that the poet feels nothing prior to that.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s final section is elegant [yū ni haberu], but although I have heard of many different types of wind, I have no recollection of any familiarity [kikinarete mo oboehaberane] with a ‘fickle wind’ (ukitaru kaze). While I feel the Right’s poem has no particular faults, the initial ‘I cannot regret’ (oshimikane) does not seem to fit will with what follows. The poems are alike and the round must tie.

Autumn 22

Left (Win).

秋とだに吹あへぬ風に色かはる生田の杜の露の下草

aki to dani
fukiaenu kaze ni
iro kawaru
ikuta no mori no
tsuyu no shitakusa
Hardly is autumn
Breathed upon the wind, than
The hues do change:
Within the sacred bounds of Ikuta,
Dewfall upon the greenery.

43

Right

須磨の海人のなれにし袖もしほたれぬ關吹こゆる秋の浦風

suma no ama no
narenishi sode mo
shiotarenu
seki fukikoyuru
aki no urakaze
Fisherfolk at lonely Suma,
Long used their sleeves to
Drench within the tide; my tears flow as
Past the barrier blows
The autumn wind from ’cross the bay.

44