Tag Archives: Izumi

Autumn III: 12

Left (Win).

時分かぬ浪さへ色に泉川柞の杜に嵐吹らし

toki wakanu
nami sae iro ni
izumigawa
hahaso no mori ni
arashi fukurashi
Ever unchanging,
Even the waves have coloured
On Izumi River;
In the oak groves
Have the wild winds blown.

Lord Sada’ie.

443

Right.

秋深き岩田の小野の柞原下葉は草の露や染らん

aki fukaki
iwata no ono no
hahasowara

shitaba wa kusa no
tsuyu ya somuran
Autumn’s deep at
Iwata-no-Ono
In the oak groves
Have the lower leaves by grass
Touched dewfall been dyed?

Ietaka.

444

Neither team has any criticisms to make of the other’s poem.

Shunzei’s judgement: The total effect of the Left’s ‘even the waves have coloured on Izumi River’ (nami sae iro in izumigawa) is most superior [sugata wa yū narubeshi]. However, there does not appear to be any element linked to the final section’s ‘wild winds’ (arashi) in the initial part of the poem. The Right has ‘have the lower leaves by grass touched dewfall been dyed?’ (shitaba wa kusa no tsuyu ya somuran), without, in the initial section having an expression like ‘treetops stained by showers’ (kozue wa shigure somu), and I wonder about having the lower leaves on the trees touched by ‘dewfall on the grass’ (kusa no tsuyu). The Left’s ‘have the wild winds blown’ should win.

Autumn III: 7

Left (Win).

舟止めぬ人はあらじな泉川柞の杜に紅葉しつれば

funa tomenu
hito wa araji na
izumigawa
hahaso no mori ni
momiji shitsureba
Not pausing the boat –
No one would when
Izumi River
By the oak grove’s
Scarlet leaves is stained…

Lord Kanemune.

433

Right.

柞原染むる時雨もある物をしばしな吹きそ木枯らしの風

hahasowara
somuru shigure mo
aru mono o
shibashi na fuki so
kogarashi no kaze
The oak trees are being
Stained by showers
And so
For just a while blow not,
O, withering wind!

Lord Tsune’ie.

434

As the previous round.

Shunzei’s judgement: The style [fūtei] of both poems is such that neither has an particular points worth criticising, or praising either. However, the Right’s ‘blow not’ (na fuki so) seems insufficient. The Left wins.

Autumn 38

Left.

長月の月の有明の時雨ゆへ明日の紅葉の色もうらめし

nagatsuki no
tsuki no ariake no
shigure yue
asu no momiji no
iro mo urameshi
Late in autumn, when
The moon lingers in the sky at dawn,
From the drizzle,
In the morning scarlet leaves’
Hue is deepened—how I envy them!

75

Right (Win)

時わかぬ浪さへ色に泉河はゝそのもりにあらし吹らし

toki wakanu
nami sae iro ni
izumigawa
hahaso no mori ni
arashi fukurashi
The constant
Current: even it has broken out in hues anew;
By Izumi River
Through the oak forest has
The storm wind blown, no doubt!

76

SKKS V: 532

When the Regent and Grand Minister [Fujiwara no Yoshitsune] was Colonel of the Left, he held a poetry competition in one hundred rounds at his house. A poem composed on the oak tree.

時わかぬなみさへ色にいづみがははゝそのもりに嵐ふくらし

toki wakanu
nami sae iro ni
izumigawa
hahaso no mori ni
arashi fukurashi
Untouched by changing seasons are
The waves, yet have they taken colour,
On Izumi river;
In the oak groves
Storms rage through, it seems.

Fujiwara no Sada’ie
藤原定家

SKKS IV: 307

At a time when everyone was composing poems from topics picked at random, he composed this on ‘the autumn wind in the forest at Shinoda’.

日をへつゝをとこそまされいづみなるしのだのもりのちえの秋風

hi wo hetsutsu
oto koso masare
izumi naru
shinoda no mori no
chie no aki kaze
As the days go by
The sound grows ever greater
At Izumi
In the forest of Shinoda
A thousand branches rustle in the autumn wind.

Fujiwara no Tsunehira