shirazariki musubanu mizu ni kage mitemo sode ni shizuku no kakaru mono to wa
I did not know: Even though in intangible waters I glimpsed your face, Upon my sleeves, droplets Still would cling…[i]
13
[i] An allusive variation on: Composed on the conception of love, when hundred poem sequences were presented during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa. おもひあまり人にとはばやみなせ川むすばぬ水に袖はぬるやと omoi’amari / hito ni towaba ya / minasegawa / musubanu mizu ni / sode wa nuru ya to ‘Love consumes me and so / I would ask her: / Do the ever dry Minase River’s / Intangible waters / Yet soak your sleeves?’ Major Counsellor Kinzane (Senzaishū XII: 704)
sawamizu ni akikaze chikashi yuku hotaru magau hikari mo kage midaretsutsu
To the waters of the marsh Nears the autumn breeze; Flitting fireflies’ Tangled lights, too, Ever make confused shapes…[i]
6
[i] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. ゆく螢雲の上までいぬべくは秋風吹くと雁に告げこせ yuku hotaru / kumo no ue made / inubeku wa / aki kaze fuku to / kari ni tsugekose ‘O, flitting fireflies, / Beyond the clouds / Should you ascend, then say, / ‘ The Autumn wind is blowing!’ / To the geese.’ Narihira (Gosenshū V: 252)
On the 11th day of the Eighth Month, Tenryaku 10,[i] when Her Northern Highness[ii] was at the Bōjō Mansion[iii] and the moon was particularly charming, the ladies and gentlemen composed on the topics of plants in the garden in her presence. The gentlemen were on the Left and the ladies were on the Right.
Moon
Left (Tie)
よろづよのまつにかかれるあきの月ひさしきかげをみよとなるべし
yorozuyo no matsu ni kakareru aki no tsuki hisashiki kage o miyo to narubeshi
Throughout ten thousand ages Clinging to the pines has been The autumn moon— Its eternal face Surely we should behold!
[ii] Probably Imperial Princess Yasuko (Kōshi) 康子内親王 (919-957), Fujiwara no Morosuke’s final wife.
[iii] The Bōjō Mansion (Bōjōden 坊城殿) was a residence belonging to Fujiwara no Morosuke where he resided in his later years. Records of its exact location have not survived, but it was most likely to the west of Bōjō-kōji 坊城小路 (modern Bōjō-dōri 坊城通), south of Shijō 四条 in Kyoto.
[iv] This poem is included in Shin senzaishū (XX: 2324) attributed to Fujiwara no Takamitsu, with the headnote ‘Topic unknown’; it is also included in Takamitsu’s personal collection, Takamitsu-shū (8) with the headnote ‘From a poetry match’.
yamagatsu no kakio nagara ni utsushi uete itsu to naku mimu tokonatsu no hana
Even by a woodcutter’s Brushwood fence Should they be transplanted Always would I gaze upon Bedded pinks in bloom…
6
[i] This poem is included in Fubokushō (IX: 3460), attributed to Nakatsukasa, with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held by Junior Consort Yoshiko (Hōshi) in the Fifth Month, Tenryaku 10’. In some texts of the match, there is a minor variation in the wording of the final line, having iro (‘hues’), instead of kage (‘shapes’) as here.
[i] A similar poem to this is included in Nakatsukasa’s personal collection, Nakatsukasa-shū (118): かきほなるやまとなでしこいろふかきけふやこふこふ人をまたまし kakio naru / yamato nadeshiko / iro fukaki / kyō ya kou / hito o matamashi ‘By the lattice fence / The Yamato pinks’ / Hues are so deep, that / I wonder for today and one to love them / Have they awaited?’
[ii] Some texts of this match have an alternate wording for this poem: みなそこにかげさへみゆるなでしこのなみのはなをやいろにそむらむ minasoko ni / kage sae miyuru / nadeshiko no / nami no hana o ya / iro ni somuramu ‘Upon the very riverbed / Their shapes do appear— / Do the pinks / Even the spray from off the waves / Dye with their hues, I wonder?’
Poems from a pinks match held by the ladies and gentlemen in service to the Lady of the Bedchamber who was the daughter of the Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division, on the 29th day of the Fifth Month, Tenryaku 10.[i] Lady Nakatsukasa was on the Left; Kanemori was on the Right.
Left
なでしこのはなのかげみるかはなみはいづれのかたにこころよすらん
nadeshiko no hana no kage miru kawanami wa izure no kata ni kokoro yosuran
A pink’s Blooming shape a’seeing, The waves upon the river Whither will Take her heart, I wonder?
[iii] Some texts of this match have an alternate wording for this poem: ももしきにしめゆひしよりなでしこのはなとしみればこく見ゆるかな momoshiki ni / shimeyuishi yori / nadeshiko no / hana to shi mireba / koku miyuru kana ‘When, within the hundredfold palace / So carefully raised / A pink / In bloom I see, / How deep its hue appears!’
kagamiyama haru kuru kage ya mietsuramu tani no uguisu idete naku nari
Upon Mirror Mountain Signs of coming spring Have appeared, it seems, for In the valleys warblers Have emerged to sing.
8
[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 10), attributed to Middle Counsellor [Fujiwara no] Asatada, with the headnote ‘From a palace poetry match on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’ [12.5.956]. It is also included in Shūishō (I: 6) as an anonymous poem in some texts, or attributed to Nakatsukasa in others, with the headnote ‘When a poetry match was held at the palace on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’.
The only record of this poetry match’s existence is in the headnote to the poems in Motozane-shū (180, 181), which simply reads ‘From a poetry match’. Hagitani (1958, 418) suggests that, as these poems are recorded separately in this work from Motozane’s other poems for poetry matches, they are most likely from a different contest, the details of which have now been lost. Given the topic of ‘Cuckoos’, however, it most likely will have taken place in the late spring or early summer.
うのはなの影にかくれて今日までぞ山時鳥声はをしまむ
unohana no kage ni kakurete kyō made zo yama hototogisu koe wa oshimamu
Within the deutzia’s Shade concealed Until today The mountain cuckoo Seems to regret his song.
1
いまよりは声なをしみそ時鳥五月待つまのほどぞあるらし
ima yori wa koe na oshimi so hototogisu satsuki matsu ma no hodo zo arurashi
From now on Your song do not regret, O, cuckoo, For to await the Fifth Month Some time there still seems to be!
