逢ふことのかたのに今はなりぬれば思ふがりのみ行くにやあるらん
au koto no katano ni ima wa narinureba omougari nomi uku ni ya aruran |
Meeting is Hard; in Katano now Are you, and Your hunting home Seems the only place you go! |
Anonymous
逢ふことのかたのに今はなりぬれば思ふがりのみ行くにやあるらん
au koto no katano ni ima wa narinureba omougari nomi uku ni ya aruran |
Meeting is Hard; in Katano now Are you, and Your hunting home Seems the only place you go! |
Anonymous
あられふる交野の御野に狩ころもぬれぬ宿かす人しなければ
arare Furu katano no mino ni kari koromo nurenu yado kasu Fito shinakereba |
Hail falls Upon the royal grounds of Katano and My hunting garb, for To lend me lodging out the damp Is there no one at all… |
Fujiwara no Nagatō
藤原長能
Left.
宇津の山夕越え來れば霙降り袖ほしかねつ哀この旅
utsu no yama yū koekureba mizore furi sode hoshikanetsu aware kono tabi |
Gloomy in the Utsu Mountains, Crossing them at dusk In a fall of sleet; I cannot dry my sleeves, On this lonely journey. |
527
Right.
今日も又交野の御野に霙してかはく間もなき狩衣かな
kyō mo mata katano no mino ni mizore shite kawaku ma mo naki karigoromo kana |
Today once more On the royal hunting grounds at Katano Sleet falls; No time at all to dry My hunter’s garb… |
528
The Right find no faults with the Left’s poem. The Left merely say that the Right’s poem sounds old-fashioned [furumekashi].
Shunzei’s judgement: ‘The Left’s ‘I cannot dry my sleeves, on this lonely journey’ (sode hoshikanetsu aware kono tabi) has a strong sound of loneliness about it [sabite wa kikoehaberu], but there is a lack of anything connected to utsu no yama in this poem. In The Tales of Ise where it says ‘By Utsu Mount in reality‘ (utsu no yamabe no utsutsu ni mo), it does not seem that sleet was falling. If there is no reason for including utsu no yama to express the sense of sleet falling, there are many other places which could have been used to express a lonely journey. As there is no reason for including it, formally [sama de] there is a lack of connection to it. The Right’s katano no mino, too, as in the poem ‘To lend lodging to keep me dry, is there no one‘ is about hail, though hawking does take place there, so the poem does sounds slightly charming [sukoshi okashiku kikoyu]. Both Left and Right use utsu no yama and katano no mino, respectively, unnecessarily – anywhere would have done as well. Both poems are equal for this reason.’
Left (Win).
御狩する人や聞くらん杉の野にさをどるきゞす聲しきりなり
mikarisuru hito ya kikuran sugi no no ni saodoru kigisu koe shikirinari |
Does the hunting Party hear it? Among the cypress groves The waltzing pheasants’ Cries come clearly. |
75
Right.
雉鳴く交野の原のとだちこそまことにかりの宿りなりけれ
kigisu naku katano no hara no todachi koso makoto ni kari no yadorinarikere |
The pheasants cry upon The plain of Katano: In the bird-brakes, Truly, will they find only brief Lodgings! |
76
The Right say they have no particular criticisms of the Left’s poem this round. The Right, on the other hand, say that ‘pheasants crying in the bird brakes’ (kigisu naku todachi) sounds ‘clumsy’. After all, a bird-brake is a place from where birds fly, and those birds are pheasants. The Left counter that Fujiwara no Kintō’s poem, ‘Of my mountain hut, the blossoms are the lodgings’ (yamazato Fa Fana koso yado no) is a similar case, as there is no difference between a ‘hut’ and ‘lodgings’, and there is nothing to criticise in this poem.
Shunzei begins by saying that the Left’s poem, below ‘cypress groves’ (sugi no no) is ‘old-fashioned’, while the top two stanzas are ‘modern poetry’, and wonders whether it is not ‘unsuitable’ to mix these styles in one poem. As to the question of whether the Right’s poem is ‘defective’, the poem they cite in its defence is ‘even more defective’ (meaning that the complete version of Kintō’s poem uses the same auxiliary verb (-keri) twice). However, in ancient times, and the past, too, it was the normal state of affairs that ‘such defects were not avoided.’ Is it not the case, he asks, whether ‘the anthologies and poetry competitions are entirely different?’ (The commentators take this as suggesting it’s better to avoid producing ‘defective’ poems in competition.) Thus, though he finds the use of old-fashioned expressions like ‘waltzing’ (saodoru) displeasing, the Left’s poem is not defective and so must win this round.
Hawking.
いつまでとつかれぬ鳥のながらへむことは交野に草がくるらん
itsu made to tsukarenu tori no nagaraemu koto wa katano ni kusagakururan |
Until when can A tired bird Prolong his life, Upon Katano Field, so hard Hidden amongst the grasses? |
Blossom
花さそふ交野のみのゝ春風に雲のみをなる天のしら浪
hana sasou katano no mino no harukaze ni kumo no mio naru ama no shiranami |
Beckoning the blossoms Above the fair field of Katano, The spring wind Makes a channel for the clouds, Whitecaps on the river of Heaven. |
宿借らん交野の御野の狩衣日も夕暮の花の下陰
yado karan katano no mino no karigoromo hi mo yugure no hana no shitakage |
Let me beg lodging, As on the demesne of Katano, My hunting garb’s Belt I tighten, sheltering from the evening sun In the shade beneath the blossoms. |
When he composed five poems at the house of the Regent and Grand Minister.
またや見んかたのゝみのゝ櫻がり花の雪ちる春のあけぼの
mata ya min katano no mino no sakuragari hana no yuki chiru haru no akebono |
When might I see the like again? In Katano’s august field, In search of cherry, A blizzard of blossom falls This Spring dawn. |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office [Fujiwara no] Toshinari
藤原俊成