Preparing Tribute 貢調
御調物きみが御代にはよしの川よし心みよたえやしけると
mitsukimono kimi ga miyo ni wa yoshinogawa yoshi kokoromiyo tae ya shikeru to | The tribute for My Lord’s reign is as The River Yoshino! So, just try To bring it to an end! |
Tadafusa
Preparing Tribute 貢調
御調物きみが御代にはよしの川よし心みよたえやしけると
mitsukimono kimi ga miyo ni wa yoshinogawa yoshi kokoromiyo tae ya shikeru to | The tribute for My Lord’s reign is as The River Yoshino! So, just try To bring it to an end! |
Tadafusa
Mandarin Ducks 鴛鴦
夜をさむみ岩波たかき山川につがはぬをしのすだくなるかな
yo o samumi iwanami takaki yamakawa ni tsugawanu oshi no sudakunaru kana | On chilly nights, when Waves break upon the boulders In the mountain rivers, The unmated mandarins do Gather and cry out! |
Nakazane
Left
戀衣いつか干るべき河社しるしも浪にいとゞしほれて
koigoromo itsuka hirubeki kawa yashiro shirushi mo nami ni itodo shiorete |
My clothes of love, When might they dry? A river shrine Has had no effect – the waves Dampen them all the more… |
Kenshō
1117
Right (Win)
いかで猶夜半の衣を返しても重ねしほどの夢をだに見ん
ikade nao yowa no koromo o kaeshitemo kasaneshi hodo no yume o dani min |
What to do? Again My night time garb Inside out I turn – As many layers As dreams, if only I would see… |
Takanobu
1118
The Right state: there are a number of different theories about the source poem ‘stems of bamboo wave freely the clothes I’d dry’ (shino ni orihae hosu koromo), so how should the allusion here be correctly understood? In response: this refers to a summer performance of sacred music and dance. In this, sprigs of sakaki are placed in clear water, and bamboo stems are hung from the shelf as offerings. This is the river shrine (kawa yashiro). It appears in the records about sacred music in summer. Standard sacred music is performed to pray to the gods. Thus, if one is made to bear the weight of something one has not done, the feeling is close to the conception of damp clothes, is it not? And this is associated with the clothes of lovers that will not dry. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem seems to be more about a ‘river shrine’ than ‘lovers’ clothing’ (koigoromo). While it is not entirely clear, the Left and Right’s criticism and response, are certainly unusual. There are two poems which are possible as sources for this, both of which appear in Tsurayuki’s Collection. These are: ‘At a river shrine / Stems of bamboo wave freely / The clothes I’d dry / How should I do so? / Seven days still damp…’ and:
行く水のうへにいはへる河社河浪高くあそぶなるかな
yuku mizu no ue ni iwaeru kawa yashiro kawa nami takaku asobunaru kana |
The waters run, and Above them in celebration is A river shrine; The river’s waves rise high, Taking pleasure in their play! |
This latter is a poem from a folding screen with pictures of each of the moons of the year, painted in the Tenryaku Era. Moreover, in a work by Lord Toshiyori, he says, ‘There is no one today who knows what a “river shrine” is. All we can do now is guess. So people say that it was a shrine on top of the water, where sacred music was performed in summer. The latter poem certainly does not seem to have this meaning. The former makes no mention of sacred music, and simply talks of clothing one has wanted to dry for a long time not drying.’ In addition, I have questioned a member of a household familiar with sacred music about this matter, and been told, ‘Where summer sacred music is concerned, there is a particular way of it. It is definitely absent from the records.’ Furthermore, Toshiyori played the double-reed flute. He would clearly have known all about sacred music, and around this time wrote, ‘first of all, there is no one who knows of this,’ and yet the Left’s response simply states, ‘it appears in the records about sacred music.’ This is something which requires greater proof. If the gentleman of the Left is able to provide some now, this would be a fine thing for the Way of Music! These, in brief, are my thoughts on this matter and, of course, the Left’s response.
First, it is a mistake to say that the river shrine is necessarily connected with summer sacred music. Summer sacred music is just what it sounds like: in summer, sacred music is performed, but not in any fixed way. However, here summer sacred music is done before a river shrine. Kawa yashiro shino ni is an old term for widely or ordinarily. It appears to have been used this way in the Collection of a Myriad Leaves. Orihaete has the same meaning. In the phrase ‘drying a robe / seven days undrying’ (hosu koromo / nanoka hizu) seven, or eight, days is simply a poetic convention for conveying that something was not dry after a long time. The ‘robe’ is not really a piece of clothing, but something which resembles it, and which is not dry. Ise said of the so-called Ryūmon Waterfall, ‘So why should the mountain’s princess rinse her cloth’ (nani yama hime no nuno sarasuramu) and also there are expressions such as ‘Nunohiki Falls’. Thus we have the Left’s argument for the summer sacred music platform, and then Lord Toshiyori’s writings; further, on the term shino ‘bamboo hung from the shelf as an offering to the gods’ and ‘clothing has the conception of damp clothing’. This is a remarkable way of interpreting the poem, indeed! The only way to settle the matter would be with the presentation of definite proof. So, this is certainly something which His Grace should request for review. In short, the Left’s poem, beginning with the idea that lovers’ clothing is to pray at a river shrine, and then saying ‘it has no effect’ (shirushi mo nami ni) seems like everlasting bitterness. The Right’s poem says ‘my night time garb inside out I turn’ (yowa no koromo o kaeshitemo), which is quite ordinary. In the absence of definite proof for the Left’s contentions, the Right must win.
Left
けふも猶雪はふりつつ春霞たてるやいづこ若菜つみてむ
kyō mo nao yuki wa furitsutsu harugasumi tateru ya izuko wakana tsumitemu |
Still yet, today Is the snow falling; O, spring haze Where do you arise? For I would go and pluck fresh herbs! |
3
In no hyakushu, shodo, Eighth Month Shōji 2 [September 1200]
Right
朝氷たがため分て此川のむかへの野べに若菜つむらん
asagōri ta ga tame wakete kono kawa no mukae no nobe ni wakana tsumuran |
This film of morning ice: For who’s sake do I break it? On this river’s Yonder side within the fields Would I pluck fresh herbs… |
4
Naidaijinke hyakushu, Ninth Month Kenpō 3 [October 1215]
Left
玉章のたえだえになるたぐひかな雲井に雁の見えみ見えずみ
tamazusa no taedae ni naru tagui kana kumoi ni kari no miemi miezumi |
His jewelled missives Have become intermittent It seems, just like The geese up in the skies, Glimpsed, and then not seen at all… |
Lord Ari’ie
1051
Right (Win)
思かぬる夜はの袂に風ふけて涙の河に千鳥鳴くなり
omoikanuru yowa no tamoto ni kaze fukete namida no kawa ni chidori nakunari |
Unable to bear my love, At midnight my sleeve is Stirred by the wind, and Upon a river of tears The plovers are crying… |
Nobusada
1052
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we find no faults to mention in the Left’s poem. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the reason for emphasising ‘upon a river of tears the plovers’ (namida no kawa ni chidori).
In judgement: the Left on a lover’s letters becoming intermittent, and saying ‘the geese up in the skies, glimpsed, and then not seen at all’ (kumoi ni kari no miemi miezumi) has a charming conception, and elegant diction. The Right, saying ‘at midnight my sleeve is stirred by the wind’ (yowa no tamoto ni kaze fukete) and continuing ‘the plovers are crying’ (chidori nakunari) has a configuration and diction which sounds fine, too. The criticisms of the Gentlemen of the Left are nothing more than ‘a fisherman fishing beneath his pillow’! Although the conception of the Left’s poem is charming, the configuration of the Right’s poem is slightly more notable, so it should win.
A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.
朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは
asapi sasi sogapi ni miyuru kamu nagara mina ni obasesu sirakumo no tipe wo osiwake ama sosori takaki tatiyama puyu natu to waku koto mo naku sirotape ni yuki pa puri okite inisipe yu arikinikereba kogosikamo ipa no kamusabi tama kiparu ikuyo penikemu tatiwite miredomo ayasi minedakami tani wo pukami to otitagitu kiyoki ka puti ni asa sarazu kiri tati watari yupu sareba kumowi tanabiki kumowi nasu kokoro mo sino ni tatu kiri no omopi sugusazu yuku midu no woto mo sayakeku yoroduyo ni ipitugi yukamu kapa si taezu wa |
The morning sun shines At my back,and Divine Your great name links: Clouds of white In a thousand layers, you pierce, and Tower into the heavens, Tall Tachiyama! In winter and, in summer both Indistinguishably are you Clad in mulberry white Fallen drifts of snow; Since ancient days Ever has been your estate, Fastened round with Crags divine; ‘til all souls end Have countless ages passed! Standing here, I see you, yet am awed by Your lofty peak and Valley’s deep, where Plunge seething cataracts of Waters pure to pools where Morning never leaves – Mists rise and roll across, and When the evening comes Clouds trail in and Cover all, Even, with sadness, my heart, so The rising mists Never leave my thoughts, and of Your running waters’ Clear, pure sound Through ten thousand ages Will I ever tell Unending as a river’s flow… |
Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主
A chrysanthemum from the barrier at Meeting Hill.
この花は尽きぬらし関川のたえずも見よと折れる菊の枝
kono Fana Fa tukinurasi sekikaFa no taezu mo miyo to woreru kiku no e |
These flowers Do never seem to end, as The river past the barrier gate Endless appears to flow, so too is A plucked chrysanthemum stem. |
10
Left (Tie).
吉野河はやき流れを堰く岩のつれなき中に身を砕くらん
yoshinogawa hayaki nagare o seku iwa no tsurenaki naka ni mi o kudakuran |
The River Yoshino’s Swift flow is Dammed by boulders; With the chilling of our bond It seems my very self will shatter… |
A Servant Girl
995
Right.
ありとても逢はぬためしの名取川朽ちだにはてよ瀬せの埋れ木
ari tote mo awanu tameshi no natorigawa kuchi dani hateyo sese no mumoregi |
We live, yet Cannot meet – our situation A source of rumours; in the River Natori Let all rot away with The drowned trees in the rapids! |
Jakuren.
996
Both Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: both poems are extremely good. This is a tie of quality.
Left.
人心さのみはいかゞ水無瀬川我には淺き契なるらむ
hito kokoro sa nomi wa ikaga minasegawa ware ni wa asaki chigiri naruramu |
Her heart Is just like it; why as The Minase River So shallow for me Should her feelings be? |
Lord Suetsune
993
Right (Win).
いかにして影をも見まし澤田河袖つくほどの契りなりとも
ika ni shite kage o mo mimashi sawadagawa sode tsuku hodo no chigiri naritomo |
No matter what I would see her face in The River Sawada, Even if my sleeves get drenched By my feelings… |
Ietaka.
994
Both Left and Right together state: there are no faults to indicate.
In judgement: using ‘the Minase River’ (minasegawa) preceded by ‘is just like it; why as’ (sa nomi wa ika ni) sounds charming in style, but ‘should her feelings be?’ (chigiri naruramu) means the end of the poem is a bit dry! ‘The River Sawada, even if my sleeves get drenched’ (sawadagawa sode tsuku hodo no) sounds pleasant. Thus, the Right wins.
Left.
つれなしと人をぞさらに思ひ河逢ふ瀬を知らぬ身を恨ても
tsurenashi to hito o zo sara ni omoigawa ause o shiranu mi o uramitemo |
How cruel She is, I ever feel, My thoughts a river; No rushed meetings between us – I hate myself for that, and yet… |
Lord Kanemune
991
Right (Win).
遥なる程とぞ聞し衣川かた敷く袖の名こそ有けれ
harukanaru hodo to zo kikishi koromogawa katashiku sode no na koso arikere |
Far, far away Lies, I have heard, The River Robe: For my single spread sleeve How apt that name is! |
Lord Takanobu
992
The Right state: we find the Left’s poem unconvincing. The Left state: the Right’s poem lacks any faults.
In judgement: in the Left’s poem, ‘my thoughts a river’ (omoigawa) is certainly not unconvincing. The latter section of the Right’s poem sounds fine. It should win.