When Middle Counsellor Minamoto no Noboru was Assistant Governor of Ōmi, she composed this and sent it to him.
相坂のゆふつけ鳥にあらばこそ君がゆききをなくなくも見め
| aFusaka no yuFutukedori ni araba koso kimi ga yukiki wo nakunaku mo mime | At Meeting Hill A cockerel Were I to be, even so Your comings and goings Would I weep to see, but… |
[Palace Lady] Kan’in
Love on Meeting
Left
ゆめのごとなどかよるのみきみをみんくるるまつまもさだめなきよを
| yume no goto nadoka yoru nomi kimi o min kururu matsu ma mo sadame naki yo o | In every dream Why at night, alone Might I see you? Time spent pining for the dark Is so uncertain… |
23[i]
Right (Win)
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこころかないくちよねてかこひはさむらむ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu kokoro kana iku chiyo nete ka koi wa samuramu | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My heart! How many thousand nights of sleep Might restore my love to what it was? |
24
[i] An almost identical poem is included in Saigū nyōgo kishi joō uta’awase (23). The same poem is also included in Shūishū (XII: 734), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote ‘From a poetry match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’, and also in Shūishō (VII: 264) as an anonymous poem with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.
Fresh Herbs
Left (Tie)
みわたせばひらのたかねにゆききえてわかなつむべくのはなりにけり
| miwataseba hira no takane ni yuki kiete wakana tsumubeku no wa narinikeri | When I gaze across To the high peak of Hira, The snow has vanished, and I might pick fresh herbs From the meadow it has become. |
Kanemori
11[i]
Right
はるの野のわかなはきみがためにこそおほくのとしをつまむとはおもへ
| haru no no no wakana wa kimi ga tame ni koso ōku no toshi o tsumamu to wa omoe | In the springtime meadows Fresh herbs, for my Lord’s Sake, indeed, In many a year Will I pick, I feel! |
12
The Right’s poem was inferior, but tied as it contained an element of Felicitation.
[i] This poem is included in Shoku gosenshū (I: 34), attributed to Kanemori, with the headnote ‘A poem from the Poetry Match held by the Reikeiden Junior Consort’.
Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
A poem for the year in which the Great Thanksgiving Service was held.[i]
くろきもて君がつくれる宿なれば万代ふともふりずも有りなん
| kuroki mote kimi ga tsukureru yado nareba yorozuyo futomo furizu mo arinan | With barken logs For my Lord constructed is This hall, so Even when ten-thousand ages pass, Ageless shall it be![ii] |
677
[i] The ‘Great Thanksgiving Service’ (dajiōe 大嘗会) was a special version of the ‘First Fruits Service’ (niiamesai 新嘗祭) held in the first year after the accession of the new emperor to the throne (see McAuley (2020, 1111) for more details). The ceremony Sanetomo is referring to here was conducted in 1212, following the accession of Emperor Juntoku 順徳 (1197-1242; r. 1210-1221) (Juntoku formally took the throne on the 25th day of the Eleventh Month, Jōgen 承元 4 [12.12.1210], and was enthroned on the 28th day of the Twelfth Month of the same year [14.1.1211]. His Great Thanksgiving Service was held on the 13th day of the Eleventh Month, Kenryaku 建暦 2 [7.12.1212])
[ii] See: A poem by Her Majesty, the Senior Retired Empress. 波太須珠寸 尾花逆葺 黒木用 造有室者 迄万代 hadasusuki / obana sakafuki / kuroki mochi / tsukureru muro wa / yorozuyo made ni ‘Still a’bud / The silver grass, reverse-thatched, / Upon the barken logs: / Thus constructed is this hall, / To stand until ten thousand ages pass!’ Empress Genshō (Man’yōshū VIII: 1637)
