Groves 原
霧をいたみまのの萩原時雨れしてしづくに袖をおどろかしつる
kiri o itami mano no hagiwara shigure shite shizuku ni sode o odorokashitsuru | Mists run round The bush-clover groves at Mano, where Drizzle falls; Droplets on my sleeves – So startling! |
Toshiyori
Groves 原
霧をいたみまのの萩原時雨れしてしづくに袖をおどろかしつる
kiri o itami mano no hagiwara shigure shite shizuku ni sode o odorokashitsuru | Mists run round The bush-clover groves at Mano, where Drizzle falls; Droplets on my sleeves – So startling! |
Toshiyori
Groves 原
春の中はかすみのうちに見えしかど霧も立ちけりあをやぎのはら
haru no naka wa kasumi no uchi ni mieshikado kiri mo tachikeri aoyagi no hara | In the midst of springtime, Within the hazes Have they appeared, yet now The mist has arisen among The willow groves. |
Nakazane
Left (Win)
鴨のゐる入江の浪を心にて胸と袖とにさはぐ戀かな
kamo no iru irie no nami o kokoro nite mune to sode to ni sawagu koi kana |
Ducks flock on The inlet’s waves Within my heart, so My breast and sleeves both Are raucous with love! |
Lord Sada’ie
1055
Right
佐保川の霧のまよひの程だにも妻もとむとて千鳥鳴夜を
saogawa no kiri no mayoi no hodo dani mo tsuma motomu tote chidori naku yo o |
To the vernal river: The mist brings confusion And in its midst, Seeking a mate, A plover cries at night… |
Jakuren
1056
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘my breast and sleeves both are raucous’ (mune to sode to ni sawagu)? The Left, in appeal, state: there is ‘the river-mouths of my sleeves’ (sode no minato) and ‘when I think, upon my breast’ (omoeba mune ni) so linking ‘breast’ and ‘sleeve’ is entirely uncontroversial. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we find no faults to mention in the Right’s poem.
In judgement: I understand the views of the Left’s poem held by both teams. It has also been said that the Right’s poem lacks faults. However, in ‘seeking a mate, a plover cries at night’ (tsuma motomu tote chidori naku yo o) only the two words ‘at night’ (yo o) have any conception of love. The remainder of the poem is simply about plovers, so there is little of love about it. ‘Breast and sleeves both’ (mune to sode to) 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
Oaks 柞
いはばやないはたのもりの柞原へだつるきりは立ちものくやと
iwaba ya na iwata no mori no hahasowara hedatsuru kiri wa tachi mo noku ya to | Craggy, indeed, is The sacred grove of Iwata; The oak trees Covered by the mists Rising ever upward, they say… |
Tadafusa
Early Evening (晩立)
夕立はきりにきるともあづさ弓いにいてさへばくれずも有るかな
yūdachi wa kiri ni kirutomo azusayumi ini’ide saeba kurezu mo aru kana | Evening showers Clad in mist, yet When a catalpa bow Emerges to interfere There is no dusk, at all. |
Toshiyori
Composed on plovers for a poetry competition in Eishō 4 [1050].
佐保川の霧のあなたに鳴く千鳥聲は隔てぬ物にぞ有ける
saFogaFa no kiri no anata ni naku tidori kowe Fa Fedatenu mono ni zo arikeru |
The River Sao: Mist rises, and from beyond Come plover cries, Their calls uninterrupted By anything. |
The Horikawa Minister of the Right [Fujiwara no Yorimune]
夜の程に紅葉しにけりたつた山峰の薄霧いろいろに見ゆ
yoru no hodo ni momijishinikeri tatsutayama mine no usugiri iroiro ni miyu |
In the space of just one night Have the leaves turned scarlet; On Tatsuta Mountain The faint mists around the peak Have taken on their hues. |
Cloistered Prince Kakushō
覚性法親王
春山の霧に惑へる鴬も我れにまさりて物思はめやも
paru yama no kiri ni madoperu ugupisu mo ware ni masarite mono’omopame ya mo |
In the springtime mountains’ Mists astray Is the bush-warbler More than I Lost in gloomy thought? |
Envoy.
明日香河川淀さらず立つ霧の思ひ過ぐべき恋にあらなくに
asukagapa kapa yodo sarazu tatu kiri no omopisukubeki kopi ni aranakuni |
O, Asuka River, Ever from your pools Mist arises; To simply put from my mind This love – I cannot! |
Yamabe no Akahito
山部赤人