Poems for a folding screen for His Majesty, former Emperor En’yū.
住吉の岸のふぢなみわがやどの松のこずゑに色はまさらじ
| sumiyosi no kisi no Fudinami wa ga yado no matu no kozuwe ni iro wa masarazi | On Sumiyoshi’s Shore are wisteria waves, but Those at my house, In the treetops of the pines Are not less superb in hue… |
Taira no Kanemori
Written on a folding screen.
すみのえの岸のひめ松ふりにけりいづれの世にか種はまきけん
| suminoe no kishi no himematsu furinikeri izure no yo ni ka tane wa makiken | At Suminoe The princess pines upon the shore Have grown old; Which was the reign when Their seeds might have been a’planted?[i] |
630
[i] See: Topic unknown. 梓弓いそべのこ松たが世にかよろづ世かねてたねをまきけむ azusayumi / isobe no komatsu / ta ga yo ni ka / yorozuyo kanete / tane o makikemu ‘A catalpa bow, / The dwarf-pine upon the rocky shore / Has through whose lifetimes lived? / “That it last ten thousand ages!” / Was with its seed a’planted, perhaps?’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 907); and: Topic unknown. 我見てもひさしく成りぬ住の江の岸の姫松いくよへぬらむ ware mite mo / hisashiku narinu / suminoe no / kishi no himematsu / iku yo henuramu ‘Even to my sight / Eternal are / Suminoe’s / Princess pines upon the shore: / How many ages have they passed through?’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 905)
Round Nine
Left (Win)
うらさむくしぐるるよはのたびごろもきしのはにふにいたくにほひぬ
| ura samuku shigururu yowa no tabigoromo kishi no hanyū ni itaku nioinu | The bay is cold with Midnight showers, as My traveller’s robe With the shore’s ochre clay Is deeply stained. |
Taifu
67
Right
おもへただみやこのうちのねざめだにしぐるるそらはあはれならずや
| omoe tada miyako no uchi no nezame dani shigururu sora wa aware narazu ya | Simply think of me, when Within the capital You start from sleep— A showery sky is Sad, isn’t it? |
Sadanaga
68
While configuration of the Left’s poem, saying ‘With the shore’s ochre clay / Is deeply stained’ feels crude, it does appear to be in the style of the Myriad Leaves. As for the Right’s poem, its conception is good, but starting, ‘Simply think of me’ begs the question of who this is said to. Such diction is used in poetry exchanges or love poems, in particular. The Left’s poem is most likely superior.
Round Seven
Left (Tie)
きしちかみたびねのとこをうつなみのかへるひまにぞしぐれとはしる
| kishi chikami tabine no toko o utsu nami no kaeru hima ni zo shigure to wa shiru | Close by the coast My journey’s bed is Struck by waves; In the space as they withdraw, I know that showers are falling. |
Dharma Master Yūsei
63
Right
しばのとをたたくあらしのおとにまたしぐれうちそふたびのよはかな
| shiba no to o tataku arashi no oto ni mata shigure uchisou tabi no yowa kana | Upon my brushwood door The storm wind came a’knocking; The sound then Laced with showers, At midnight on my travels! |
Norimori
64
In the Left’s poem, it sounds as if the shower is continuing to fall quietly, yet it then appears to have the conception that one knows the showers are falling in the gaps between the waves breaking. In the Right’s poem, ‘The storm wind came a’knocking; / The sound then’ sounds charming, but I do wonder about how it looks to have lines beginning beginning with both ‘brushwood door’ [shiba no to] and ‘showers’ [shigure]. Thus, again, these tie.
Round Six
Left (Tie)
たびねするこやのしのやのひまをなみもらぬしぐれにぬるるそでかな
| tabinesuru koya no shinoya no hima o nami moranu shigure ni nururu sode kana | Dozing on my journey In Koya, beneath dwarf-bamboo thatch, No gaps has it, so No drips fall from the showers, yet Still my sleeves are soaked! |
Kunisuke
61
Right
しぐれつつものぞかなしきわすれぐさまくらにむすぶきしのたびねは
| shiguretsutsu mono zo kanashiki wasuregusa makura ni musubu kishi no tabine wa | In the ever-falling showers, I am sad, indeed, so Of forgetful day-lily My pillow will I weave, Napping on my travels by the coast… |
Horikawa
62
The Left’s poem is not bad in configuration and diction, but I would have preferred it had it said ‘no drips fall from the showers, too, yet’. As for the Right, saying that one is napping on one’s travels on the coast at Sumiyoshi, having woven a pillow from forgetful day-lilies does, indeed, sound evocative, but it would have been more so had there been a reason for the reference to day-lilies earlier in the poem. These tie, don’t they.
Left (Tie)
すみよしのきしうつなみにてる月はこかげもあかしまつのむらだち
| sumiyoshi no kishi utsu nami ni teru tsuki wa kokage mo akashi matsu no muradachi | At Sumiyoshi Upon the waves, striking the shore, Shines the moon— The shadows of the trees are bright Among the crowding pines. |
Chūnagon, in service to the Former Ise Virgin[1]
45
Right
としふりてかみさびにけるすみのえのきしのたまもをみがく月かげ
| toshi furite kamisabinikeru suminoe no kishi no tamamo o migaku tsukikage | Ancient in years is The dread Suminoe Shore, where gemweed Is polished by the moonlight. |
Novice Sokaku[2]
46
The Left’s poem has a truly charming conception, with ‘Upon the waves, striking the shore, / Shines the moon’ reflecting and making the pines’ shadows shine. However, what are we to make of the use of ‘bright’ here? My late master once stated that he had too often heard such diction being used. The poem of the right appears to have pleasant configuration and diction, but, while it is only natural to say that the Suminoe’s shore is dread, I wonder about the appropriateness of going so far as to say that gemweed is? It’s going a bit far, I think, to bring in ‘gemweed’ simply to link it to ‘polish’. Nevertheless, the configuration of the poem appears pleasant, so I call this a tie.
[1] Zen-saigū no Chūnagon前斎宮中納言
[2] Shami Sokaku沙弥素覚
