Scarlet Plum (紅梅)
くれなゐのころもの袖に梅の花あかぬ色とやおりかさぬらむ
kurenai no koromo no sode ni ume no hana akanu iro to ya orikasanuran | Upon a scarlet Robe’s sleeves, Plum blossoms: Can their hue ever sate me, I wonder, folded one atop another? |
Akinaka
Scarlet Plum (紅梅)
くれなゐのころもの袖に梅の花あかぬ色とやおりかさぬらむ
kurenai no koromo no sode ni ume no hana akanu iro to ya orikasanuran | Upon a scarlet Robe’s sleeves, Plum blossoms: Can their hue ever sate me, I wonder, folded one atop another? |
Akinaka
Left (Win)
からあひの八入の衣色深くなどあながちにつらき心ぞ
kara’ai no yashio no koromo iro fukaku nado anagachi ni tsuraki kokoro zo |
Deepest indigo Dipped many times, my robe’s Hue is dark, indeed; Why, with such heartless Cruelty am I treated… |
Lord Suetsune
1127
Right
衣衣にうつりし色はあだなれど心ぞ深き忍ぶもぢずり
kinuginu ni utsurishi iro wa ada naredo kokoro zo fukaki shinobu mojizuri |
My robe’s Hues have shifted; Faithless is she, yet My heart’s depths Are stained with fern-patterned longing… |
Lord Takanobu
1128
The Right state: we wonder whether ‘deepest indigo dipped many times’ (kara’ai no yashio) should not be scarlet. How dark would the colour be then? In response: there is no possibility of interpreting this as scarlet. We have used deep indigo, so what is there to criticise in then using dark? The Left state: while we understand the conception of the poem, we feel the expression is somewhat lacking. ‘My heart’s depths are stained with secret longing’ (kokoro zo fukaki shinobu mojizuri) does not link well with the initial part of the poem.
In judgement: the Left’s initial ‘deepest indigo’ (kara’ai) certainly sounds elegant, and there is no reason to make it scarlet. I also see no reason to fault the use of dark, either. As for the Right, it does not sound as if ‘stained with fern-patterned longing’ (shinobu mojizuri) links with the remainder of the poem – from the beginning to ‘my heart’s depths’ (kokoro zo fukaki). The final ‘stained with fern-patterned longing’ seems to appear abruptly. Deepest indigo should win.
Left
うちとけて誰に衣を重ぬらんまろがまろ寝も夜深き物を
uchitokete tare ni koromo o kasanuran maro ga marone mo yobukaki mono o |
Loosening them, With whom does he clothes Pile together? Sleeping all alone How deep this night is… |
A Servant Girl
1121
Right (Win)
思わび寝る夜の床の露しげみ身のしろ衣かす人もがな
omoiwabi neru yo no toko no tsuyu shigemi mi no shirogoromo kasu hito mo gana |
In the grief of love, Sleeping at night, my bed Is soaked through with dew; To lend me an over-mantle Is there no one at all… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1122
The Right state: the final section of the Left’s poem is difficult to grasp. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘sleeping all alone how deep this night is…’ (maro ga marone mo yobukaki mono o) does not sound as if it links with the initial section of the poem. ‘Alone’ (maro) is also unacceptable. The Right’s ‘to lend me an over-mantle’ (mi no shirogoromo) sounds elegant. I make it the winner.
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.
橡の衣の色はかはらねど一重になればめづらしき哉
turubami no koromo no iro Fa kaFarenedo FitoFe ni nareba medurasiki kana |
An oak-dyed Robe’s shade Does never change, yet When but a single layer has it become, How rare it is, indeed! |
Minamoto no Akinaka
源顕仲
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.
取りすがる恋の奴に慕はれて立ち止まりぬる旅衣かな
torisugaru koFi no yatuko ni sitaFarete tatidomarinuru tabi no koromo kana |
Trailing after comes, Love’s slave, So sweet that I Have halted In my travelling garb! |
Shun’e
俊恵
Hidden Love
思ひては心ばかりに通はして衣の頸にことな漏らしそ
omoite wa kokoro bakari ni kayowashite koromo no kubi ni koto na morashi so |
My feelings Simply through my heart I send back and forth; On the collar of my robe O, let nothing leak out! |
Minamoto no Nakazane
源仲実
Topic unknown.
白浪はたてと衣にかさならすあかしもすまもおのかうらうら
siranami Fa tatedo koromo ni kasanarazu akasi mo suma mo ono ga uraura |
The whitecaps Break, yet no sewn robes Are laid upon each other; Both Akashi and Suma, too Are lined with their own shores… |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
柿本人麻呂
Topic unknown.
都いでて今日みかの原泉河かは風さむし衣かぜ山
miyako idete keFu mika no Fara idumigaFa kaFakaze samusi koromo kaseyama |
Departing the capital, Today on Mika meadow, From the River Izumi Chill is the wind, indeed, so Lend me your robe, O Kase Moutain! |
Anonymous