New Year Archery
あづさ弓ひくひくたれもいのるらんかたわくけふのくものうへ人
| azusayumi hikuhiku taremo inoruran katawaku kyō no kumo no uebito | A catalpa bow Drawing and drawing, someone Is surely praying; Divided into teams today are The folk above the clouds. |
Kanemasa
Tag Archives: kumo
Ietaka-kyō hyakuban jika’awase 1
Left. Spring
あら玉の年もかはらぬふるさとの雪のうちにも春はきにけり
| aratama no toshi mo kawaranu furusato no yuki no uchi ni mo haru wa kinikeri |
To the fresh jeweled Year the change has yet to come, yet Around my familiar home Even within the snows The spring is here! |
1
Ninnaji gojūshu, Kenkyū 1 [1190]
Right
冬ながら花ちる空のかすめるは雲のこなたに春やきつらむ
| fuyu nagara hana chiru sora no kasumeru wa kumo no konata ni haru ya kitsuramu |
It’s winter now, yet Are the blossom-scattering skies Hazed Beneath the clouds by The arrival of spring, perhaps? |
2
Love VIII: 26
Left
さりともと待べき程の情かは人頼めなる蛛のふるまゐ
| sari tomo to matsubeki hodo no nasake ka wa hito tanomenaru kumo no furumai |
However faint, I thought, Through all my waiting hours Were his feelings, He can be trusted, Says the spider’s spinning! |
Lord Ari’ie
1071
Right (Win)
はかなくぞさもあらましに待たれぬる頼めぬ宵の蜘蛛のふるまゐ
| hakanaku zo sa mo aramashi ni matarenuru tanomenu yoi no kumo no furumai |
Fleeting, but So be it, then, I thought, Awaiting; How unreliable is this night’s Spider’s spinning… |
Lord Takanobu
1072
Left and Right together: both poems are about spiders, and have no faults to mention.
In judgement: both poems seem elegant in their reference to ‘spider’s spinning’ (kumo no furumai). However, the Left’s central section recalls ‘Men are not trees or stone – they have feelings’ – while this is elegant diction in Chinese composition, it does not seem so in our own poetry. The Right’s ‘so be it then, I thought’ (sa mo aramashi) is fine, but ‘unreliable is this night’ (tanomenu yoi) sounds as if the night is already over. Princess Sotōri, too, has ‘must surely come tonight’ (kubeki yoi nari), but then appears to have ‘a certain sign’ (kanete shirushi mo). Still, this is surely describing a situation where one once had doubts, but feel that tonight is reliable. The Right is slightly superior.
MYS XV: 3714
天雲のたゆたひ来れば九月の黄葉の山もうつろひにけり
| amakumo no tayutapikureba nagatuki no momidi no yama mo uturopinikeri |
As Heaven’s clouds Come fluttering In the Longest Month Autumn leaves upon the mountains Have paled in hue. |
Dairi no kiku awase 16
かくばかり雲の上高くのぼれれば駆ける鳥だにあらじとぞ思ふ
| kaku bakari kumo no uFe takaku noborereba kakeru tori dani arazi to zo omoFu |
Thus, when simply High above the clouds They rise Not even the speeding birds Do match them, I feel. |
16
Minbukyō yukihira no uta’awase 5
Left (Tie)
仄かなる声を聞きては時鳥鳴きつる方をまづぞ求むる
| Fonokanaru kowe wo kikite Fa Fototogisu nakituru kata wo madu zo motomuru |
Your faint Song I do hear O, cuckoo, Along the path you call Am I in truth invited. |
9
Right
小夜更けぬ布留の都の 時鳥帰る雲路の声を聞かせよ
| sayo Fukete Furu no miyako no Fototogisu kaFeru kumodi no kowe wo kikaseyo |
The brief night dawns At the ancient capital of Furu; O, cuckoo From your homeward path among the clouds Let me hear your song! |
10
MYS I: 18
Composed when Princess Nukata went to Ōmi.
三輪山をしかも隠すか雲だにも心あらなも隠さふべしや
| miwayama wo sikamo kakusu ka kumo dani mo kokoro ara na mo kakusapubesi ya |
Mount Miwa, Why are you concealed? Had the clouds but Sense, I wish They would hide you not! |
Princess Nukata
額田王
Eikyū hyakushu 411
The Names of the Buddhas
小夜更けて今ぞ法の師出でぬらむ 雲の上人名乗りすらしも
| sayo fukete ima zo nori no shi idenuramu kumo no uebito nanori surashi mo |
The brief night breaks, and Now, the recitation Does seem to emerge; Folk from above the clouds Presenting their own names… |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
Eikyū hyakushu 354
Imperial Visits to the Fields
空捕らぬ鷹もあらじな御狩野に雲の上人逢はずと思へば
| sora toranu taka mo araji na mikarino ni kumo no uebito awazu to omoeba |
Not hunting in the skies – Such a hawk there is not! In the imperial hunting grounds The folk from above the clouds Will never encounter one, I feel… |
Shunzei gosha hyakushu 228
五月雨は水上まさる泉川笠置の山も雲隠れつつ
| samidare wa minakami masaru izumigawa kasaki no yama mo kumogakuretsutsu |
In the drizzling rain The waters are high Upon the River Izumi; Mount Kasagi, too, Is hidden by the clouds. |
Fujiwara no Shunzei
藤原俊成