On blossom.
真葛原靡く秋風吹くごとに阿太の大野の萩の花散る
makuzu para nabiku akikaze puku goto ni ada no opono no pagi no pana tiru | The kudzu vines upon the moors Flutter in the autumn wind, As it blows Upon Ada plain The bush-clover blossoms scatter. |

On blossom.
真葛原靡く秋風吹くごとに阿太の大野の萩の花散る
makuzu para nabiku akikaze puku goto ni ada no opono no pagi no pana tiru | The kudzu vines upon the moors Flutter in the autumn wind, As it blows Upon Ada plain The bush-clover blossoms scatter. |
A poem composed by someone unknown.
梨棗黍に粟つぎ延ふ葛の後も逢はむと葵花咲く
nasi natume kimi ni apatugi papu kudu no noti mo apamu to apupi pana saku | As for pear and jujube and Millet, too, do I long to meet you; As trailing kudzu parts and Meets again, so on The day we meet will hollyhocks bloom. |
雁がねの寒く鳴きしゆ水茎の岡の葛葉は色づきにけり
kari ga ne no samuku nakisi yu midu kuki no woka ni kuzupa pa irodukinikeri |
Since the geese have So coldly cried Writing brush trailed Upon the hill, the arrowroot leaves Have gained autumn shades. |
霍公鳥鳴く声聞くや卯の花の咲き散る岡に葛引く娘女
pototogisu naku kowe kiku ya unopana no sakitiru woka ni kuzu piku wotome |
The cuckoos’ Echoing call, did you hear? Where deutzia Bloom and scatter on the hill You maidens gathering arrowroot… |
[One of] two poems composed by Yamanoue no Okura listing the flowers of the autumn fields.
萩の花尾花葛花なでしこの花をみなへしまた藤袴朝顔の花
pagi no pana wobana kudupana nadesiko no pana wominapesi mata pudibakama asagapo no pana |
Bush clover blooms, Silver grass and kudzu, Pinks, Valerian And fujibakama, Morning glory blooms. |
Yamanoue no Okura
山上憶良
Left.
引かへて荒き氣色をみだらおのこまごまとこそ恨かけつれ
hikikaete araki keshiki o midarao no komagoma to koso uramikaketure |
You have changed, and Dishevelled in appearance As a piebald Colt, you are not, yet I hate you still! |
Kenshō
757
Right (Win).
露しげき秋の野も狭の眞葛原いつまでよその物と聞きけん
tsuyu shigeki aki no no mo se no makuzubara itsu made yoso no mono to kikiken |
Dew drenched, The autumn field is all Covered with kuzu, For how long will such distant Whispers reach me? |
Lord Takanobu
758
The Right state: the Left’s poem sounds pretentious. We are also unable to accept the use of ‘colt, you are not’ (komagoma). The Left state: the Right’s poem sounds archaic.
In judgement: ‘Dishevelled in appearance as a piebald’ (araki keshiki o midarao) is entirely unacceptable style. As for ‘covered with kuzu’, while ‘field is all’ (no mo se) is also undesirable, the final section is elegant. It should win over ‘piebald’.
Left (Win).
夢かさは野邊の千草の面影はほのぼの招く薄ばかりや
yume ka sa wa nobe no chigusa no omokage wa honobono maneku susuki bakari ya |
Was it all a dream? Across the fields a thousand blooms Did meet my gaze; now Dimly beckoning Are there only fronds of miscanthus grass… |
513
Right.
むら薄たえだえ野邊に招けども下延ふ葛ぞ恨果てぬる
murasusuki taedae nobe ni manekedomo shita hau kuzu zo uramihatenuru |
The clumps of miscanthus grass From time to time across the fields Do wave, yet The creeping arrowroot beneath Holds all my regrets… |
514
The Right state that the initial line of the Left’s poem is ‘awkward’ [amari nari], and that they cannot approve of the final use of ya. The Left wonder about the appropriateness of ‘Holds all my regrets’ (uramihatenuru).
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have a number of criticisms of the Left’s poem. However, with careful consideration, while the poem is not tasteful in its entirety [subete yū ni shimo arazaredo], the initial line does not seem that strange, and the final ya is fine, is it not? The Right’s ‘The clumps of miscanthus grass from time to time across the fields do wave’ is tasteful [yū naru], but all that connects with ‘arrowroot’, is the subsequent ‘seeing what lies beneath’. ‘Arrowroot’ is too briefly in the poem for this. The initial and final sections of the Left’s poem have been criticised by the Gentlemen of the Right, but they are not without purpose. Thus, the Left wins.
Left.
あさなあさなあへず散りしく葛の葉に置そふ霜の秋ぞすくなき
asana asana aezu chirishiku kuzu no ha no okisou shimo no aki zo sukunaki |
Morning after morning Never ceasing, scatter Arrowroot leaves, Burdened by frost: There’s little left, of Autumn now. |
77
Right (Win)
秋はいぬ夕日がくれの峰の松四方の木の葉の後もあひ見ん
aki wa inu yūhigakure no mine no matsu yomo no ko no ha no nochi mo aimin |
Autumn is now gone; The evening sun concealing Peaks, topped with pines, About them, fallen leaves: An aftermath we’ll watch together. |
78
Topic unknown.
あき風の吹き裏がへす葛の葉のうらみても猶うらめしき哉
akikaze no Fuki uragaFesu kuzu no Fa no uramitemo naFo urameshiki kana |
The autumn wind, Gusting, reveals the underside Of trailing creepers’ leaves; Catching a glimpse into your turncoat heart How bitter I do feel! |