秋風はあやななふきそ白露のあだなるのべのくずのはのうへに
| akikaze wa aya na fuki so shiratsuyu no adanaru nobe no kuzu no ha no ue ni | O, autumn wind, Blow not so heedlessly! For silver dewdrops Briefly rest upon the meadow’s Kudzu creepers’ leaves… |
Tag Archives: kuzu
Kinkai wakashū 218
Aru tokoro no uta’awase – Shōtai 4-nen 15-ya
| Shinpen kokka taikan no. | |
| Heian-chō uta’awase taisei no. | 12 |
| Title | 或所歌合 |
| Romanised Title | Aru tokoro no uta’awase |
| Translated Title | Poetry Contest held in a Certain Place |
| Alternative Title(s) | |
| Date | Night, 15/8 Shōtai 4 [30.9.901] |
| Extant Poems | 2 |
| Sponsor | |
| Identifiable Participants | |
| Judgements | N |
| Topics | Autumn |
Only the date of this contest remains, along with two of its poems. Given the season, it would clearly have been an autumn-themed event and, as the 15th day of the Eighth Month was when conventionally the moon was at its brightest, it is not surprising that it seems to have been held at night, and contained at least some poems where the moon was a theme.
Of the two surviving poems, one was included in Fubokushō (XIV: 5840), while the other is only recorded here.
いそのかみふるのやしろにはふくずもあきにしなれば色かはりけり
| isonokami Furu no yasiro ni haFu kuzu mo aki ni shi nareba iro kaFarikeri | In Isonokami At the ancient shrine of Furu Even the creeping kudzu vine When the autumn comes Does change its hues. |
1
Right
山のはももみぢてちりぬ月影のかくるるところなくなりぬべし
| yama no Fa mo momidite tirinu tukikage no kakururu tokoro nakunarinubesi | Along the mountains’ edge Scarlet leaves have scattered In the moonlight A place concealed Is there none, at all. |
2
MYS X: 2096
MYS XVI: 3834
MYS X: 2208
MYS X: 1942
MYS VIII: 1538
[One of] two poems composed by Yamanoue no Okura listing the flowers of the autumn fields.
芽之花 乎花葛花 瞿麦之花 姫部志 又藤袴 朝皃之花
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
Love III: 19
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’.
Winter I: 17
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.