Tag Archives: lodging

Teiji-in uta’awase 11

Ten Poems on the Third Month

Left (Tie)

みてかへるこころあかねばさくらばなさけるあたりにやどやからまし

mitekaeru
kokoro akaneba
sakurabana
sakeru atari ni
yado ya karamashi
Seeing you and returning home
Leaves my heart unsated,
O, cherry blossom!
In the place where you do bloom is
Where I would borrow lodging…

Okikaze
21

Right

しののめにおきてみつればさくらばなまだよをこめてちりにけるかな

shinonome ni
okite mitsureba
sakurabana
mada yo o komete
chirinikeru kana
At the edge of dawn,
When I arise to gaze upon
The cherry blossoms
Within the night’s span
Have they scattered!

Yorimoto
22

The Right’s poem was just as His Majesty said: ‘It expresses affection for the blossom through gazing and gazing upon them.’ When it was suggested to him that the work produced by Lord Sadakata and Lord Noboru conveyed the same overall impression, he took his time to consider the matter, then said, ‘In that case,’ and made the round a tie.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 24

をみなへしなどかあきしもにほふらむはなのこころをひともしれとか

ominaeshi
nadoka aki shimo ni
niouramu
hana no kokoro o
hito mo shire to ka
O, maidenflower,
Why is it that, of all, in autumn
You would glow so bright?
Of a fickle flower’s heart
Folk to inform, perhaps…

47

てをとらばひとやとがめむをみなへしにほへるのべにやどやからまし

te o toraba
hito ya togamemu
ominaeshi
nioeru nobe ni
yado ya karamashi
Should I put my hands on you,
By folk would I be despised,
O, maidenflower, so
In the meadow where you shine
Would I borrow lodging…

48

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 12

わびひとのとしふるさとはあきのののむしのやどりのなるぞわびしき[1]

wabibito no
toshi furu sato wa
aki no no no
mushi no yadori no
naru zo wabishiki
For one sunk in sadness
In an ancient dwelling
Among the autumn fields, where
The insects take their lodging,
Their cries are more heartbreaking.

23

あきのよのつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりのなみだやのべをそむらん[2]

aki no yo no
tsuyu oba tsuyu to
okinagara
kari no namida ya
nobe o somuramu
On Autumn nights
The dew as dewdrops
Falls, but,
Perhaps goose tears
Stain the fields?

24


[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (5579), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata

[2] This poem also appears in Kokinshū (V: 258) and Kokin rokujō (584). In both collections it is attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.

Fubokushō XI: 4232

A poem from the Poetry Contest held in the first year of Shōtai by former emperor Uda.[1]

wominaFesi
woritoru goto ni
matumusi no
yado Fa karenu to
naku ga kanashiki
O, maidenflowers,
Each and every time I pick you,
The pine crickets, that
Their lodging should not fade away
Do cry, and that is sad, indeed.

Anonymous


[1]The headnote is mistaken, as this poem actually comes from another maidenflower contest held by Uda, the year of which is unknown.

Love X: 12

Left (Tie)
一夜のみ宿かる人の契とて露結び置く草枕かな

hitoyo nomi
yado karu hito no
chigiri tote
tsuyu musubioku
kusamakura kana
For just a single night
Will he rent my lodging and
Make a brief bond of love;
Dewdrops tangled with
My grassy pillow…

A Servant Girl
1163

Right
結びけん契もつらし草枕待つ夕暮も宿を頼みて

musubiken
chigiri mo tsurashi
kusamakura
matsu yūgure mo
yado o tanomite
Tangled
Brief bonds are chill;
With a grassy pillow
She awaits the evening and
A request for lodging.

Takanobu
1164

Left and Right state together: both poems have only a faint conception of entertainers.

In judgement: both Left and Right have a ‘grassy pillow’ (kusamakura) and a faint conception of entertainers, as the Gentlemen have already stated. They seem to me to somehow resemble the poem by the Left in Round Nine. The Left’s ‘dewfall drops tangled’ (tsuyu musubioku) and the Right’s ‘brief bonds are chill’ (chigiri mo tsurashi) are both elegant. Once again, I make this a tie.

Love X: 9

Left
うかれめの浮かれて歩く旅やかた住みつきがたき恋もする哉

ukareme no
ukarete ariku
tabiyakata
sumitsukigataki
koi mo suru kana
Player girls do
Drift around
The inn-houses;
As unsettled
Is the love they make…

Lord Suetsune
1157

Right (Win)
東路やゆききの人にうちとけて宿かりそめの契すらしも

azumaji ya
yukiki no hito ni
uchitokete
yado karisome no
chigiri sura shimo
Along the Eastern Roads
Folk go back and forth, and
To relieve them, the girls
Find brief lodging and even make brief
Vows of love…

The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1158

The Right state: the Left’s poem has no matters we can criticize. The Left state: the conception of Love in the Right’s poem is vague.

In judgement: The Left’s poem seem certainly to capture the conceptions of both Love and player-girls. ‘Even’ (sura shimo) in the Right’s final section, sounds rather abrupt and portentous, but the initial section is certainly elegant. Thus, the Right should win.