Tag Archives: magaki

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 22

Round Twenty-Two

Snow

Left (Win)

霜がれのまがきの中に雪ふれば菊より後の花もありけり

shimogare no
magaki no naka ni
yuki fureba
kiku yori nochi no
hana mo arikeri
When, burned by frost,
Within my lattice fence
There is a fall of snow,
After the chrysanthemums,
There are flowers, even so.

Suketaka
43

Right

花さけば雪かとみせて雪ふれば花かとみするみよしのの山

hana sakeba
yuki ka to misete
yuki fureba
hana ka to misuru
miyoshino no yama
When the blossom blooms
I wonder if ‘tis snow, and
When the snow does fall
I wonder if ‘tis blossom
In the mountains of fair Yoshino.

Kūnin
44

Both are elegant, but even so the Right should lose.

SKKS V: 507

On the conception of chrysanthemums under the moon by a lattice fence, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.

霜をまつまがきの菊のよひの間におきまよふ色は山のはの月

shimo o matsu
magaki no kiku no
yoi no ma ni
okimayou iro wa
yama no ha no tsuki
Awaiting the frost
By my lattice fence, the chrysanthemums
In the midst of night
Are draped in puzzling hues
By the moon from off the mountains’ edge.

Kunaikyō

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

FGS XVI: 1738

From among his miscellaneous poems.

くれぬるかまがきの竹のむらすずめねぐらあらそふ声さわぐなり

kurenuru ka
magaki no take no
murasuzume
negura arasou
koe sawagunari
Is it dusk?
Along the bamboo of my lattice fence
A flock of sparrows
Quarrelling over roosts
Is chirping noisily, indeed!

The Jōmyōji Minister of the Left
浄妙寺左大臣

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 03

Left

あきごとにさきはくれどもをみなへしけふをまつとのなにこそありけれ

aki goto ni
saki wa kuredomo
ominaeshi
kyō o matsu to no
na ni koso arikere
Every single autumn
Does her time to bloom arrive, yet
This maidenflower
Has been waiting for this day
Or so the rumour goes!

5[1]

Right

さやかにもけさはみえずやをみなへしきりのまがきにたちかくれつつ

sayaka ni mo
kesa wa miezu ya
ominaeshi
kiri no magaki ni
tachikakuretsutsu
Clearly
This morning I cannot glimpse
That maidenflower
In the mists along the brushwood fence
Ever does she hide herself away.

6[2]


[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 518

[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 540

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 13

Colours of chrysanthemums at the base of a fence (籬菊色色)

Left

いろいろにうつろふ風のそがぎくはしなじなよはの霜やおくらん

iroiro ni
utsurou kaze no
sogagiku wa
shinajina yowa no
shimo ya okuran
Hues
Shifting with the breeze
Are the yellow chrysanthemums:
Is it because of night’s differing
Frostfall, perhaps?

A Court Lady
25

Right

おく霜にまがきのきくをみわたせばいろいろにこそうつろひにけれ

oku shimo ni
magaki no kiku o
miwataseba
iroiro ni koso
utsuroinikere
Frost has fallen upon
The chrysanthemums by the rough-hewn fence, and
When I gaze across them,
How their hues
Have faded away!

A Court Lady
26

Love V: 23

Left (Tie).
隔てける籬の島のわりなきに住む甲斐なしや千賀の塩釜

hedatekeru
magaki no shima no
warinasa ni
sumu kai nashi ya
chika no shiogama
Barring our way is
The fence – Magaki Isle:
So unreasonable
That living close is pointless, as if
We were at Chika’s salt-kilns!

Kenshō
885

Right.
忍ぶ草竝ぶ軒端の夕暮に思ひをかはすさゝがにの糸

shinobugusa
narabu nokiba no
yūgure ni
omoi o kawasu
sasagani no ito
A weeping fern lies
Between our almost touching eaves;
In the evening
Love will pass
Along the spider’s thread.

Ietaka
886

The Right state: the Left’s ‘Magaki Isle’ (magaki no shima) and ‘Chika’s salt kiln’s’ (chika no shiogama) do not seem that nearby, do they? They only evoke closeness through wordplay. The Right state: we find no faults to indicated in the Left’s poem.

In judgement: the Left’s ‘Magaki Isle’ and ‘Chika’s salt kilns’, even if they are not that close, do not display a lack of technique in the conception of the current composition. I do wonder what to think about ‘so unreasonable’ (warinasa ni), though. The Right’s weeping ferns, with the spider’s behaviour transmitting the feelings of love, does not seem unreasonable either. This round, too, the poems are comparable and should tie.

Autumn III: 15

Left.

今日といへばやがて籬の白菊ぞ尋し人の袖と見えける

kyō to ieba
yagate magaki no
shiragiku zo
tazuneshi hito no
sode to miekeru
On this day
At last, along my lattice fence
White chrysanthemums:
Seeming like the sleeves of
One who came to call…

Lord Kanemune.

449

Right.

さか月に浮べる今日の影よりやうつろひ初むる白菊の花

sakazuki ni
ukaberu kyō no
kage yori ya
uturoisomuru
shiragiku no hana
In my wine cup
Floating on this day:
Does the moonlight
Bring on changing hues
For white chrysanthemum blooms?

Ietaka.

450

The Right say that having the phrase ‘at last, along my lattice fence’ (yagate magaki no) continuing one from the other is ‘unsatisfactory’ [kokoroyukazu]. The Left say that the Right’s phrasing sounds as if the change in colour is brought about by the blossom floating in the wine cup, rather than the moonlight, and query if this is appropriate.

Shunzei’s judgement: Is the Left’s ‘at last, along my lattice fence’ that poor [ashiku ya wa]? Furthermore, the Right’s poem simply means ‘when floating in the wine cup’ the colours ‘change’. Neither poem has any conspicuous faults [tomo ni toganaku kikoyu]. The round should tie.

Autumn I: 30

Left.

朝まだき庭も籬も野分して露をきあがる草の葉もなし

asa madaki
niwa mo magaki mo
nowakishite
tsuyu okiagaru
kusa no ha mo nashi
At the cusp of dawn
My garden and my fence, too,
After the gales,
Are drenched in dew
Flattened blades of grass – every one.

Lord Ari’ie.

359

Right.

夕間暮むら雲迷ひ吹風に枕定めぬ花の色いろ

yūmagure
muragumo mayoi
fuku kaze ni
makura sadamenu
hana no iroiro
In the dim dusk light
Crowding clouds confusedly
Blown by the breeze
Unable to rest are all
The many blooms.

Lord Takanobu.

360

The Right state that ‘linking “gales” with “drenched” is a poor expression’, while the Left feel that they have no criticisms of the Right’s poem.

Shunzei, again, broadly agrees: ‘What are we to make of the Left’s poem with a fence left standing in a garden after a gale? The Right’s “crowding clouds confusedly” is fine, indeed. Although the term “pillow” is unsuitable in this context, the Left’s “drenched in dew” cannot possibly be right here, either, and so the Right wins.”