Tag Archives: meeting

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 28

Round Four

Left (Both Judges – Win)

こひわぶる君が雲ゐの月ならば及ばぬ身にも影はみてまし

koiwaburu
kimi ga kumoi no
tsuki naraba
oyobanu mi ni mo
kage wa mitemashi
So cruel in your love,
My lord, above the clouds
The moon were you, then
Though it reaches me not
I wish your light to see…

Lady Kazusa
55

Right

いのるらん神のたたりはなさるとも逢ふてふ事に身をばけがさじ

inoruran
kami no tatari wa
nasaru tomo
au chō koto ni
mi oba kegasaji
You seem to pray for it, and
Even should a deity’s taboo
This break,
A meeting
Would be no pollution, I feel…

Lord Akinaka
56

Toshiyori states: the first poem makes a person into the moon, and is different in sense from the poem in the Tentoku poetry match which also uses ‘Though it reaches me not’. The second poem appears to be one written after becoming close to another—if that’s what the composition is about, then it should include an element from a prior poem for precedent. Then again, one could compose like this as a response to a prayer received from a man’s residence, in which case it would resemble something sent between people who have yet to meet. It loses.

Mototoshi states: saying ‘My lord, above the clouds / The moon were you, then’ appears an elegant sequence. I wonder if it was composed with the poem by Nakatsukasa in a poetry match in Tenryaku, where she uses ‘above the clouds, the moon’? While the ‘beloved light’ in this poem is very well depicted, here the diction seems stilted. As for the Right, up to ‘You seem to pray for it, and /Even should a deity’s taboo’ is acceptable, but ‘A meeting / Would be no pollution, I feel’ is extremely difficult to understand. Would a meeting, of whatever sort, be a cause of pollution? It really makes me feel as if something like ‘ditch’ was going to be dropped in! Neither has a charming conception, yet ‘above the clouds, the moon’ is slightly better in the present context.

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 03

Left (Tie)

あふことをまつとなげきしときよりもたなばたつめはいまやわぶらむ

au koto o
matsu to nagekishi
toki yori mo
tanabatatsume wa
ima ya waburamu
For a meeting
Did she pine and grieve,
But from that moment
The Weaver Maid
Now seems filled with lonely sadness.

5

Right

ながきよにつくすともなきたなばたのこひはそらにやもりわたるらん

nagaki yo ni
tsukusu tomo naki
tanabata no
koi wa sora ni ya
moriwataruran
The long night through
Did not exhaust at all
The Weaver Maid’s
Love into the skies
Seems to overflow.

6

SIS XI: 678

From the Poetry Match held in the reign of the Tenryaku Emperor.

逢ふ事のたえてしなくは中中に人をも身をもうらみざらまし

aFu koto no
taetesi naku Fa
nakanaka ni
Fito wo mo mi wo mo
uramizaramasi
If meeting
Were never to be, then
Somehow,
Both you, lady, and my unlucky lot
I would not wish to resent!

Middle Counsellor Asatada

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

Horikawa-in enjo awase 20

あふせをば流れてとこそたのめしかいかにとだにも音なしのたき

ause oba
nagarete to koso
tanomeshi ka
ika ni to dani mo
otonashi no taki
Our meeting, like the rapids,
Will flow on—can I
Trust in that?
However much they seem
The silenced cataract of Otonashi…

Lady Ki
39

In reply.

すみわぶる名をながさじとつつむまにしばしよどむぞ音なしの滝

sumiwaburu
na no nagasaji to
tsutsumu ma ni
shibashi yodomu zo
otonashi no taki
Living on in sorrow and
Letting no word of it flow out—
Thus wrapped up
Briefly stilled has been
The cataract of Otonashi.

Supernumerary Minor Captain Morotoki
40

Horikawa-in Enjo Awase 12

つらしともいざやいかがはいはし水あふせまだきにたゆる心は

tsurashi to mo
iza ya ikaga wa
iwashimizu
ause madaki ni
tayuru kokoro wa
How cruel!
Why as
Spring waters rushing from the rocks did
Our meeting swiftly
Did you wish to end?

Kazusa, in service to the Empress
23

In reply

世世ふともたえじとぞ思ふ神がきの岩ねをくぐる水の心は

yo yo futomo
taeji to zo omou
kamigaki no
iwane o kuguru
mizu no kokoro wa
Age upon age may pass, yet
Never shall we end, I feel, as from
The sacred precinct’s
Rocky roots flow
Waters—that is my heart!

24

Horikawa-in enjo awase 8

数ならで世に住江のみをつくしいつを待つともなき身なりけり

kazu narade
yo ni sumie no
mi o tsukushi
itsu o matsu tomo
nakimi narikeri
Countless are
The generations spent at Sumie, with
The channel buoys: exhausted
What should I await but
To be dead.

Master of the Left Capital Office Toshiyori
15

In reply

ながれてもあふせは絶えじ住江の身をつくしてもくちはててなん

nagaretemo
ause wa taeji
sumie no
mi o tsukushitemo
kuchihatetenan
Flowing on, yet
The rapids’ meetings will not cease;
At Sumie with
The channel buoys, you may be exhausted, but
Would you rot away…

Kazusa, in service to the Empress
16

A picture of channel markers in the sea.
Channel buoys. Image by Claudia Thorn from Pixabay