Tag Archives: mists

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 10

Round Ten

Left

千鳥啼くさほの川霧たちぬなり嶺の紅葉の色まさりけり

chidori naku
sao no kawagiri
tachinu nari
mine no momiji no
iro masarikeri
Plovers cry, as
The mists from the Sao River
Have risen;
On the peaks the scarlet leaves’
Hues are fine, indeed.

19

Right

This poem is missing from the surviving texts of the competition.

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 9

Round Nine

Left

川ぎりのふもとをこめて立ちぬれば空にぞ秋の山はみえける

kawagiri no
fumoto o komete
tachinureba
sora ni zo aki no
yama wa miekeru
The river mists
Around the foothills
Have risen, so
‘Tis in the skies that autumn
On the mountains is revealed.

Fukayabu
17

Right

年毎の紅葉ばながす立田川みなとや秋のとまりなるらん

toshigoto no
momijiba nagasu
tatsutagawa
minato ya aki no
tomari naruran
Every single year
Scarlet leaves wash down
The Tatsuta River;
Is it at the mouth that autumn
Might find its port?

18

MYS XVII: 4003

A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.

朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは

asapi sasi
sogapi ni miyuru
kamu nagara
mina ni obasesu
sirakumo no
tipe wo osiwake
ama sosori
takaki tatiyama
puyu natu to
waku koto mo naku
sirotape ni
yuki pa puri okite
inisipe yu
arikinikereba
kogosikamo
ipa no kamusabi
tama kiparu
ikuyo penikemu
tatiwite
miredomo ayasi
minedakami
tani wo pukami to
otitagitu
kiyoki ka puti ni
asa sarazu
kiri tati watari
yupu sareba
kumowi tanabiki
kumowi nasu
kokoro mo sino ni
tatu kiri no
omopi sugusazu
yuku midu no
woto mo sayakeku
yoroduyo ni
ipitugi yukamu
kapa si taezu wa
The morning sun shines
At my back,and
Divine
Your great name links:
Clouds of white
In a thousand layers, you pierce, and
Tower into the heavens,
Tall Tachiyama!
In winter and, in summer both
Indistinguishably are you
Clad in mulberry white
Fallen drifts of snow;
Since ancient days
Ever has been your estate,
Fastened round with
Crags divine;
‘til all souls end
Have countless ages passed!
Standing here,
I see you, yet am awed by
Your lofty peak and
Valley’s deep, where
Plunge seething cataracts of
Waters pure to pools where
Morning never leaves –
Mists rise and roll across, and
When the evening comes
Clouds trail in and
Cover all,
Even, with sadness, my heart, so
The rising mists
Never leave my thoughts, and of
Your running waters’
Clear, pure sound
Through ten thousand ages
Will I ever tell
Unending as a river’s flow…

Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主

SZS VI: 420

Composed when he had gone to the Uji River.

朝ぼらけ宇治の川ぎり絶々にあらはれ渡る瀬々の網代木

asaborake
udi no kaFagiri
taedae ni
araFarewataru
sese no aziroki
At the dawn
The mists across Uji River
Fade in and out
Drifting across
The fishing nets in the rapids.

Middle Councillor [Fujiwara no] Sadayori (995-1045)
中納言定頼

Autumn II: 23

Left (Win).

いづ方へ羽かく鴫の立ちぬらんまだ明やらぬ霧の迷ひに

izukata e
hane kaku shigi no
tachinuran
mada akeyaranu
kiri no mayoi ni
From where is it that
The snipes’ wing-beats
Do come?
With no daybreak yet,
They are lost amidst the mists…

Lord Kanemune.

405

Right.

ほのかにも鴫の羽音ぞ聞ゆなる殘ことなき秋の寢覺に

honoka ni mo
shigi no haoto zo
kikoyunaru
nokoro koto naki
aki no nezame ni
Faintly
Snipes’ wing-beats
Do I hear;
A flurry of thoughts
On waking in autumn…

Jakuren.

406

Neither Left nor Right has any criticisms to make this round.

Shunzei’s judgement: Although both poems seem without fault, ‘a flurry of thoughts’ (nokoru koto naki) suggests all the sorrows of autumn, but the initial part of the poem states that all the poet can hear is the snipes’ wing-beats – and nothing else – so there is a disagreement in what the poem is expressing. I do wonder about the initial line of the Left’s poem, but it should win.

Autumn II: 18

Left (Win).

山遠き門田の末は霧晴て穂波に沈む有明の月

yama tōki
kadota no sue wa
kiri harete
honami ni shizumu
ariake no tsuki
By the distant mountains,
At the farthest reach of fields before my gates,
The mists are clearing, and
Sinking amongst the waves of rice-ears is
The dawntime moon…

A Servant Girl.

395

Right.

夕月夜ほのめく影も哀なり稲葉の風は袖に通ひて

yūzukuyo
honomeku kage mo
awarenari
inaba no kaze wa
sode ni kayoite
The autumn evening moon’s
Faint light is
Moving, indeed;
The wind upon the rice-stalks
Passing o’er my sleeves…

Lord Takanobu.

396

The Right simply say that the Left’s poem is ‘good’. The Left have no criticisms of the Right’s poem.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘dawntime moon’ (ariake no tsuki) and the Right’s ‘early evening moon’ are both deeply moving; the Left, continuing with ‘at the farthest reach of fields before my gates, the mists are clearing’ (kadota no sue wa kiri harete) is particularly fine, I feel. ‘Sinking amongst the waves of rice-ears’ (honami ni shizumu) is certainly technically proficient, and yet lacks a certain profundity. And yet, the initial ‘By the distant mountains’ (yama tōki) show a true depth. It should win.