Tag Archives: moonlight

Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 7

The Middle of Autumn

Left (Tie)

くもゐよりてりやまさるときよたきのそこにてもみむあきのつきかげ

kumoi yori
teri ya masaru to
kiyotaki no
soko nite mo mimu
aki no tsukikage
From the clouds
Does it shine most bright?
On Kiyotaki’s
Riverbed I see
Autumn moonlight.

13

Right

人しれぬねをやなくらんあきはぎのはなさくまでにしかのこゑせぬ

hito shirenu
ne o ya nakuran
aki hagi no
hana saku made ni
shika no koe senu
That no one may know
Quietly, does he cry?
Until the autumn bush clover
Blooms flower
The stag’s bell stays silent.

Mitsune
14

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 29

Left

吹く風の我が宿にくる夏の夜は月の影こそすずしかりけれ

fuku kaze no
wa ga yado ni kuru
natsu no yo wa
tsuki no kage koso
suzushikarikere
The gusting breeze
Comes to my house
Upon a summer night
Making the moonlight
Feel cool, indeed!

57

Right

ゆふされば蛍よりけにもゆるとも光みえねば人ぞつれなき

yū sareba
hotaru yori ke ni
moyuredomo
hikari mineba ya
hito no tsurenaki
With the fall of evening,
The fireflies’ are as nothing beside
My burning, yet
I cast no light, so
Will my love stay chill?

Tomonori

58[1]


[1] Kokinshū XII: 562/Shinsen man’yōshū 69/Kokin rokujō VI: 4013

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 25

Left

古郷をおもひやれども郭公こぞのごとくになれぞなくなる[1]

furusato o
omoiyaredomo
hototogisu
kozo no gotoku ni
nare zo nakunaru
My ancient home
Lingers fondly in my thoughts, yet
The cuckoo
Just as last year
Sings as he was accustomed to do!

49

Right

夏の夜の霜やおけるとみるまでに荒れたる宿を照す月かげ

natsu no yo no
shimo ya okeru to
miru made ni
aretaru yado o
terasu tsukikage
Upon a summer night
That frost has fallen
It does appear at
A ruined dwelling where
The moonlight shines.

50[2]


[1] The concluding two lines of this poem are missing from the contest’s text, but have been supplied by later scholarship.

[2] Kokin rokujō I: 286/A minor variant of this poem is included in Mandaishū (III: 730), with the headnote ‘A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress’ なつのよもしもやおけると見るまでにあれたるやどをてらすつきかな natsu no yo no / shimo ya okeru to / miru made ni / aretaru yado o / terasu tsuki kana ‘Upon a summer night / That frost has fallen / It does appear at / A ruined dwelling where / The moon does shine!’

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 TitleAru tokoro no uta’awase
Translated TitlePoetry Contest held in a Certain Place
Alternative Title(s)
DateNight, 15/8 Shōtai 4 [30.9.901]
Extant Poems2
Sponsor
Identifiable Participants
JudgementsN
TopicsAutumn

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