いもがかみうつをざさののはなれごまたはれにけらしあはぬ思へば
imo ga kami utsu ozasano no hanaregoma tawarenikerashi awanu omoeba | My darling’s hair Whips, on the dwarf-bamboo plains A wayward mount— Fallen, it seems, Thinking we will fail to meet… |
Composed at the Kameyama Palace in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the shape of a pine tree floating in a pond’.
万代とかめのを山の松かげをうつしてすめるやどの池水
yorozuyo to kame no oyama no matsukage o utsushite sumeru yado no ikemizu | For ten thousand generations On the mount of Kame Is the pine tree’s shape, Reflected, so clear in This dwelling’s pond waters. |
The Retired Emperor [Kameyama]
つらきをば思ひはれじとおもへども身をしる雨の所せくかな
tsuraki oba omoihareji to omoedomo mi o shiru ame no tokoroseku kana | Your cruelty Would never vanish from my thoughts, I felt, but The gentle rain knows me too well— How unmanageable it is! |
Kodashin
37
おもはずにふりそふ雨の歎をばみかさの山をさしてちかはん
omowazu ni furisou ame no nageki oba mikasa no yama o sashite chikanan | Unexpectedly, Rainfall covers all With grief, as On Mount Mikasa, my umbrella I raise as it draws near. |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Toshitada
38
さをしかのしがらみふする秋はぎはたまなす露ぞつつみたりける
saoshika no shigarami fusuru akihagi wa tama nasu tsuyu zo tsutsumitarikeru | Ah, the stag, Entangled, tripped On the autumn bush clover; Dewdrops turned gemlets Have wrapped him all around. |
21
かみなみのみむろの山をわけゆけばにしきたちきる心ちこそすれ
kaminami no mimuro no yama o wakeyukeba nishiki tachikiru kokochi koso sure | Deities dwell Upon Mount Mimuro, where I forge my way, Cutting and sewing the brocade of leaves, I feel! |
22
An ancient-styled poem to supplement a long poem.
君が世に相坂山の岩清水木隠れたりと思ける哉
kimi ga yo ni aFusakayama no iFasimidu kogakuretari to omoFikeru kana |
Your Majesty’s reign Is welcome so, as on the mount of Meeting Hill, Spring water from the crags Is hidden in the trees, thus I am I sunk in thought! |
Mibu no Tadamine
Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき
karakuni no tora fusu nobe ni iru yori mo madou koiji no sue zo ayauki |
In far Cathay are Meadows where tigers lie, But rather than entering there, The confusing paths of love Are, at the end, more dangerous… |
Lord Ari’ie
1063
Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず
wa ga yado wa hito mo kareno no asajiwara kayoishi koma no ato mo todomezu |
At my home Is only a withered field Of cogon grass; The mount who once did cross it Has left no lingering tracks… |
Ietaka
1064
The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.