Tag Archives: mountain

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 47

Round Eleven

Left

おぼつかないづれうらごの山ならんみなくれなゐにみゆる紅葉ば

obotsukana
izure urago no
yama naran
mina kurenai ni
miyuru momijiba
How strange it is—
Where is Urago
Mountain, I wonder?
When all the same scarlet
Seem the autumn leaves…

Kiyosuke
93

Right (Win)

大ゐ河きしのもみぢのちるをりは浪にたたするにしきとぞみる

ōigawa
kishi no momiji no
chiru ori wa
nami ni tatasuru
nishiki to zo miru
At the River Ōi,
When the scarlet leaves upon the bank
Come to fall,
Cut out by the waves,
Does their brocade appear!

Mikawa
94

When I listen to the Left I wonder what on earth it’s actually about—the end seems redolent of love. The Right doesn’t seem to have any particular faults, so it should win.

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 16

Original

ゆきがてにふくはるかぜははやけれどあをやまなればさむからなくに

yukigate ni
fuku harukaze wa
hayakeredo
aoyama nareba
samukaranaku ni
Blended with snow
Blows the spring breeze
So swift, yet
In the padded jacket of the mountain’s green,
It’s not so cold at all…

46

Left

あをやまのなをきてたれかふくかぜをさむからずとはおもひしるらむ

aoyama no
na o kite tare ka
fuku kaze o
samukarazu to wa
omoishiruramu
A padded jacket of the mountain’s green?
Who would come hearing that, and
By the gusting wind
Remain unchilled,
Do you really think…

47

Right

ゆきがてのかぜもなにかはさむからんはるのひかりのみてるやまべは

yukigate no
kaze mo nanika wa
samukaran
haru no hikari no
miteru yamabe wa
Blended with snow,
What is it might make the wind
So cold?
Where the light of spring
Shines upon the mountainside…

48

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 10

Original

さくらばなゆきとふるめりみかさやまいざたちよらむなにかくるやと

sakurabana
yukitourumeri
mikasayama
iza tachiyoramu
nani kakuru ya to
The cherry blossom
Seems to pass as falling snow
On Mikasa Mountain—
Say, let’s shelter ‘neath umbrellas there,
Whether they’ll conceal us or not…[1]

Mitsune
28

Left (Tie)

やまのなにたちしもよらじさくらばなゆきとふるともいろにぬれめや

yama no na ni
tachishi mo yoraji
sakurabana
yukitouru to mo
iro ni nureme ya
Based on the mountain’s name,
I would take no shelter from
The cherry blossoms, for
Even should they pass as falling snow
Would their hues wet my sleeves?

29

Right

かくるれどやまずゆきこそふりかかれみかさのやまははなやもるらん

kakururedo
yamazu yuki koso
furikakare
mikasa no yama wa
hana ya moruran
I have concealed myself, yet
Incessantly those snows
Do fall;
From Mikasa Mountain, will
The blossom drip, I wonder?

30


[1] This poem occurs in Mitsune-shū (328) with the same headnote as that for poem 22 (above). This is a somewhat facetious poem in that Mitsune is punning on the name of the mountain, Mikasa, which could be read to mean ‘honoured umbrella’. Both of the ladies composing this round pick up on his wordplay, with the author of (29) saying that there’s no need to take shelter as blossom will not leave a stain, as snow would, and the author of (30) wondering rhetorically if the blossom would drip from an umbrella as melting snow would.

Izumi shikibu zokushū 7

Around the Ninth Month, when I had gone to stay at the palace for a certain reason, and I heard someone’s voice from the adjoining chamber, wrote this on the edge of my mat and had it left there.

うきよには嵐の風にさそはれてこしやまがはに袖もぬらしつ

ukiyo ni wa
arashi no kaze ni
sasowarete
koshiyamagawa ni
sode mo nurashitsu
In this world of sorrows
The storming wind
Has invited me, and
Koshi Mountain’s torrents
Have soaked my sleeves.

Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 08

Original

きみしなほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりじとぞおもふ

kimi shi nao
kaku shi kayowaba
isonokami
furuki miyako mo
furiji to zo omou
O, my Lady,
Should you thus ever visit
Isonokami, where at
Furu, the ancient capital, too,
Never stales, I feel![1]

Mitsune
22

Left (Win)

かよふともしられじものをふるさとはかすがのやまのふもとならねば

kayou tomo
shirareji mono o
furusato wa
kasuga no yama no
fumoto naraneba
To ever visit there is something
Folk might not know, for
The ancient capital
Among Kasuga Mountain’s
Foothills does not lie…

23

Right

はるごとにきてはみるともいそのかみふりにしさとのなにはかはらじ

haru goto ni
kite wa miru tomo
isonokami
furinishi sato no
nani wa kawaraji
Every single spring
I come to gaze, yet
At Isonokami,
Furu’s ancient capital
Does nothing ever change?

24


[1] A variant of this poem occurs in Mitsune’s personal collection: When the Priestly Emperor’s Rokujō Lady of the Bedchamber visited Kasuga, I met and conversed with Lord Tadafusa, the Governor of Yamato, and he mentioned that he had been asked to compose eight quality poems in the name of his province, so I sent him two of my own. The date was the 7th day of the Third Month, Engi 21 [17.4.921]. きくになほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりしとぞおもふ kiku ni nao / kaku shi kayowaba / isonokami / furuki Miyako mo / furishi to zo omou ‘O, I hear that / Should you ever thus visit / Isonokami, where at / Furu, the ancient capital, too, / Has grown old, I feel.’(Mitsune-shū 323)