Tag Archives: name

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 20

ときのまもあきのいろをやをみなへしながきあだなにいはれはてなん

toki no ma mo
aki no iro o ya
ominaeshi
nagaki adana ni
iwarehatenan
For such a brief time
In her autumn hues is
A maidenflower, and yet
Ever is she faithless
Said to be…

39

あきのののくさをみなへししらぬみははなのなにこそおどろかれぬれ

aki no no no
kusa o mina heshi
shiranu mi wa
ana no na ni koso
odorokarenure
Through all the autumn meadows’
Grasses have I passed, yet
I know them not, so
When I learned her name
How surprised I was!

40

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 19

なにしおへばあはれとおもふををみなへしたれをうしとかまだきうつろふ

na ni shi oeba
aware to omou o
ominaeshi
tare o ushi to ka
madaki utsurou
Bearing such a name,
She is dear, indeed, I feel, that
Maidenflower, but
Who is it that she does despise so,
That she fades so swiftly?

Mareyo
37

ちるはるをみなへしはなはあき風のふかむことをばくるしからじな

chiru haru o
mina heshi hana wa
akikaze no
fukamu koto oba
kurushikaraji na
Scattered in springtime
Have all the blossoms, so
When the autumn wind
Begins to blow
She suffers not, I think…

Motoyuki
38

GSIS II: 128

On viewing peach blossom on the Third Day of the Third Month.

みちよへてなりけるものをなどてかはももとしもはたなづけそめけん

mitiyo Fete
narikeru mono wo
nado te ka Fa
momo tosi mo Fata
nadukesomeken
Three thousand years
They take to ripen, so
Why is it that
A hundred still is
Their name?

Emperor Kazan

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 19

なにしおはばしひてたのまむをみなへしひとのこころのあきはうくとも[1]

na ni shi owaba
shiite tanomamu
ominaeshi
hito no kokoro no
aki wa uku tomo
If the name fits, then
Strongly, would I ask you,
Maidenflower:
Though folk’s full hearts
In autumn, be cruel…

37

あきのよをひとりねたらむあまのがはふちせたどらずいざわたりなむ

aki no yo o
hitori netaramu
ama no kawa
fuchise tadorazu
iza watarinamu
On an autumn night,
I sleep alone, it seems, for
To the River of Heaven’s
Depths and shallows I will not make my way—
However can I cross them?

39


[1] Shinchokusenshū 242; also a minor variant occurs in Kokin rokujō (3368) なにしおはばしひてたのまんをみなへし花の心の秋はうくともna ni shi owaba / shiite tanomamu / ominaeshi / hana no kokoro no / aki wa uku tomo ‘If the name fits, then / Forcefully, would I trust you, / Maidenflower: / Though a flower’s heart / In autumn, be cruel…’ Tsurayuki.

MYS IV: 727

[One of] two poems sent by Ōtomo sukune Yakamochi to the Elder Maiden of the House of Sakanoue (a love poem to say that though they had been parted for many years, he hoped they would meet again).

忘れ草我が下紐に付けたれど醜の醜草言にしありけり

wasuregusa
wa ga sitapimo ni
tuketaredo
siko no sikokusa
koto ni shi arikeri
A forgetful day-lily
To my under-belt
Is bound, yet
This annoying weed
Is so in name alone!

Ōtomo no Yakamochi
大伴家持

Love VI: 30

Left (Tie).
奈呉の海士の塩燒く煙空にのみ我名を立てゝやまんとやする

nago no ama no
shio yaku kemuri
sora ni nomi
wa ga na wo tatete
yaman to ya suru
At Nago the fisherfolk’s
Salt-burning smoke fills
The skies; is that all
My names is to be? Gossip
And then the end?

Kenshō.
959

Right.
山田守るかひ屋が下の煙こそこがれもやらぬたぐひなりけれ

yamada moru
kaiya ga shita no
kemuri koso
kogare mo yaranu
tagui narikere
Warding the mountain fields
Beneath the heated hut
The smoke
Smoulders without end –
And so do I!

Jakuren
960

The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults. The Left state: we wonder about the usage of ‘beneath the heated hut’ (kaiya ga shita) with ‘warding the mountain fields’ (yamada moru). In reply: in the Man’yōshū ‘heated hut’ (kaiya), is written with characters meaning ‘deer-repelling fire hut’. In addition, in territories where they wish to drive the deer away from their mountain paddies, they take things which smell foul when burnt, such as hair, and burn them, and in order that the fires are not put out by the rain, they build a roof over them. The common folk of these places call these things ‘heated huts’ (kaiya). So, the Man’yōshū’s usage corresponds with actual practice. Again, a further criticism from the Left: the Master of the Crown Prince’s Household Office composed a poem on salting. Atsutaka also includes ‘heated hut’ in the section on mosquito fires. Such are the ideas of our forebears. That ‘heated hut’ is written in Man’yōshū with characters meaning ‘deer-repelling fire’ and ‘scented fire’ is no proof of anything. Might it not have been written this way so that it would be read to mean ‘keep’? One certainly cannot sweepingly say that it means ‘deer-repelling fire’. A further response from the Right: our forebears have presented no definite evidence, and so it is difficult to accept this argument. In addition, has it not long been accepted that ‘morning haze’ can be used to refer to the smoke from deer-repelling fires, when composing on the haze spreading? Furthermore, in the Hitomaroshū, there is the poem ‘On Kogane Mountain / Beneath the heated hut / Frogs call’. Thus, it appears that this composition must refer to mountain fields.

In judgement: the Left’s ‘At Nago the fisherfolk’ (nago no ama) links the initial and latter sections of the poem extremely well. There seems to be have been some discussion from both teams about the Right’s ‘beneath the heated hut the smoke’ (kaiya ga shita no kemuri). Prior to the to and fro about this poem, was there not a similar discussion about heated huts in the final section of spring poems about frogs? With the greatest respect, the discussion here seems little different. However, in regard to the Right’s poem, saying that love smoulders is the normal way of expressing matters. I do wonder about ‘smoulders without end’ (kogare mo yaranu), but this would certainly seem appropriate with the reference to a heated hut. The Left, in addition, with ‘salt burning smoke’ (yaku shio kemuri) lacks any faults to indicate, so with no clear winner or loser, I make this round a tie.

 

SZS XVI: 1030

When he went to Tennōji and, while at Nagara heard someone say that there used to be a bridge here.

行末を思へばかなし津の國のながらの橋も名が殘りけり

yukusuwe wo
omoFeba kanasi
tu no kuni no
nagara no Fasi mo
na ga nokorikeri
What has befallen –
When I think on it, it is so sad that
In the province of Tsu
The bridge of Nagara
Has left behind its name, alone…

Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼