Round Forty-Four

Left

むかしせしわがかねごとのかなしきはいかにちぎりしなごりなるらん

mukashi seshi wa ga kanegoto no kanashiki wa ika ni chigirishi nagorinaruran

Long ago did I promise, but Might the sadness Of how I did once vow Be my only keepsake?

87[i]

Right

かたみとてみればなみだのふかみ草なになかなかのにほひなるらむ

katami tote mireba namida no fukamigusa nani nakanaka no nioinaruramu

‘For a keepsake,’ I think and Gaze, but my tears are As peonies— Why do they so Brightly shine?

88[ii]

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[i] GSS XI: 710: Taira no Sadafun had been conversing with a lady at the residence of Major Counsellor Kunitsune in great secrecy and matters had progressed to the point that they had vowed to be with each other to the end, when the lady was abruptly welcomed into the residence of the late Grand Minister, so he had no way at all of even exchanging letters with her; thus, when the lady’s five year old child was playing in the western wing of the minister’s mansion, Sadafun called her over and saying, ‘Show this to your mother,’ wrote this on her upper arm.

[ii] The text of this contest appears to be the only occurrence of this poem in the waka canon, so it is unclear where Gotoba may have encountered it.