Composed on seeing an aged pine on the rocky shore while on the road to a place called Misaki.[i]
いその松いくひささにか成りぬらんいたく木高き風のおとかな
iso no matsu ikuhisasa ni ka narinuran itaku kodakaki kaze no oto kana
The pine tree on the rocky shore Has for how many eternities Endured? The tree, so very high, as is The sound of the wind!
695
[i] Misaki 三崎 lies on the Miura Peninsula 三浦半島 on the far eastern side of Sagami Bay. Sanetomo is known to have visited Misaki in the Third Month, Kenryaku 2 [April 1212] and this poem was probably composed then.
momijiba wa kurenai fukaku nariyukedo hitori sametaru matsu no iro kana
The autumn leaves Deeply scarlet Are becoming, yet Singly, all the more aware am I Of the pine tree’s hues!
Koreyuki 87
Right
ははそ原しぐるるままにときは木のまれなりけるも今ぞみえける
hahasowara shigururu mama ni tokiwagi no marenarikeru mo ima zo miekeru
As the oak groves Linger under showers, An evergreen, So rare, is What appears to me now.
Kojijū 88
Both Left and Right drop scarlet leave and are composed on evergreens, so they lack the essence of the topic, don’t they. The Right has the finer configuration, but autumn leaves, pointlessly, fail to appear in it. In addition, somewhat distastefully, it puts me in mind of the poem, ‘…Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems’,[1] so the best these can do is tie.
[1] A poem from a poetry contest held by Her Majesty, the Empress, in the Kanpyō period. 雪ふりて年のくれぬる時こそつひにもみぢぬ松も見えけれ yuki furite / toshi no kurenuru / toki ni koso / tsui ni momijinu / matsu mo miekere ‘Snow falls and /The year reaches its evening, / It is at this time that / Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems.’ Anonymous (KKS VI: 340)
