On seeing the salt fires of fisherfolk, when I had gone out to the beach.
いつもかくさびしきものかあしのやに焼きすさびたるあまのもしほ火
itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka ashi no ya ni keburi susabitaru ama no moshiobi
Are they always such Lonely things? Above the roofs of reeds Thin trails of smoke From fishers’ seaweed salt fires…[i]
700
[i] See: いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮 itsumo kaku / sabishiki mono ka / tsu no kuni no / ashiya no sato no / aki no yūgure ‘Are they always such / Lonely things? / In the land of Tsu, / Reed-roofed villages / On an autumn evening…’ Ietaka (Rōnyaku gojusshu uta’awase 497)
When the heart of a woman whom he had been visiting frequently showed no sign of melting, he sent this to her to say that months and years had passed and they were still in such a state.
なにはがたみぎはのあしのおいがよに怨みてぞふる人の心を
naniFagata migiFa no asi no oFi ga yo ni uramite zo Furu Fito no kokoro wo
In Naniwa’s tidelands By the waterside the reeds Growing old within this world How I despise the passing time– And your hard heart…
naniwagata migiwa no ashi no itsu made ka ho ni idezu shimo aki o shinoban
In Naniwa’s tidelands, By the waterside reeds How long must I Refrain from bursting out, and Repress the surfeit of it?[i]
563
[i] See: When the heart of a woman whom he had been visiting frequently showed no sign of melting, he sent this to her to say that months and years had passed and they were still in such a state. なにはがたみぎはのあしのおいがよに怨みてぞふる人の心を naniwagata/ migiwa no ashi no / oi ga yo ni / uramite zo furu / hito no kokoro o ‘In Naniwa’s tidelands / By the waterside the reeds / Growing old within this world / How I despise the passing time– / And your hard heart…’ Anonymous (Gosenshū XVI: 1170)
On the 29th day of the Eighth Month, Taiji 3,[i] Head of the Department of Shinto, His Excellency Akinaka gave a lecture before the Hirota Shrine, and various people from among his friends and relative met together in the same place.
Judge Mototoshi, Former Assistant Captain in the Palace Guards, Left Division.
Personal Grievances and the Moon
Round One
Left
難波江のあしまにやどる月みれば我が身ひとつも沈まざりけり
naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba wa ga mi hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri
When, at the inlet at Naniwa Between the reeds a’lodging The moon I see, My sorry self, alone, Is sunk in sadness, am I not?
Lord Akisuke, Former Governor of Mimasaka 1
Right
かがみ川影見る月にそこ澄みて沈むみくづのはづかしきかな
kagamigawa kage miru tsuki ni soko sumite shizumu mikuzu no hazukashiki kana
In the mirror of Kagami River, The shape, I see, of the moon Clear down to the bed of Sunken flotsam— How terrible that I am so!
His Excellency Akinaka, Head of the Department of Shintō 2
While both Left and Right show awareness of the conventions, I find it difficult to be beguiled more by coming to the realisation that ‘My sorry self, alone, / Is sunk in sadness, am I not’ on seeing the moon lodging between the reeds, than I am by the conception of the one who seems to have seen the moon over Mount Obasute[1], so I could say that it has a bit of conception about it at present.
[1] Topic unknown. わが心なぐさめかねつさらしなやをばすて山にてる月を見て wa ga kokoro / nagusamekanetsu / sarashina ya / obasuteyama ni / teru tsuki o mite ‘My heart / Cannot be consoled— / In Sarashina / Above Mount Obasute / On seeing the shining moon…’ Anonymous (KKS XVII: 878)
furu yuki ni yama no hosomichi uzumorete mare ni toikoshi hito mo kayowazu
With the falling snow The mountain’s narrow pathways Are buried; But rarely did he visit and now Cannot make his way at all.
Cell of Fragrant Cloud 53
Right
あしたつるみわのひばらにゆきふかみみやぎひくをのかよひぢもなし
ashi tatsuru miwa no hibara ni yuki fukami miyagi hiku o no kayoiji mo nashi
Reeds stand tall in Miwa, where the cypress groves Are deep with snow; To cut sacred timber, the woodsman Has no path to tread at all.
Cell of Compassionate Light 54
The Left’s poem, in terms of style and diction, entirely grasps the way someone might feel. What a sense of grief! The Right’s poem is composition that fairly drips and delves into playfulness, but in so doing lacks feeling. Truly, the former poem has superlative qualities, resembling a black dragon’s pearl![i] Thus, the Left must win.
The Left does seem to have been composed but simply stated. It possesses a calm elegance. The Right seems to have been created after a great deal of thought. This poem shows effort and the former such calm that I wish to declare them a tie. This may enrage the poets, but the ignorant may give the appearance of being knowledgeable, as they say. I wonder who composed these…
[i]Riju 驪珠 as an abbreviation of riryū no tama 驪龍の珠 (‘black dragon’s pearl’). Mototoshi uses this analogy deliberately as black dragons were associated with winter. The pearl, which they were often depicted as holding or being located in their throat, was a symbol of the dragon’s spiritual development and a marker of its immortality. This is thus an effusive statement of praise for Shōchō’s poem.
iwanuma no shitahau ashi no ne o shigemi himanaki koi o kimi shirurame ya
Silently beneath the marsh rocks Creep the reeds’ Roots in such profusion, Not a space free from love, but Does my lady know, I wonder?
A Court Lady 53
Right
身をつみて思ひや知るとこころみにながためつらき人もあらなん
mi o tsumite omoi ya shiru to kokoromi ni na ga tame tsuraki hito mo aranan
Pinching flesh, Would you know passion’s fire? To test it, I wish For you there was a cruel One, too…
Lord Masakane 54
Toshiyori states: the first poem is extremely charming. It seems to have no faults to mention. In the second poem, ‘For you there was a cruel one’ would be something quite impolite if said by a woman. Court ladies may lose their composure, yet they still appear to speak with dignity. In the absence of a prior poem as precedent, the first poem should win, I think.
Mototoshi states: this poem seems to have no faults to mention, and of the two, ‘beneath creep the reeds’ seems a bit more gently refined at present.
