sumiyoshi to kikoyuru sato ni itowazu wa okidokoro naki mi o yadosaba ya
A pleasant place to live is Sumiyoshi’s Estate, or so I’ve heard, but If it provide no comfort, then My restless Self might it attract…
Lord Kinshige 103
Right
すぎていにしあきにおくれてしもがるるきくやわがみのたぐひなるらむ
sugite inishi aki ni okurete shimogaruru kiku ya wa ga mi no tagui naruramu
Past and gone is Autumn, but lingering, Frost-burned Chrysanthemums—is my sorry self Just like them, I wonder?
Enjitsu 104
Neither the poem of the Left, nor of the Right, sound as if they have any particular faults. Nevertheless, in the case of such poems the assessment varies depending upon the speaker. While the poem of the Left is, indeed, pitiful, it also sounds a bit crude. It would be elegant, I think, if it were a woman’s poem. As for the Right’s poem, if we take it as an expression of grief over orphanhood, then in the final analysis it’s charming as it matches the conception of a scion of a noble house picturing himself as the monarch of the flowers. Then again, we do have the poem by the Enkyū Third Prince:
うゑおきしきみもなきよにとしへたる花は我が身のここちこそすれ
ueokishi kimi mo naki yo ni toshi hetaru hana wa wa ga mi no kokochi koso sure
You planted them here, My Lord, though gone from this world, These many years past— The flowers and my sorry self Both feel the same…[1]
This would seem to be in the same vein. Given that the speaker of both poems is unclear, for the moment, these tie.
[1] Composed when viewing the blossom at the Enshūji and recalling former Emperor Gosanjō (KYS IX: 518).
hatsu shigure furinishi sato o kitemireba mikaki ga hara wa momijinishikeri
The first showers Have fallen on this ancient estate I have come to see: Mikaki Field has All turned to autumn hues.
Suketaka 78
While the Left displays great technical skill in juxtaposing ‘deeply dyed with scarlet hues’ and ‘Yashio Hill’, the Right at present is conclusively composed with a somewhat more decorous configuration relaxed manner. In this it conveys emotion as poems of old did, and so I believe it should certainly win.
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)
