The Beginning of Summer
Left
ふるさとはこだかけれどもきみならぬほととぎすにもうとまれにけり
| furusato wa kodakakeredomo kimi naranu hototogisu ni mo utomarenikeri | Around this ancient estate The trees grow high, yet Not by you alone, By the cuckoo, too Am I despised. |
Tadamine
7
Right (Win)
やまがつのかきほにさけるうのはなはたがしろたへのころもかけしぞ
| yamagatsu no kakiho ni sakeru u no hana wa ta ga shirotae no koromo kakeshi zo | Along the mountain man’s Lattice fence bloom Deutzia: Whose white mulberry Robes are hung there? |
Mitsune
8
Left
まきもくのひばらの霞たちかへりみれども花のおどろかれつつ
| makimoku no hibara no kasumi tachikaeri miredomo hana no odorokaretsutsu | In Makimoku[1] among The cypress groves the haze Rises and departs; I see it, yet the blossom Ever does amaze me… |
27[2]
Right
白妙の浪路わけてや春はくる風吹くからにはなも咲きけり
| shirotae no namiji wakete ya haru wa kuru kaze fuku kara ni hana mo sakinikeri | White as mulberry cloth are The wave-wakes: forging through them does Spring come? The wind blows so, The blossom has bloomed! |
28
[1] Makimoku 巻目 was an alternate name for Makimuku 纏向, a place in Yamato province which was traditionally believed to be the location of the state’s capital during the reigns of the legendary emperors Suinin 垂仁 and Keikō 景行.
[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 17/An almost identical poem is also included in Kokin rokujo (I: 619), while a minor variant occurs in Fubokushō (IV: 1100), with a headnote identifying it as being included in this contest: まきもくのひばらの山にたちかへり見れども花におどろかれつつ makimoku no / hibara no yama ni / tachikaeri / miredomo hana no / odorokaretsutsu ‘In Makimoku among / The mountain cypress groves / Rising and departing, / I see it, yet the blossom / Ever does amaze me…’
A profusion of deutzia flowers in full bloom
Left
白妙に卯花さけるかきねをばつもりし雪とおもひけるかな
| shirotae ni u no hana sakeru kakine o ba tsumorishi yuki to omoikeru kana | A spread of white mulberry cloth, The deutzias have bloomed Along my brushwood fence Drifting snow is piled, or So it seems! |
Minamoto no Narikata
13
Right
みわたせばたかねののべのうつぎ原みな白妙にさきにけるかな
| miwatseba takane no nobe no utsugiwara mina shirotae ni sakinikeru kana | When I gaze across The high-peak meadows A field of deutzia, All as white as mulberry cloth, Have bloomed there. |
Ōe no Fumi’ichi
14
A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.
朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは
| asapi sasi sogapi ni miyuru kamu nagara mina ni obasesu sirakumo no tipe wo osiwake ama sosori takaki tatiyama puyu natu to waku koto mo naku sirotape ni yuki pa puri okite inisipe yu arikinikereba kogosikamo ipa no kamusabi tama kiparu ikuyo penikemu tatiwite miredomo ayasi minedakami tani wo pukami to otitagitu kiyoki ka puti ni asa sarazu kiri tati watari yupu sareba kumowi tanabiki kumowi nasu kokoro mo sino ni tatu kiri no omopi sugusazu yuku midu no woto mo sayakeku yoroduyo ni ipitugi yukamu kapa si taezu wa |
The morning sun shines At my back,and Divine Your great name links: Clouds of white In a thousand layers, you pierce, and Tower into the heavens, Tall Tachiyama! In winter and, in summer both Indistinguishably are you Clad in mulberry white Fallen drifts of snow; Since ancient days Ever has been your estate, Fastened round with Crags divine； ‘til all souls end Have countless ages passed! Standing here, I see you, yet am awed by Your lofty peak and Valley’s deep, where Plunge seething cataracts of Waters pure to pools where Morning never leaves – Mists rise and roll across, and When the evening comes Clouds trail in and Cover all, Even, with sadness, my heart, so The rising mists Never leave my thoughts, and of Your running waters’ Clear, pure sound Through ten thousand ages Will I ever tell Unending as a river’s flow… |
Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主
Composed on the figure of a person waiting at the foot of a chrysanthemum.
花見つつ人待つときは白栲の袖かとのみぞあやまたれける
| Fana mitutu Fito matu toki Fa shirotaFe no sode ka to nomi zo ayamatarekeru | While gazing at the blooms, Awaiting his arrival, Simply for white mulberry Sleeves have I Mistaken them… |
Tomonori
20
This poem was included in Kokinshū (V: 274).
A poem composed when the officials of the government headquarters in Dazai had visited the palace at Kashii, and halted their mounts on the shore at Kashii on the way home, in the winter, Eleventh Month, Jinki 5 [729].
いざ子ども香椎の潟に白栲の袖さへ濡れて朝菜摘みてむ
| iza kodomo kasipi no kata ni sirotape no sode sape nurete asana tumitemu |
Hey, fellows all! On the tidelands of Kashii Even white mulberry Sleeves are soaked, so Let’s gather greens for breakfast! |
Ōtomo no Tabito
大伴旅人
Left.
分け來つる情のみかはそが菊の色もてはやす白妙の袖
| wakekitsuru nasake nomi ka wa sogagiku no iro motehayasu shirotae no sode |
To tell between them Does not need soft thoughts alone ? Yellow chrysanthemumsf Hues combined with Sleeves of white mulberry cloth. |
445
Right.
長月の今日九日といひ顔に折り得て見ゆる白菊の花
| nagatsuki no kyō kokonoka to ii kao ni oriete miyuru shiragiku no hana |
‘Of the Longest Month Today is the Ninth day,’ So seem to say, Plucked and in my sight, These white chrysanthemums. |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
446
The Right say that the meaning of sogagiku is unclear. The Left respond, ‘They are yellow chrysanthemums. Emperor Ninmyō [Soga] was known to be fond of the colour yellow and so this is a term for yellow chrysanthemums.’ The Right then continue, ‘The Man’yōshū uses the term sogai (“rear”), in poems with the conception of “pursuing after” [oisugai no kokoro nari]. So are these not, therefore, chrysanthemums which are later in blooming on riverbanks, perhaps?’
The Left content themselves with saying that the Right’s poem shows no particular brilliance of construction, nor significant faults.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘Does not need soft thoughts alone’ (nasake nomi ka wa) is by no means bad in the context of this poem [kono uta ni torite wa ashikarazarubeshi]. The explanation about yellow chrysanthemums is, indeed, one that has had some circulation recently. Lord Toshiyori apparently declared sogagiku to be ‘a single stem of yellow chrysanthemums’. The Right’s other query on the relationship with the Man’yō term sogai, does not seem to be without merit [muri ni arazaru]. It has been said that the Right’s poem lacks faults, but I cannot appreciate ‘so seem to say’ (ii kao ni) as proper diction [shokisebekarazaru kono kotoba haberubeki]. In the absence of definite proof from the reign of Emperor Ninmyō about the sense of sogagiku, I make this round a tie.
Left.
心からあくがれそめし花の香になを物思ふ春の曙
| kokoro kara akugaresomeshi hana no ka ni nao mono’omou haru no akebono |
My heart From the very first did love The blossoms’ scent, which Still, brings me to thoughts of you This spring dawning… |
157
Right (Win).
白妙の袖のわかれに露落て身にしむ色の秋風ぞ吹
| shirotae no sode no wakare ni tsuyu ochite mi ni shimu iro no aki kaze zo fuku |
White mulberry-cloth Sleeves parting: Dew dropped, The colours stain my soul, Yearning carried on the autumn wind. |
158