Spiders 蜘蛛
ささがにのしるしもいさやいかならんこよひにてみんくものふるまひ
sasagani no shirushi mo isa ya ika naruran koyoi nite min kumo no furumai | A tiny crab’s Sign, well, What to make of it? Tonight will I attend to The spider’s behaviour… |
Nakazane
Spiders 蜘蛛
ささがにのしるしもいさやいかならんこよひにてみんくものふるまひ
sasagani no shirushi mo isa ya ika naruran koyoi nite min kumo no furumai | A tiny crab’s Sign, well, What to make of it? Tonight will I attend to The spider’s behaviour… |
Nakazane
Composed on a bush warbler singing in a blossoming tree.
しるしなき音をもなく哉うぐひすの今年のみちる花ならなくに
sirusi naki ne wo mo naku kana uguFisu no kotoshi nomi tiru Fana naranaku ni | No effect Does your cry have at all, O, warbler! For this year alone scatter The blossoms do not… |
Mitsune
Inari Pilgrimage (稲荷詣)
いなり山しるしの杉をたづねきてあまねく人のかざすけふかな
inari yama shirushi o sugi o tazunekite amaneku hito o kazasu kyō kana | To Inari Mountain’s Symbol, the cedars Have they paid a visit, All the crowding folk Garlanded today! |
Akinaka
Left
戀衣いつか干るべき河社しるしも浪にいとゞしほれて
koigoromo itsuka hirubeki kawa yashiro shirushi mo nami ni itodo shiorete |
My clothes of love, When might they dry? A river shrine Has had no effect – the waves Dampen them all the more… |
Kenshō
1117
Right (Win)
いかで猶夜半の衣を返しても重ねしほどの夢をだに見ん
ikade nao yowa no koromo o kaeshitemo kasaneshi hodo no yume o dani min |
What to do? Again My night time garb Inside out I turn – As many layers As dreams, if only I would see… |
Takanobu
1118
The Right state: there are a number of different theories about the source poem ‘stems of bamboo wave freely the clothes I’d dry’ (shino ni orihae hosu koromo), so how should the allusion here be correctly understood? In response: this refers to a summer performance of sacred music and dance. In this, sprigs of sakaki are placed in clear water, and bamboo stems are hung from the shelf as offerings. This is the river shrine (kawa yashiro). It appears in the records about sacred music in summer. Standard sacred music is performed to pray to the gods. Thus, if one is made to bear the weight of something one has not done, the feeling is close to the conception of damp clothes, is it not? And this is associated with the clothes of lovers that will not dry. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem seems to be more about a ‘river shrine’ than ‘lovers’ clothing’ (koigoromo). While it is not entirely clear, the Left and Right’s criticism and response, are certainly unusual. There are two poems which are possible as sources for this, both of which appear in Tsurayuki’s Collection. These are: ‘At a river shrine / Stems of bamboo wave freely / The clothes I’d dry / How should I do so? / Seven days still damp…’ and:
行く水のうへにいはへる河社河浪高くあそぶなるかな
yuku mizu no ue ni iwaeru kawa yashiro kawa nami takaku asobunaru kana |
The waters run, and Above them in celebration is A river shrine; The river’s waves rise high, Taking pleasure in their play! |
This latter is a poem from a folding screen with pictures of each of the moons of the year, painted in the Tenryaku Era. Moreover, in a work by Lord Toshiyori, he says, ‘There is no one today who knows what a “river shrine” is. All we can do now is guess. So people say that it was a shrine on top of the water, where sacred music was performed in summer. The latter poem certainly does not seem to have this meaning. The former makes no mention of sacred music, and simply talks of clothing one has wanted to dry for a long time not drying.’ In addition, I have questioned a member of a household familiar with sacred music about this matter, and been told, ‘Where summer sacred music is concerned, there is a particular way of it. It is definitely absent from the records.’ Furthermore, Toshiyori played the double-reed flute. He would clearly have known all about sacred music, and around this time wrote, ‘first of all, there is no one who knows of this,’ and yet the Left’s response simply states, ‘it appears in the records about sacred music.’ This is something which requires greater proof. If the gentleman of the Left is able to provide some now, this would be a fine thing for the Way of Music! These, in brief, are my thoughts on this matter and, of course, the Left’s response.
First, it is a mistake to say that the river shrine is necessarily connected with summer sacred music. Summer sacred music is just what it sounds like: in summer, sacred music is performed, but not in any fixed way. However, here summer sacred music is done before a river shrine. Kawa yashiro shino ni is an old term for widely or ordinarily. It appears to have been used this way in the Collection of a Myriad Leaves. Orihaete has the same meaning. In the phrase ‘drying a robe / seven days undrying’ (hosu koromo / nanoka hizu) seven, or eight, days is simply a poetic convention for conveying that something was not dry after a long time. The ‘robe’ is not really a piece of clothing, but something which resembles it, and which is not dry. Ise said of the so-called Ryūmon Waterfall, ‘So why should the mountain’s princess rinse her cloth’ (nani yama hime no nuno sarasuramu) and also there are expressions such as ‘Nunohiki Falls’. Thus we have the Left’s argument for the summer sacred music platform, and then Lord Toshiyori’s writings; further, on the term shino ‘bamboo hung from the shelf as an offering to the gods’ and ‘clothing has the conception of damp clothing’. This is a remarkable way of interpreting the poem, indeed! The only way to settle the matter would be with the presentation of definite proof. So, this is certainly something which His Grace should request for review. In short, the Left’s poem, beginning with the idea that lovers’ clothing is to pray at a river shrine, and then saying ‘it has no effect’ (shirushi mo nami ni) seems like everlasting bitterness. The Right’s poem says ‘my night time garb inside out I turn’ (yowa no koromo o kaeshitemo), which is quite ordinary. In the absence of definite proof for the Left’s contentions, the Right must win.
Left
起きもゐで年ふる戀はをのづから常世の神やしるし見すべき
oki mo ide toshi furu koi wa onozukara tokoyo no kami ya shirushi misubeki |
Unable to arise From love these many years, May I By the eternal gods Be shown a sign! |
Kenshō
1069
Right (Win)
獨臥すながながし夜のかなしきを語らひあかすきりぎりす哉
hitori fusu naganagashi yo no kanashiki o katarai akasu kirigirisu kana |
Lying alone, So long, long the night’s Sorrow; Lightening it with chatter Are the crickets! |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1070
The Gentlemen of the Right state: what is the meaning of ‘the eternal gods’ (toko no kami). In appeal, the Left: in the Chronicles of Japan, insects are worshipped under the name of ‘the eternal gods’ and made to seem like men. The Left state: what can an insect chatter about?
In judgement: in regard to the Left’s poem, while it is true that insects were worshipped, a poem on ‘Love and Insects’ with no insect is lacking something from the start. This poem would seem to be more a case of ‘Love and Prayers’. Thus, this is nothing enduring. A prior example has been contrived, but this is ineffective. It does not seem as if this insect’s nature has any relation to the topic. The Right’s poem has a commonplace cricket. Where is the fault in having it lighten one’s mood with chatter? Thus, the Right must win.
The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
ちるをみばしぼめるかほか花なればなづとも菊のしるしあらめや
chiru o miba shibomeru kao ka hana nareba nazu tomo kiku no shirushi arame ya | If I see them fall, Are these fading faces? Flowers they are, so Would even a touch, chrysanthemums Show them to be? |
Minamoto no Toshiyori
源俊頼
The Kamo Festival (加茂祭)
人よりもたのみぞかくるあふひ草わきても神のしるしみせなん
hito yori mo tanomi zo kakuru aoigusa wakite mo kami no shirushi misenan |
Rather than the folk, Their prayers are hidden by Hollyhocks: Part them and the Gods’ Sign is revealed… |
Higo
京極関白家肥後
沢田川せせのうもれ木あらはれてはなさきにけり春のしるしに
sawadagawa sese no umoregi araharete hana sakinikeri haru no shirushi ni |
At the River Sawada Drowned trees in the rapids Lie scattered, and The blossom has bloomed, Both a mark of spring! |
Summer Garb (夏衣)
夏たつとしるしも見えず衣川いつも舟よるうらしなければ
natsu tatsu to shirushi mo miezu koromogawa itsumo fune yoru urashinakereba |
Of summer weft There is no sign At the River Robe For never do boats draw near Its shores! |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌