Tag Archives: skies

Teiji-in uta’awase 33

Left

つゆばかりたのみおかなんことのはにしばしもとまるいのちありやと

tsuyu bakari
tanomi okanan
koto no ha ni
shibashi mo tomaru
inochi ari ya to
Dewdrop fragile
Is my trust that dripping
On the leaves, your words
A little longer might hold
My life here, perhaps…

66

Right

はるさめのよにふるそらもおもほえずくもゐながらにひとこふるみは

harusame no
yo ni furu sora mo
omohoezu
kumoi nagara ni
hito kouru mi wa
Spring showers
Fall from night time skies—living on
Is not for me, I think, for
Beyond the clouds lies
The one I love…

67

Teiji-in uta’awase 19

Left

さくらばなちりぬるかぜのなごりにはみづなきそらになみぞたちける

sakurabana
chirinuru kaze no
nagori ni wa
mizu naki sora ni
nami zo tachikeru
The cherry blossom
Scattering wind as
A keepsake in
The waterless skies
Has roused the waves.

Tsurayuki
37

Right

みなそこにはるやくるらんみよしののよしののかはにかはづなくなり

minasoko ni
haru ya kururan
miyoshino no
yoshino no kawa ni
kawazu nakunari
To the water’s depths
Has the spring arrived, it seems, for
In fair Yoshino
From the Yoshino River
The frogs are singing.

Tsurayuki
38

The Right won. His Majesty remarked, ‘There is a Royal poem here, so how could it lose?’

Teiji-in uta’awase 10

Left (Tie)

ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ

furusato ni
kasumi tobiwake
yuku kari wa
tabi no sora ni ya
haru o suguramu
Above an ancient estate
Flying through the parting haze
Go the geese:
In the skies they journey through,
I wonder, will they pass the springtime?

Mitsune

19

Right

ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ

chiru hana o
nukishi tomeneba
aoyagi no
ito wa yoru tomo
kai ya nakaramu
The scattered blossom
Has been pierced, but not stayed, so,
The green willow’s
Threaded fronds are spun together, yet
It useless seems…

20

‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’

Teiji-in uta’awase 07

Left (Win)

さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける

sakura chiru
ko no shitakaze wa
samukarade
sora ni shirarenu
yuki zo furikeru
The cherry scattering
Breeze beneath the trees
Lacks chill—
Unaware from within the skies
The snow is falling.

Tsurayuki

13[i]

Right

わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ

wa ga kokoro
haru no yamabe ni
akugarete
naganagashi hi o
kyō mo kurashitsu
My heart to
The mountainside in springtime
Is drawn—
The long, long day
Today, too, has reached its dusk.

Mitsune

14[ii]

The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 19

Left

つのくにのながらへゆかばわすれなくいまもみまくのほりえなるらむ

tsu no kuni no
nagara e yukaba
wasurenaku
ima mo mimaku no
horie naruramu
If, into the land of Tsu
To Nagara I go,
I’ll forget you not, and
Now to see you
More is what I want!

37

Right (Win)

ひさかたのくもゐはるかにありしよりそらにこころのなりにしものを

hisakata no
kumoi haruka ni
arishi yori
sora ni kokoro no
narinishi mono o
The eternal
Clouds distant
Ever were—so
In the skies, my heart
With them did dwell.

38

Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 6

The Beginning of Autumn

Left (Win—in a certain book Tie)

しぐれにもあめにもあらぬはつぎりのたつにもそらはさしくもりけり

shigure ni mo
ame ni mo aranu
hatsugiri no
tatsu ni mo sora wa
sashikumorikeri
Neither a shower
Nor rain,
The first mists
Simply rise into the skies
And cover all with cloud.

11

Right

としごとにあふとはすれどたなばたのぬるよのかずぞすくなかりける

toshi goto ni
au to suredo
tanabata no
nuru yo no kazu zo
sukunakarikeru
Every year
She meets him, yet
The Weaver Maid’s
Nights of passion
Are few indeed.

Mitsune
12

SKKS XII: 1134

On the conception of love, in a hundred poem sequence.

あふ事のむなしき空のうき雲は身をしる雨の便りなりけり

au koto no
munashiki sora no
ukigumo wa
mi o shiru ame no
tayori narikeri
Meeting you is
A vain hope—empty as the skies, where
Drifting clouds are
The rainfall of my misery’s
Harbingers.

Prince Kore’akira
惟明親王

An allusive variation on KKS XIV: 705.

Uda-in uta’awase 11

Wisteria

Left (Win)

おくつゆのひかりてたまぞみえまがふちのはながらにきえずもあらなむ

oku tsuyu no
hikarite tama zo
miemagau
chi no ha nagara ni
kiezu mo aranamu
The fallen dewdrops
Shine like gems
Within my sight;
From the budding leaves
I would they vanished not!

21

Right

あまつそらてりみくもりみゆくつきのふちのはなどはさやけかるらん

ama tsu sora
terimi kumorimi
yuku tsuki no
fuchi no ha nado wa
sayakekaruran
Through the heaven-bound skies
Shining, then clouding,
Goes the moon, so
Why, by this deep pool’s edge
Should it show so clear?

Fukayabu
22

SShKKS XIII: 1329

On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].

いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな

ika ni sen
semete wa tabi no
soradanome
munashiku matan
yūgure mogana
O, what am I to do?
At least, it’s due to travel’s
Unreliable skies that
Emptily I would wait
This evening—if only that were so!

Iehira, Junior Third Rank
従三位家衡