Tag Archives: sky

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left (Tie)

秋風の吹くときくより七夕はこころのうちやすずしかるらん

akikaze no
fuku to kiku yori
tanabata wa
kokoro no uchi ya
suzushikaruran
Since the autumn breeze’s
Blowing she has heard,
The Weaver Maid
Surely within her heart
Feels a pleasant cool!

Suketaka
23

Right

七夕のまちつる程の久しさにはかなくあくる空をかへばや

tanabata no
machitsuru hodo no
hisashisa ni
hakanaku akuru
sora o kaeba ya
The Weaver Maid
Her waiting time’s
Eternity for
The briefly brightening
Sky would wish to change…

Moromitsu
24

Entō ōn’uta’awase 17

Round Seventeen

Cuckoos

Left (Tie)

さのみやは心あるべき時鳥ね覚の空に一声もがな

sanomi ya wa
kokoro arubeki
hototogisu
nezame no sora ni
hitogoe mogana
Not much of
The heart can you know,
O, cuckoo, but
On waking from the sky
I would hear a single call.

A Court Lady
33

Right

やはた山むかひの里の郭公しのびしかたの声もかはらず

yawatayama
mukai no sato no
hototogisu
shinobishi kata no
koe mo kawarazu
By Yawata Mountain,
At the estate of Mukai,
A cuckoo,
Fondly remembers someone
With a changeless song!

Lord Ietaka
34

The Left’s poem would seem to fail to reflect the essential meaning of the topic of cuckoos by having it not yet being heard, and thus its overall technique seems dreadful. The Right’s poem also lacks any superlative elements, they must tie.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 13

Round Thirteen

Left (Win)

桜花空にあまぎる白雲の棚引きわたるかづらきの山

sakurabana
sora ni amagiru
shirakumo no
tanabikiwataru
kazuragi no yama
The cherry blossoms,
As sky-sweeping
Clouds of white
Drape all across
Kazuragi Mountain.

Takasuke
25

Right

さくらさくながらの山のながき日も昔をこひぬ時のまぞなき

sakura saku
nagara no yama no
nagaki hi mo
mukashi o koinu
toki no ma zo naki
The cherries bloom
Changeless on Nagara Mountain;
The lengthy days to
Those beloved bygone
Moments do not compare.

Shimotsuke
26

Neither Left nor Right has any faults worth mentioning. The Right’s poem appears tranquil, with an artless quality. It has a moving sensibility of longing for the past, but the Left’s poem should just about win, I think.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 6

Left (Tie)

山のはに有明の月の残らずは霞にあくる空をみましや

yama no ha ni
ariake no tsuki no
nokorazu wa
kasumi ni akuru
sora o mimashi ya
Upon the mountains’ edge
Had the moon at dawn
Not lingered, then
On the brightening, hazy
Sky would I have turned my gaze?

Shō
11

Right

朝戸あけてながめなれたる明ぼのの霞ばかりに春を知るかな

asa to akete
nagamenaretaru
akebono no
kasumi baraki ni
haru o shiru kana
With morn, opening my door, and
Accustomed to gazing
At the dawn
The haze is all that
Tells me ‘tis spring![1]

Nagatsuna, Ranked without Office
12

The Left’s poem has ‘would I wish to see the skies brightening with haze’, which does not seem bad, but the initial line drop ‘dawn’ and the latter part ‘brightening with haze’ which is a bit dubious; the Right’s poem really has nothing special about it. The poems are comparable and tie.


[1] An allusive variation on GSS V: 249.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 4

Round Four

Left (Win)

あけぬるか霞の衣たちかへり猶君が代の春をまつかな

akenuru ka
kasumi no koromo
tachikaeri
nao kimi ga yo no
haru o matsu kana
Is it the breaking dawn that
Hazy raiment
Casts back?
Ever for my Lord’s reign’s
Springtime do I pine!

Novice Dōchin

7

Right

天の戸のあけゆく空はうれしきを猶はれやらず立つ霞かな

ama no to no
akeyuku sora wa
ureshiki o
nao hareyarazu
tatsu kasumi kana
That Heaven’s door
Opens to brighten the sky—
What joy, but
Still, never clearing is
The rising haze!

Dharma Master Nyogan

8

The Left poem’s links with celebration are certainly not something praiseworthy, but I am unable to accept the Right’s ‘joy’. Thus, the Left wins.

SKKS XVI: 1491

When the moon was shining brightly, when a shower-filled sky had cleared.

五月雨の空だにすめる月影に涙の雨ははるるまもなし

samidare no
sora dani sumeru
tsukikage ni
namida no ame wa
haruru ma mo nashi
Showers filled
The sky, yet even they end with bright
Moonlight, yet
The rainfall of my tears
Clears for not a moment.

Akazome Emon

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

SKS IX: 324

When she had something on her mind and was unable to sleep, she sat awake all night gazing at the bright moon until dawn, and composed this when her garden became slightly darkened by a shower.

神無月あり明の空のしぐるるを又われならぬ人やみるらん

kaminaduki
ariake no sora no
sigururu wo
mata ware naranu
Fito ya miruran
In the Godless Month
The sky at dawn is
Covered with showers—
Other than I,
I wonder if he sees it, too?

Akazome Emon

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

SKKS XIV: 1295

When His Majesty ordered him to compose a poem for a love letter match, during the reign of former emperor Nijō.

わすれゆく人ゆゑそらをながむればたえだえにこそ雲もみえけれ

wasure yuku
hito yue sora o
nagamureba
taedae ni koso
kumo mo miekere
Forgetting me,
He is, so upon the sky
I turn my gaze, where
From time to time, indeed,
Clouds, too, do show themselves![i]

Minister of Justice Norikane

A kuzushuiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[i] See Shige’ie-shū 232 for the reply to this poem in the match..