Tag Archives: song

San'I minamoto no hirotsune ason uta'awase

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 2

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Being quiet in company with a bush warbler (鶯閑中友)

Left

うぐひすのこゑを友にてくらすかなひとりながむる春の山里

uguisu no
koe o tomo nite
kurasu kana
hitori nagamuru
haru no yamazato		O, with a warbler’s
Song
To spend my days!
Gazing out alone
From a mountain hut in springtime…

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Right

山家はなく鶯のこゑのみぞのどけき春の友ときこゆる

yama ie wa
naku uguisu no
koe nomi zo
nodokeki haru no
tomo to kikoyuru		In a dwelling in the mountains
With nothing but a singing warbler’s
Song!
Peaceful, pleasant springtime
Is in the very sound.

Fujiwara no Kunimoto, Ranked without Office
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San'I minamoto no hirotsune ason uta'awase

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 10

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Round Ten:  Insects’ songs from behind thickets of grass

Left

たづねくるかひもあるかな草村に我まつむしの声ぞきこゆる

tazunekuru
kai mo aru kana
kusamura ni
ware matsumushi no
koe zo kikoyuru		Paying a visit here—
Has some point, I think!
Among the grassy thickets
I pine crickets’
Song in my ears.

A Court Lady

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Right

松虫のこゑもたえせぬ草むらはたづねぬ人も尋ねきにけり

matsumushi no
koe mo taesenu
kusamura wa
tazunenu hito mo
tazunekinikeri		Pine crickets’
Songs I would have ever carry on
Among the grassy thickets
The one who has not called
Has finally paid a visit!

A Court Lady

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Dairi uta'awase Kanna Gan-nen

Dairi uta’awase Kanna Gan-nen 6

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Insects
 
Left (Tie)

あきくればむしもやものをおもふらんこゑもをしまずねをもなくかな

aki kureba
mushi mo ya mono o
omouran
koe mo oshimazu
ne mo naku kana		When the autumn comes,
Do the insects, too, have gloomy
Thoughts, I wonder?
I’ll not regret their song at all
As they cry on!

His Majesty
11

Right

あきごとにとこめづらなるすずむしのふりてもふりぬこゑぞきこゆる

akigoto ni
tokomezuranaru
suzumushi no
furite mo furinu
koe zo kikoyuru		Each and every autumn,
Afresh
The bell-crickets’
Aging in their aged
Cries I hear.

Lord Kintō
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Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds

Love VIII: 30

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Left (Tie)
忘れじの契うらむる故郷の心も知らぬ松蟲の聲

wasureji no
chigiri uramuru
furusato no
kokoro mo shiranu
matsumushi no koe		 Never will I forget you –
Despairing of that vow
At home
All unknowing of my feelings
Comes a bell cricket’s cry…

Lord Sada’ie
1079

Right
來ぬ人の秋のけしきやふけぬらん恨みによはる松蟲の聲

konu hito no
aki no keshiki ya
fukenuran
urami ni yowaru
matsumushi no koe		 He comes not, so
Is all seeming done, as autumn
Does wear on?
How I envy the weakening
Bell cricket’s song…

Jakuren
1080

Left and Right: both poems are equally admirable.

In judgement: the Left’s poem, with ‘all unknowing of my feelings comes a bell cricket’s cry’ (kokoro mo shiranu matsumushi no koe) is fine. The Right, with ‘is all seeming done, as autumn does wear on’ (aki no keshiki ya fukenuran), is too, so both Left and Right do truly move the heart, do they not? I have no way of distinguishing superior from inferior here, so thus must make the round a tie.

Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds

Love VIII: 29

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Left (Win)
つらからん中こそあらめ萩原やした松蟲の聲をだに問へ

tsurakaran
naka koso arame
hagiwara ya
shita matsumushi no
koe o dani toe		 Cold will
Our bond, no doubt, become, but
Among the bush clover
Eagerly awaiting, the bell-cricket’s
Call is all that I would ask…

A Servant Girl
1077

Right
夜もすがら人まつ蟲の鳴く聲を我身の上によそへてぞ聞く

yo mo sugara
hito matsu mushi no
naku koe o
wa ga mi no ue ni
yosoete zo kiku		 All through the night
A cricket pines –
The song it sings
Upon myself does
Seem to dwell – or so it sounds…

Lord Tsune’ie
1078

The Gentlemen of the Right state: we have no reason to mention any faults in the Left’s poem. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem is pedestrian.

In judgement: both poems refer to ‘bell crickets’, with the Left saying, ‘our bond, no doubt, become’ (naka koso arame), then ‘call is all that I would ask’ (koe o dani toe), and ‘eagerly awaiting, the bell cricket’ (shita matsumushi) – all of these are extremely difficult to grasp, however, the Right’s poem is pointlessly pedestrian. So, the Left wins.

Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds

Love VIII: 14

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Left (Tie)
人心常は卯月の時鳥ことかたらはん聲を聞かばや

hito kokoro
tsune wa uzuki no
hototogisu
koto kataran
koe o kikaba ya		 Her heart is
Ever chill; O, for the Fourth Month
Cuckoo
To tell me
With a gentle song!

Lord Suetsune
1047

Right
足引の遠山鳥の一聲は我つまながらめづらしき哉

ashihiki no
tōyamadori no
hitogoe wa
ware tsumanagara
mezurashiki kana		 Leg-wearying
The distant mountain pheasant’s
Call is
Even for his mate
A rare thing, indeed!

Lord Tsune’ie
1048

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial part of the Right’s poem has an antiquated feel.

In judgement: the Left’s ‘cuckoo’ (hototogisu) and the Right’s ‘mountain pheasant’ (yamadori) are of the same level.

Minbukyō yukihira uta’awase

Minbukyō yukihira uta’awase 10

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Left
時鳥今宵はとまれ片岡の朝の原に帰りやせぬ

Fototogisu
koyoFi Fa tomare
katawoka no
asita no Fara ni
kaFeri ya senu		 O, cuckoo
Stay here this night, and
Down the hillside
With the morning to the plain
Will you not return?

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Right
我が宿に声な惜しみそ時鳥通ふ千里のゆきはてぞ此は

wa ga yado ni
kowe na osimi so
Fototogisu
kayoFu tisato no
yukiFate zo ko Fa		 At my home
I regret not your song,
O, cuckoo,
For your thousand league
Journey’s end lies here.

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