Composed and sent when he heard that Inspector Kinmichi had had a number of people compose poems on the bush warbler at his residence.
春霞たちへだつれど鶯の声はかくれぬものとしらずや
| harugasumi tachihedatsuredo uguisu no koe wa kakurenu mono to shirazu ya | The haze of spring Arising, interferes, yet The warbler Is unable to conceal his cry— I wonder if he know it? |
Former Consultant Tsunemori
Love
Left
恋といへばまづいでたちて春も皆ゆくらむ方も知らずもあるかな
| koi to ieba mazu idetachite haru mo mina yukuramu kata mo shirazu mo aru kana | This thing called love Has gone before, and The spring, too, no one It’s destination Knows at all! |
11
Right
年毎に花におくるるみにしあれば恋ひせぬ春のなきぞわびしき
| toshi goto ni hana ni okururu mi ni shi areba koisenu haru no naki zo wabishiki | Every single year Missing the blossom Is my sorry self, A springtime with no one to love Is there not, but still sad and lonely am I! |
12
The end of spring
Left
あだなりと世にいふ花は散らずしてすぎゆく春ぞかひなかりける
| adanari to yo ni iu hana wa chirazushite sugiyuku haru zo kainakarikeru | Faithless, does The world call blossom, Not scattering with The passage of spring, so What’s the point to it! |
9
Right
花もみなおのが散り散りはかなきを春を見すててゆくぞかなしき
| hana mo mina ono ga chirijiri hakanaki o haru o misutete yuku zo kanashiki | The blossoms, every one, Scatter themselves So fleetingly, and Heedlessly abandon spring, so Sad its departure is. |
10
Love
Left
わが恋は春のなかばになりにけり花のにほひに影やみゆると
| wa ga koi wa haru no nakaba ni narinikeri hana no nioi ni kage ya miyuru to | My love In the heart of spring Has come about: In the glow of blossom Can I see her face… |
7
Right
春はなほくるしかりけりさくら花いろのつきつつ恋のまされば
| haru wa nao kurushikarikeri sakurabana iro no tsukitsutsu koi no masareba | Spring is ever Full of pain: The cherry blossoms’ Hues exhausted, as My love is at its strongest… |
8
Round Four
Left (Win)
春の日をなほながかれとおもふかなはな見ることのあかぬこころは
| haru no hi o nao nagakare to omou kana hana miru koto no akanu kokoro wa | O, let the days of spring Still linger lengthily on, I wish! For Gazing on the blossom Has yet to sate my heart… |
Cell of the Fragrant Elephant
7
Right
ことしもやあだにちりぬる山ざくらさもあさましきはなのくせかな
| kotoshi mo ya ada ni chirinuru yamazakura sa mo asamashiki hana no kuse kana | This year, too, will You swiftly scatter, O, mountain cherry? That is a wretched Habit blossoms have! |
Cell of the Everlasting Truth
8
The poem of the Left’s final section is that of a pre-existing older poem.[i] The poem of the Right’s final section is deplorable. Even so, I make the Right the winner.
Both Left and Right are elegant. With that being said, the Left also sounds charming, while the Right’s concluding ‘habit!’, although it is not a major fault, grates on the ear a bit. This is another win for the Left.
[i] The ending of this poem in the texts of this match with Mototoshi’s judgements is different, with the final line being akanu kagiri wa (‘have yet to sate’). This means it closely resembles: Topic unknown. ゆきとまるところぞはるはなかりける花に心のあかぬかぎりは yukitomaru / tokoro zo haru wa / nakarikeru / hana ni kokoro no / akanu kagiri wa ‘To go and stay / A place in springtime / Have I none / For the blossoms, my heart / Have yet to sate completely.’ Sugawara no Tamenobu (GSIS I: 90). Kubota et al. (2018, 223) suggest that as we know that the version of the match that Toshiyori judged was produced later, this poem may have been revised in the light of Mototoshi’s judgement.
The middle of spring.[i]
Left
まづ立ちて過ぎにし春はかひもなしとまるは花ものどけからなむ
| mazu tachite suginishi haru wa kai mo nashi tomaru wa hana mo nodokekaranamu | For it first to have arisen and Then departed—to such a spring There is no point; If it stayed then the blossom, too, Might linger on. |
5
Right
さくら花にほふさかりをみるときは心も春のなかにこそいれ
| sakurabana niou sakari o miru toki wa kokoro mo haru no naka ni koso ire | Cherry blossom: When in glowing profusion I see, then My soul, too, spring’s Heart does enter! |
6
[i] Naka no haru 仲の春
Tsurayuki’s Poetry Match,[i] 28th day of the Second Month, Tengyō 2[ii]
The beginning of spring.
Left
白雪のみにふりながら梅の花をりつるほどに春は来にけり
| shirayuki no mi ni furinagara mume no hana oritsuru hodo ni haru wa kinikeri | Snow, so white, Falling upon my flesh, While the plum blossom, Branches are breaking Spring has come! |
1
Right
鶯の巣立ちし日よりはるばるとおもひは音にぞまづなかれける
| uguisu no sudachishi hi yori harubaru to omoi wa ne ni zo mazu nakareru | Since the day the bush warbler Departed his nest, Endlessly Have I thought his song For the present has not been here. |
2
[i] Tsurayuki uta’awase 貫之歌合
[ii] 21 March 939
Round Two
Left
をちこちのちるはなごとにたぐひつつ春はこころのあくがるるかな
| ochikochi no chiru hana goto ni taguitsutsu haru wa kokoro no akugaruru kana | Here and there Every single scattered blossom Enthralls me; Spring within my heart I hold so dear. |
Lord Saburō
3
Right (Win)
やまざくらひる見るいろのあかなくによるさへ花のかげにむつれぬ
| yamazakura hiru miru iro no akanaku ni yoru sae hana no kage ni mutsurenu | Mountain cherry, Viewed in daytime has hues That will not sate, so Even at night the blossoms’ Glow entangles me. |
Ushigimi
4
The Left’s poem has nothing remarkable about it. I say that, but it also has no particular faults. The Right’s phrase ‘’ feels curt, so I make the Left the winner.
The Left’s poem does not appear to have any particular faults—it describes the world as it is, so it seems to lack any novel phrasing.
The diction of the Right’s ‘Viewed in daytime has hues’ is extremely immature. With that being said, being entangled and lingering unsated has some conception to it.. I should say this is the winner.
Recalling love beneath the moon.
春やあらぬ月は見しよの空ながらなれし昔の影ぞ恋しき
| haru ya aranu tsuki wa mishi yo no sora nagara nareshi mukashi no kage zo koishiki | Is this not that spring? The moon is as I beheld it that night Within the skies, yet I had grown accustomed, long ago, to Her face, so much more dear to me… |
496
Maple
はるがすみたちそめしよりいろかへてのはならしてきわかなつむべく
| harugasumi tachi someshi yori iro kaete no wa narashiteki wakana tsumubeku | Since the haze of spring Began to rise, Hues changing, Upon the plains have grown Fresh herbs that we may pick them! |
14
This poem is an acrostic, with ‘maple blossom’ (kaede no hana) contained within kaete no wa narashiteki.
