Tag Archives: stag

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 59

Left

あき山に恋する鹿の声たてて鳴きぞしぬべき君がこぬよは

akiyama ni
koisuru shika no
koe tatete
naki zo shinubeki
kimi ga konu yo wa
In the autumn mountains
A loving stag
Cries out,
I could die from weeping
On nights you fail to come to call…

116[1]

Right

契りけむ心ぞつらき七夕の年にひとたびあふは逢ふかは

chigiriken
kokoro zo tsuraki
tanabata no
toshi ni hito tabi
au wa au ka wa
The vow
Of a pitiless heart:
The Weaver Maid,
But once a year
Will meet; can it be true?

Fujiwara no Okikaze

117[2]


[1] Shokukokinshū XII: 1194/Shinsen man’yōshū 119

[2] Kokinshū IV: 178/Shinsen man’yōshū 460/Kokin rokujō I: 143

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 42

Left

おく山に紅葉ふみわけ鳴く鹿の声きく時ぞ秋はかなしき

okuyama ni
momiji fumiwake
naku shika no
koe kiku toki zo
aki wa kanashiki
Deep within the mountains
Forging through the scarlet  leaves
When a belling stag’s
Cry I hear, indeed,
Autumn is so sad.

82

Right

わがために来る秋にしもあらなくに虫の音聞けば先ぞかなしき

wa ga tame ni
kuru aki ni shimo
aranaku ni
mushi no ne kikeba
saki zo kanashiki
Not for my sake
Has autumn come
And yet,
When the insects’ cries I hear
What lies ahead is sad, indeed.

83

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 11

さをしかのしがらみふする秋はぎはたまなす露ぞつつみたりける

saoshika no
shigarami fusuru
akihagi wa
tama nasu tsuyu zo
tsutsumitarikeru
Ah, the stag,
Entangled, tripped
On the autumn bush clover;
Dewdrops turned gemlets
Have wrapped him all around.

21

かみなみのみむろの山をわけゆけばにしきたちきる心ちこそすれ

kaminami no
mimuro no yama o
wakeyukeba
nishiki tachikiru
kokochi koso sure
Deities dwell
Upon Mount Mimuro, where
I forge my way,
Cutting and sewing the brocade of leaves,
I feel!

22

Love VIII: 24

Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮

kono koro no
kokoro no soko o
yoso ni miba
shika naku nobe no
aki no yūgure
Of late
Of the depths of my heart
Were you to catch a distant glimpse:
A stag belling in the meadow
On an autumn evening…

A Servant Girl
1067

Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也

kurekakaru
susono no tsuyu ni
shika nakite
hito matsu sode mo
namida sou nari
Twilight
Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts,
With a stag’s sad cry;
Awaiting him, my sleeves, too,
Are wet with tears.

Nobusada
1068

Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.

In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.