Tag Archives: sumiyoshi

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 60

Round Ten

Left (Win)

かぞふればやとせへにけりあはれわがしづみしことはきのふとおもふに

kasoureba
yatose henikeri
aware wa ga
shizumishi koto wa
kinō to omou ni
When I count them up,
Many years have passed, but
Sadness
Overcomes me for the events
Of yesterday, I feel…

Lord Sanesada
119

Right

いたづらにふりぬるみをもすみよしのまつはさりともあはれしるらむ

itazura ni
furinuru mi o mo
sumiyoshi no
matsu wa sari tomo
aware shiruramu
How quickly
Age has come upon my flesh, too—
Sumiyoshi’s
Pines must that
Sadness know too well…

Lord Toshinari
120

The poem of the Left: these are not matters which could be understood by just anyone, yet even a superficial glance at it reveals that its conception and configuration display and exceptional sadness. How true it is that off all the myriad things in our lives it is the events of yesterday and today that we recall, and this is how we pass through the years and months, so how difficult, indeed, it is to supress the configuration of ‘When I count them up, / Many years have passed’! As for the Right’s poem, well, the conception of the initial section is pedestrian at best, although the latter section does seem to have some conception to it in places and shows some signs of thought. It is the poor composition of the judge, who is into his dotage. Once more, therefore, I have not rendered judgement, however, I feel that the deity would determine in favour of the Left.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 54

Round Four

Left

あくがるるたまとみえけむなつむしのおもひはいまぞおもひしりぬる

akugaruru
tama to miekemu
natsumushi no
omoi wa ima zo
omoishirinuru
As my wandering
Soul do appear
The fireflies—
Those feelings, now,
How well I know!

Kojijū
107

Right (Win)

いはずともおもひはそらにしりぬらむあまくだりますすみよしのかみ

iwazu tomo
omoi wa sora ni
shirinuramu
amakudarimasu
sumiyoshi no kami
Needless to say
My feelings within the skies
Are well-known by
The heaven-descended
God of Sumiyoshi!

Lord Sanemori
108

The poem of the Left appears to have a deep conception. However, this poem should be composed about the emotions expressed in Izumi Shikibu’s poem ‘Fireflies by the marsh: / From my breast’.[1] If so, then by having something like ‘As my wandering / Soul the fireflies / Do appear’, it appears as if you know how Izumi Shikibu felt. Here, though, we have ‘As my wandering / Soul do appear / The fireflies’ and this sounds as if you know how the fireflies feel—in which case it seems more in keeping with the poem by the Katsura Princess which says, ‘Their bodies bringing an excess / Of passion’s fires’.[2] Then again, does the diction, ‘As my wandering / Soul do appear’, perhaps, differ from this? The poem of the Right has nothing particularly evocative in its use of diction, but ‘My feelings within the skies’ and following this with ‘The heaven-descended’ at least sounds as if has a purpose to it. The Right wins, I should say.


[1] When she had been forgotten by a man, she went to Kibune, and composed this on seeing fireflies flitting about by the Mitarashi River. 物思へば澤の螢も我身よりあくがれ出づる玉かとぞみる mono’omoeba / sawa no hotaru mo / wa ga mi yori / akugare izuru / tama ka to zo miru ‘I’m at such a loss; / Fireflies by the marsh: / From my breast / Wanders out / My soul, or so it seems.’ Izumi Shikibu (GSIS XX: 1162)

[2] When Princess Katsura had said ‘Catch some fireflies,’ and one of the boys had them wrapped up in the sleeves of his jacket. つつめどもかくれぬ物は夏虫の身よりあまれる思ひなりけり tsutsumedomo / kakurenu mono wa / natsumushi no / mi yori amareru / omoinarikeri ‘Wrapped up, yet / Unconcealable are / The summer insects: / Their bodies bringing an excess / Of passion’s fires.’ Anonymous (GSS IV: 209)

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 53

Round Three

Left (Tie)

あはれとやかみもおもはむすみのえのふかくたのみをかくるみなれば

aware to ya
kami mo omowamu
suminoe no
fukaku tanomi o
kakuru mi nareba
‘How sad,’ does
The God, too, think?
For at Suminoe
Deep in devotions
Am I entangled…

Lord Tsunemori
105

Right

たのみつるこのひとむらの人ごとにちとせをゆづれすみよしのまつ

tanomitsuru
kono hitomura no
hito goto ni
chitose o yuzure
sumiyoshi no matsu
Devoted are
This group of folk, so
To each and every one
Grant a thousand years,
O, pines of Sumiyoshi!

Lord Yorisuke
106

The poem of the Left, saying ‘deep in devotions’ and suchlike, is pleasant, I have to say. Does the poem of the Right’s ‘this group of folk’ refer to the current poets or to the speaker’s own household? Well, whichever it is, the conception of devotion does not appear to be slight, but again I say this is a tie.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 52

Round Two

Left (Tie)

すみよしときこゆるさとにいとはずはおきどころなきみをやどさばや

sumiyoshi to
kikoyuru sato ni
itowazu wa
okidokoro naki
mi o yadosaba ya
A pleasant place to live is Sumiyoshi’s
Estate, or so I’ve heard, but
If it provide no comfort, then
My restless
Self might it attract…

Lord Kinshige
103

Right

すぎていにしあきにおくれてしもがるるきくやわがみのたぐひなるらむ

sugite inishi
aki ni okurete
shimogaruru
kiku ya wa ga mi no
tagui naruramu
Past and gone is
Autumn, but lingering,
Frost-burned
Chrysanthemums—is my sorry self
Just like them, I wonder?

Enjitsu
104

Neither the poem of the Left, nor of the Right, sound as if they have any particular faults. Nevertheless, in the case of such poems the assessment varies depending upon the speaker. While the poem of the Left is, indeed, pitiful, it also sounds a bit crude. It would be elegant, I think, if it were a woman’s poem. As for the Right’s poem, if we take it as an expression of grief over orphanhood, then in the final analysis it’s charming as it matches the conception of a scion of a noble house picturing himself as the monarch of the flowers. Then again, we do have the poem by the Enkyū Third Prince:

うゑおきしきみもなきよにとしへたる花は我が身のここちこそすれ

ueokishi
kimi mo naki yo ni
toshi hetaru
hana wa wa ga mi no
kokochi koso sure
You planted them here,
My Lord, though gone from this world,
These many years past—
The flowers and my sorry self
Both feel the same…[1]

This would seem to be in the same vein. Given that the speaker of both poems is unclear, for the moment, these tie.


[1] Composed when viewing the blossom at the Enshūji and recalling former Emperor Gosanjō (KYS IX: 518).

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 39

Round Fourteen

Left

こころあれやかきなくらしそはつしぐれまださしはてずしばのかりいほ

kokoro are ya
kaki na kurashi so
hatsushigure
mada sashihatezu
shiba no kari’io
Have some sympathy,
And bring no darkness,
O, first shower!
For I have yet to finish putting up
My crude brushwood hut…

Lord Suetsune
77

Right (Win)

すみよしのまつがしたねのたびまくらしぐれもかぜにききまがへつつ

sumiyoshi no
matsu ga shita ne no
tabimakura
shigure mo kaze ni
kikimagaetsutsu
At Sumiyoshi
Beneath the pines, their roots are
My journey-pillow, as
The shower, too, with the gusting wind
I hear blending together.

Takanobu
78

The Left’s latter section, which states that the poet has ‘yet to finish putting up’ his hut, has a truly charming configuration as a poem on the conception of travel, but the phrase ‘have some sympathy’ does not appear to be a conception which has prior precedent. It could be a way of expressing the emotion through the shower. As for the Right, while I do question the sound of ‘journey-pillow’, it is the case that in Cathay-style poems this appears, but what are we do to about the fact that this is not ‘pillow on my journey’, I wonder? The sequencing of ‘the shower, too, with the wind’ is pleasant, isn’t it. Thus, I make the Right the winner.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 24

Left

あまくだるかみもひさしくみやゐして月ものどかにすみよしのうら

amakudaru
kami mo hisashiku
miya’ishite
tsuki mo nodoka ni
sumiyoshi no ura
Descending from Heaven,
The Deity, too, eternally
Manifests here, where
The moon, too, is calm
Above the bay of Sumiyoshi.

Venerable Dharma Eye Shōken[1]
47

Right (Win)

かみよよりたぐひなしともすみよしのまつやこよひの月をみるらむ

kamiyo yori
taguinashi tomo
sumiyoshi no
matsu ya koyoi no
tsuki o miruramu
Since the Age of Gods
Is there nothing to compare with,
At Sumiyoshi,
The pines tonight with
The moon filling my gaze?

Novice Jakuchō[2]
48

The Left appears to have a truly charming conception and configuration, but beginning with ‘The Deity, too, eternally’ and then saying ‘The moon, too, is calm’ and repeating the same word is discordant. The Right, in addition to having no particular faults to mention, has an extremely pleasant-sounding configuration with ‘The pines tonight’. Thus, I make this a win for the Right.


[1] Hōgen kashōi Shōkaku 法眼和尚位静賢

[2] Shami Jakuchō沙弥寂超

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 23

Left (Tie)

すみよしのきしうつなみにてる月はこかげもあかしまつのむらだち

sumiyoshi no
kishi utsu nami ni
teru tsuki wa
kokage mo akashi
matsu no muradachi
At Sumiyoshi
Upon the waves, striking the shore,
Shines the moon—
The shadows of the trees are bright
Among the crowding pines.

Chūnagon, in service to the Former Ise Virgin[1]
45

Right

としふりてかみさびにけるすみのえのきしのたまもをみがく月かげ

toshi furite
kamisabinikeru
suminoe no
kishi no tamamo o
migaku tsukikage
Ancient in years is
The dread
Suminoe
Shore, where gemweed
Is polished by the moonlight.

Novice Sokaku[2]
46

The Left’s poem has a truly charming conception, with ‘Upon the waves, striking the shore, / Shines the moon’ reflecting and making the pines’ shadows shine. However, what are we to make of the use of ‘bright’ here? My late master once stated that he had too often heard such diction being used. The poem of the right appears to have pleasant configuration and diction, but, while it is only natural to say that the Suminoe’s shore is dread, I wonder about the appropriateness of going so far as to say that gemweed is? It’s going a bit far, I think, to bring in ‘gemweed’ simply to link it to ‘polish’. Nevertheless, the configuration of the poem appears pleasant, so I call this a tie.


[1] Zen-saigū no Chūnagon前斎宮中納言

[2] Shami Sokaku沙弥素覚