Tag Archives: sunset

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 37

Left

おしなべて五月のそらを見渡せば草葉も水もみどりなりけり

oshinabete
satsuki no sora o
miwataseba
kusaba mo mizu mo
midori narikeri
When the entire
Fifth Month sky
I gaze across,
Blades of grass and water, too,
Are green.

72[1]

Right

くるるかとみれば明けぬる夏の夜をあかずとや鳴く山郭公

kururu ka to
mireba akenuru
natsu no yo o
akazu to ya naku
yamahototogisu
Did you think ’twas sunset?
When a glance would show the breaking dawn
Of this summer night-
Unsated by your song, do you sing on,
Cuckoo in the mountains?

73[2]


[1] Shinchokusenshū III: 152/Kokin rokujō I: 89

[1] Kokinshū III: 157, attributed to Mibu no Tadamine/Shinsen man’yōshū 57/Kokin rokujō VI: 4437

SIS III: 161

When he had gone to Saga to dig up plants for his garden.

日暮しに見れ共あかぬ女郎花のべにや今宵旅ねしなまし

higurasi ni
miredomo akanu
wominaFesi
nobe ni ya koyoFi
tabinesinamasi
At the sunset
I see, yet cannot get my fill
Of maidenflowers, so
In the fields tonight
Should I make a traveller’s bed?

Fujiwara no Nagayoshi
藤原長能

Love IV: 20

Left (Win).
玉ほこの道行き人も心ありて來んと頼めよこの夕卜には

tamahoko no
michi yukibito mo
kokoro arite
kon to tanomeyo
kono yūke ni wa
Jewelled spear straight
The road for this traveller:
If he longs for me,
Let it say, ‘Come with me!’,
This evening’s fortune!

Lord Kanemune.
819

Right.
逢ことを頼むる暮と思せば入相の鐘も嬉しからまし

au koto o
tanomuru kure to
omoiseba
iriai no kane mo
ureshikaramashi
‘We will meet,
On that you can rely, at dusk,’
He made me think, so
The sunset bell, too,
Does seem full of joy!

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
820

The Right state: evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are different things. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.

In judgement: both evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are conducted in the evening, and with either one could wish ‘Let it say, “Come with me!”’ (kon to tanomeyo), so this does not seem to be a mistake does it? The Right has the fault of having both ‘We will meet’ (au koto o) and ‘sunset bell, too’ (iriai no kane mo). The Left should win.

Spring II: 24

Left (Win).

くり返し春の糸ゆふ幾代へておなじ緑の空に見ゆらむ

kurikaeshi
haru no itoyū
iku yo hete
onaji midori no
sora ni miyuramu
Time and time again
The threaded heat haze of spring,
As uncounted ages pass,
In identical azure
Skies must appear…

Lord Sada’ie.

107

Right.

のどかなる夕日の空をながむれば薄紅に染むるいとゆふ

nodokanaru
yūhi no sora o
nagamureba
usukurenai ni
somuru itoyū
When on the tranquil
Sunset sky
I gaze,
Pale crimson
Stains the haze.

Ietaka.

108

Neither team has anything to say about the other’s poem this round.

Shunzei, however, says, ‘Although the expressions ‘time and time again’ (kurikaeshi) and ‘uncounted ages pass’ (iku yo hete) seem somewhat forced connections with ‘threaded’ (ito), the final section beginning ‘identical azure’ (onaji midori) is superb. The essence of the Right’s poem, of gazing at the sky at sunset with the threads of haze stained, is charming, but I wonder whether it would not have been better not to force the reference to sunset into the poem. ‘Azure skies’ must win.