Composed on the conception of thinking about flowers in the meadows.
今はしも穂に出でぬらむ東路の石田の小野の篠の小薄
| ima wa simo Fo ni idenuramu adumadi no iFata no wono no sino no wosusuki |
Now it is that Their fronds seem to appear: On the eastern roads, Through Iwata meadows, Fresh silver-grass among the arrow bamboo. |
Fujiwara no Kore’ie
藤原伊家
Left (Tie).
尋ても逢はずは憂さやまさりなん心づくしに生の松原
| tazunete mo awazu wa usa ya masarinan kokoro zukushi ni iki no matsubara |
Paying a visit and Not meeting: the despair Reaches new heights, Exhausting my heart, as a journey to Iki in Matsubara! |
653
Right.
行逢はん契も知らず花薄ほの見し野邊に迷ひぬる哉
| yukiawan chigiri mo shirazu hana sususki hono mishi nobe ni mayoinuru kana |
Go, and I will meet her! Heedless of if such a bond exists, The miscanthus fronds Briefly glimpsed across the fields, Drive me to confusion! |
654
The Gentlemen of the Left and Right state the opposing team’s poem lacks thought.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left draws excessively on conceits of Kyushu. In the Right’s poem, ‘confusion in the fields’ (nobe no mayoi) does not seem to lead anywhere. Both of these poems lack any real conception other than their use of conceits. The round ties.
Left (Win).
夢かさは野邊の千草の面影はほのぼの招く薄ばかりや
| yume ka sa wa nobe no chigusa no omokage wa honobono maneku susuki bakari ya |
Was it all a dream? Across the fields a thousand blooms Did meet my gaze; now Dimly beckoning Are there only fronds of miscanthus grass… |
513
Right.
むら薄たえだえ野邊に招けども下延ふ葛ぞ恨果てぬる
| murasusuki taedae nobe ni manekedomo shita hau kuzu zo uramihatenuru |
The clumps of miscanthus grass From time to time across the fields Do wave, yet The creeping arrowroot beneath Holds all my regrets… |
514
The Right state that the initial line of the Left’s poem is ‘awkward’ [amari nari], and that they cannot approve of the final use of ya. The Left wonder about the appropriateness of ‘Holds all my regrets’ (uramihatenuru).
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have a number of criticisms of the Left’s poem. However, with careful consideration, while the poem is not tasteful in its entirety [subete yū ni shimo arazaredo], the initial line does not seem that strange, and the final ya is fine, is it not? The Right’s ‘The clumps of miscanthus grass from time to time across the fields do wave’ is tasteful [yū naru], but all that connects with ‘arrowroot’, is the subsequent ‘seeing what lies beneath’. ‘Arrowroot’ is too briefly in the poem for this. The initial and final sections of the Left’s poem have been criticised by the Gentlemen of the Right, but they are not without purpose. Thus, the Left wins.
Left.
神無月くれやすき日の色なれば霜の下葉に風もたまらず
| kaminazuki kureyasuki hi no iro nareba shimo no shitaba ni kaze mo tamarazu |
In the Godless Month The swiftly setting sun’s Shade is such That on the frosted under-leaves The wind rests not at all. |
83
Right (Win)
花すゝき草のたもとも朽はてぬ馴てわかれし秋をこふとて
| hana susuki kusa no tamoto no kuchihatenu narete wakareshi aki o kou tote |
The miscanthus blooms, Those grassy cuffs, Have withered all away; Parted from accustomed Autumn: that was all their longing… |
84
While the courtiers were wondering about who should reply, I happened to come along:
風のまに誰結びけむ花すゝき上葉の露もこゝろをくらし
| kaze no ma ni tare musubikemu Fana susuki uFaba no tuyu mo kokorowokurasi |
In the space ’tween gusts of wind Who, indeed, entwined The silver grass; Dewfall on the upper leaves Suggests a constrained heart… |
On receiving a stem of silver grass from that growing before Seiryōden, the Mistress of His Majesty’s Breakfast composed this poem and fastened it to it, saying, ‘Who might have sent this?’
吹く風の心も知らで花すゝきそらに結べる人やたれぞも
| Fuku kaze no kokoro mo sirade Fana susuki sora ni musuberu Fito ya tare zo mo |
Of the gusting wind’s Intentions, I know nothing; Silver grass So idly entwined, but Who has done it? |