Tag Archives: tabi

Teiji-in uta’awase 10

Left (Tie)

ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ

furusato ni
kasumi tobiwake
yuku kari wa
tabi no sora ni ya
haru o suguramu
Above an ancient estate
Flying through the parting haze
Go the geese:
In the skies they journey through,
I wonder, will they pass the springtime?

Mitsune

19

Right

ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ

chiru hana o
nukishi tomeneba
aoyagi no
ito wa yoru tomo
kai ya nakaramu
The scattered blossom
Has been pierced, but not stayed, so,
The green willow’s
Threaded fronds are spun together, yet
It useless seems…

20

‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’

SShKKS XIII: 1329

On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].

いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな

ika ni sen
semete wa tabi no
soradanome
munashiku matan
yūgure mogana
O, what am I to do?
At least, it’s due to travel’s
Unreliable skies that
Emptily I would wait
This evening—if only that were so!

Iehira, Junior Third Rank
従三位家衡

Dairi uta’awase Kanna Gan-nen 5

Geese
 
Left (Win)

わがせこがたびのころもをうちはへてまつかりがねのいまもなかなむ

wa ga seko ga
tabi no koromo o
uchihaete
matsu kari ga ne no
ima mo nakanamu
My darling man’s
Journey garb
I will spread out, for
The long-awaited goose cries
Are now sounding out.

Korenari
9

Right

わぎもこがかけてまつらんたまづさとかきつらねたるはつかりのこゑ

wagimoko ga
kakete matsuran
tamazusa to
kakitsuranetaru
hatsu kari no koe
My darling girl
Does ever seem to wait!
Jewelled missives
Written with
The first goose calls…

10

Minbukyō yukihira uta’awase 9

Left
明けぬ間に箱根の山の時鳥二声とだに鳴き渡るらむ

akenu ma ni
Fakone no yama no
Fototogisu
Futakowe to dani
nakiwataruramu
Before the dawn no
Hakone Mountain
Cuckoos’
Twin calls simply
Seem to sing back and forth

17

Right (Win)
深山出でていづこも旅ぞ時鳥ここにを結べ草の枕は

miyama idete
iduko mo tabi zo
Fototogisu
koko ni wo musube
kusa no makura wa
Emerging from the mountains’ depths
Where does your journey take you,
O, cuckoo?
Here will I twine strands
Of grass for my pillow…

18

Love V: 28

Left (Win).
旅寢する我をば床の主にて枕に宿る小夜の面影

tabinesuru
ware oba toko no
aruji nite
makura ni yadoru
sayo no omokage
When sleeping on my travels
I of my bedding
Am master!
Lodging by my pillow is
A face from a night too brief…

Lord Ari’ie
895

Right.
まどろまぬその夜な夜なを數ふれば夢路も遠き草枕哉

madoromanu
sono yona yona o
kazoureba
yumeji mo tōki
kusamakura kana
Unable to even doze
Night after night
I count them up, and
The path of dreams gets more
Distant from my grassy pillow.

Lord Takanobu
896

The Right state: the Left’s poem seems fine. The Left state: we find no faults to mention.

In judgement: the Right’s ‘the path of dreams gets more distant’ (yumeji mo tōki) sounds elegant, but the Left’s poem has already been assessed as ‘fine’ in the comments by the gentlemen of the Right. This round I will leave the judgement in their hands and make the Left the winner.