Tag Archives: time

Yasuakira shinnō tachihaki no jin uta’awase 04

Pine crickets

Left (Win)

いまこむとたれたのめけむあきのよをあかしかねつつまつむしのなく

ima komu to
tare tanomekemu
aki no yo o
akashikanetsutsu
matsumushi no naku
‘I’m coming now’—
Who might I trust to say that,
On an autumn night
Ever unable to greet the dawn
The pine crickets cry.

Tachibana no Yasūdoki
7

Right

あききてはほどへにけるをあやしくもわがまつむしのおとづれもせぬ

aki kite wa
hodo henikeru o
ayashiku mo
wa ga matsumushi no
otozure mo senu
Autumn comes, and
Time has passed, but
How strange it is
I pine for the crickets
That never come to call.

Minamoto no Satake
8

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 13

Round One

Deer

Left (Tie)

さをしかも秋をかなしとおもへばやときしも声をたてて鳴くらん

saoshika mo
aki o kanashi to
omoeba ya
toki shimo koe o
tatete nakuran
Does the stag, too,
Autumn’s sadness
Feel?
That at this time, of all, his cry
Should ring out so…

Lord Shige’ie
25

Right

嶺になく鹿の音ちかくきこゆなり紅葉吹きおろす夜はのあらしに

mine ni naku
shika no ne chikaku
kikoyu nari
momiji fuki’orosu
yowa no arashi ni
Crying upon the peak
The stag’s bell close by
Sounds, carried
With blown down scarlet leaves
On the midnight storm…

Lord Tsunemori
26

The Left truly sounds as if it grasps the conception with its use of ‘of all, his cry’. The Right, too, is poetic with ‘blown down scarlet leaves’. There may be some who say that one should not compose using a subsidiary topic, yet in the poetry match held in Tentoku[i] and the poetry match held by Emperor Kazan[ii], this was judged not to be a fault.


[i] This was the Dairi uta’awase Tentoku yo-nen 内裏歌合 天徳四年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Tentoku 4’) held by Emperor Murakami on the 30th day of the Third Month, Tentoku 4 [28.4.960].

[ii] This was the Dairi uta’awase Kanna gan-nen 内裏歌合 寛和元年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Kanna 1’) held by Emperor Kazan the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1 [28.8.985].

Teiji-in uta’awase 18

Left (Tie)

ふくかぜにとまりもあへずちるときはやへやまぶきのはなもかひなし

fuku kaze ni
tomari mo aezu
chiru toki wa
yaeyamabuki no
hana mo kainashi
The gusting wind
Does never cease, so
Scattering time has come upon
The eightfold kerria
Blooms—so little good they are!

Okikaze
35

Right

をしめどもたちもとまらずゆくはるをなこしのやまのせきもとめなむ

oshimedomo
tachi mo tomarazu
yuku haru o
nakoshi no yama no
seki mo tomenamu
How I regret it, yet
Cannot halt the departure of
Parting spring—
O, that Nakoshi Mountain’s
Barrier would hold it!

Tsurayuki
36

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 20

ときのまもあきのいろをやをみなへしながきあだなにいはれはてなん

toki no ma mo
aki no iro o ya
ominaeshi
nagaki adana ni
iwarehatenan
For such a brief time
In her autumn hues is
A maidenflower, and yet
Ever is she faithless
Said to be…

39

あきのののくさをみなへししらぬみははなのなにこそおどろかれぬれ

aki no no no
kusa o mina heshi
shiranu mi wa
ana no na ni koso
odorokarenure
Through all the autumn meadows’
Grasses have I passed, yet
I know them not, so
When I learned her name
How surprised I was!

40

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 13

〔   〕むつれなつれむなぞもあやなてにとりつみてしばしかくさじ[1]

 
mutsure na tsuremu
nazo mo ayana
te ni toritsumite
shibashi kakusaji
 
How I long to stay fondly with you,
So why, indeed, should
You be picked, and
Briefly fail to hide yourself…

25

These poems spell out ominaeshi at the beginning of each line.

ののえはなくちにけりにもせでしほどをだにらずざりける

ono no e wa
mina kuchinikeri
nani mo sede
heshi hodo o dani
shirazu zarikeru
My axe handles
Have all rotted away!
Doing nothing,
Of the passing time completely
Unaware, have I been.

26


[1] The initial line of this poem is missing from the available original texts of the contest, however, given that this is a kutsukamuriuta on maidenflowers (ominaeshi), it must have both begun and ended with o, like poems 23 and 24, and been a similar type of phrase (‘a flower picked’ oru hana o をる花を; ‘those who picked you’ oru hito o をる人を) (Miki et al. 2019, 94).