Love Waiting for Someone 待人恋
いまこむとたのめし人のなかりせばねてあり明の月をみましや
| ima komu to tanomeshi hito no nakariseba nete ariake no tsuki o mimashi ya | ‘I’ll be coming now,’ said The one in whom I’ve placed my trust, but He is not here, so Should I to bed and with the dawn Upon the moon rest my gaze? |
Nakazane
Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
衣手もくちはてぬべしあふことの月をへだててとはぬうらみに
| koromode mo kuchihatenubeshi au koto no tsuki o hedatete towanu urami ni | Even my sleeves Must have rotted all away! For we met and then A month has passed Without a word – how I hate you for it! |
Higo
Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
衣手もなかにはしばしおかざりき月をへだつる君やなになり
| koromode mo naka ni wa shibashi okazariki tsuki o hedatsuru kimi wa nani nari | Even upon my sleeves, or Within, has it for a while Not come to rest: That moon – while it has interfered What of you, my love? |
Nakazane
Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
あはぬ夜のかずやはつもるいかなればたちぬる月といふはくるしき
| awanu yo no kazu ya wa tsumoru ika nareba tachinuru tsuki to iu wa kurushiki | When nights without a meeting Mount up in number, What am I to do, for The very passage of the moon Does bring me pain… |
Akinaka
あしひきの山遠き月を空におきて月影高き末の架け橋
| ashihiki no yama tōki tsuki o sora ni okite tsukikage takaki sue no kakehashi | Leg-wearying, Above the distant mountains, the moon Hangs in the sky; Soaring moonbeams A bridge between the peaks. |
Shōhaku 肖柏 (1443-1527)
[One of] two poems about the early moon by Hashihito no Ōura.
倉橋の山を高みか夜隠りに出で来る月の光乏しき
| kurapasi no yama wo takami ka yogomori ni idekuru tuki no pikari tomosiki | Is it Kurahashi Mountain’s height? In the depths of night The emerging moon’s Light is feeble, indeed. |
Hashihito no Ōura
間人大浦
Left
年深き入江の秋の月見ても別惜しまぬ人やかなしき
| toshi fukaki irie no aki no tsuki mitemo wakare oshimanu hito ya kanashiki | Late on in the year Above the bay one evening, Glimpsing the moon: That he cares not at their parting – Is that a source of sadness? |
A Servant Girl
1199
Right (Win)
ともすれば別を知らぬ浪の上にかきなす音をも人は問けり
| tomo sureba wakare o shiranu nami no ue ni kakinasu ne o mo hito wa toikeri | As ever, In ignorance of our parting, Upon the waves The strains I pluck Bring folk to ask me why… |
Ietaka
1200
Both Gentlemen state: the poems are based on ‘The Song of the Lute’ and have no faults to mention.
In judgement: both the Left and the Right are based on ‘The Song of the Lute’ and the Left, beginning with ‘late on in the year’ (toshi fukaki) is pleasant, but ‘that he cares not at their parting’ (wakare oshimanu) and what follows seems rather insufficient, in addition to simply seeming to recall Xunyang River and lack a conception of the poet’s own love. The Right has ‘in ignorance of our parting’ (wakare o shiranu), while ‘bring folk to ask me why’ (hito wa toikeri) also has a slight conception that the lady has not asked why either. Thus, the Right should win.
Composed when a man who had said she could definitely rely on him to come with the evening, said she would not see him until the 20th of the month.
契りおきし人も梢の木間よりたのめぬ月の影ぞもりくる
| tigiri okisi Fito mo kozuwe no ko no ma yori tanomenu tuki no kage zo morikuru |
He promised, but He does not come, and from the treetops Through the trees The fickle moon’s Light comes dripping. |
Horikawa, from the Regent’s Household
摂政家堀川
Left (Tie).
故郷に見し面影も宿りけり不破の関屋の板間洩る月
| furusato ni mishi omokage mo yadorikeri fuwa no sekiya no itama moru tsuki |
Back home I saw her face, and It lodges here, At the Barrier House at Fuwa, In the moonlight leaking through the boards. |
A Servant Girl
1007
Right.
人恋ふる我ながめよ思けり須磨の関屋の有明の月
| hito kouru ware nagameyo omoikeri suma no sekiya no ariake no tsuki |
Loving you, I will ever gaze, I thought, At the Barrier House at Suma On the dawntime moon. |
Nobusada
1008
The Right state: the Left’s poem is good. The Left state: the Right’s poem lacks any faults to indicate.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘Barrier House at Fuwa’ (fuwa no sekiya) followed by ‘the moonlight leaking through the boards’ (itama moru tsuki) is truly charming. In addition, if one wonders why ‘I saw her face’ (mishi omokage mo) has been used, it is certainly reminiscent of the poem ‘The dawntime moon, too, lodges in the waters clear’, but an improvement on it. It is difficult to say, however, that the Right’s ‘At the Barrier House at Suma on the dawntime moon’ (suma no sekiya no ariake no tsuki) is in any way inferior.
Left (Win).
我が恋は片裏染めの唐衣かへして寝るや色に見ゆるらむ
| wa ga koFi Fa kata’urazome no karakoromo kaFesite nuru ya iro ni miyurururamu |
For my love An inner-dyed Cathay robe I will reverse – in sleep, then, I wonder will I see passion’s hues? |
Shichirō 七郎
[Minamoto no Ie’yori 源家職]
31
Right.
寝ぬままに月を眺めて明かすかな闇には恋もなぐさかじかし
| nenu mama ni tuki wo nagamete akasu kana yami ni Fa koFi mo nagusamazikasi |
While sleepless I gaze upon the moon ‘til dawn! For in the darkness my love Would gain no consolation! |
Saburō 三郎
[Minamoto no Kanemasa 源兼昌]
32