梅が枝の花のねくらば荒れ果てて桜にうつる鶯の声
| ume ga e no hana no nekuraba arehatete sakura ni utsuru uguisu no koe |
A branch of plum Blossoms was his roost, All completely ruined now; To the cherry has shifted The warbler’s song. |
Tag Archives: ume
MYS V: 841
MYS V: 838
MYS V: 824
MYS X: 1918
MYS X: 1883
Field Pleasures
ももしきの大宮人は暇あれや梅をかざしてここに集へる
| momosiki no opomiyabito pa itoma are ya mume o kazasite koko ni tudoperu |
Hundred-fold The palace folk At leisure, perhaps Plum-blossom in their hair Assemble here. |
Anonymous
KKS I: 48
KKS I: 47
A poem from the Empress’ Poetry Competition in the Kanpyō Period.
ちると見てあるべき物を梅花うたてにほひの袖にとまれる
| tiru to mite arubeki mono wo ume no Fana utate niFoFi no sode ni tomareru |
Seeing that they will fall Is how I should have thought, but The plum blossoms’ Scent, disturbingly, Clings to my sleeves… |
The Monk Sosei.
Spring I: 12
Left (Win).
空はなを霞もやらず風冴えて雪氣にくもる春の夜の月
| sora wa nao kasumi mo yarazu kaze saete yukige ni kumoru haru no yo no tsuki |
The skies are still Untouched by haze; The wind clearly brings A sense of snow to cloud The moon, this springtime night. |
23
Right.
梅が枝の匂ばかりや春ならんなを雪深し窓のあけぼの
| ume ga e no nioi bakari ya haru naran nao yuki fukashi mado no akebono |
Is a branch of plum’s Scent alone Spring? Still the snows lie deep Outside my window this dawn. |
24
Neither team has any criticisms to make of the other’s poem in this round.
Shunzei comments that both poems are simply and beautifully constructed in both form and phrasing, and the final two lines of both poems are equally charming. He feels, though, that the beginning of the Right’s poem would have been improved if, instead of ‘a branch of plum’ (ume ga e), which focuses the audience’s attention on the branch, and not the blossom, it had begun ‘Is the plum beneath my eaves’ (noki no ume), instead. In addition, while reluctant to discount ‘outside my window this dawn’ (mado no akebono), he cannot help but feel that ‘the moon, this springtime night’ (haru no yo no tsuki) is a more superlative conclusion, and so has to award victory to the Left.
Spring 4
Left.
花の香のかすめる月にあくがれて夢もさだかに見えぬ比かな
| hana no ka no kasumeru tsuki ni akugarete yume mo sadaka ni mienu koro kana |
The blossoms’ scent Befogs the moon; Thus lost, Certain it is that dreams Will not come now, perhaps… |
7
Right (Win)
春の夜は月の桂もにほふ覧光に梅の色はまがひぬ
| haru no yo wa tsuki no katsura mo niouran hikari ni ume no iro wa magainu |
On a night in springtime The moon’s silver trees, too, Must give out their fragrance; In such light the plums’ Hues can be mistaken. |
8