雲雀上がる飛火野原に我一人野も狭に咲ける菫をず摘む
| hibari agaru tobuhino hara ni ware hitori nomose ni sakeru sumire o zo tsumu |
Skylarks soar above Tobuhi Plain, where All alone, I – Blooming everywhere – The violets do pick. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
Tag Archives: violets
SZS II: 109
Composed on violets, at the time of the same hundred poem sequence.
雉子鳴く石田の小野の坪菫しめさすばかりなりにけるかな
| kigisu naku iFata no wono no tubosumire sime sasu bakari narinikeru kana |
Pheasants call From Iwata meadows where Violets are Simply symbols of Their possession. |
Akisue
顕季
This poem is also Horikawa hyakushu 245.
GSS III: 89
A woman who lived in a rather dilapidated place, when she was feeling alone, picked some violets from her garden and sent them to a man saying:
我が宿にすみれの花の多かれば来宿る人やあると待つかな
| a ga yado ni sumire no Fana no oFokareba kiyadoru Fito ya aru to matu kana |
At my home The violets bloom In profusion, so Wondering if you will come to stay I am awaiting! |
Anonymous
Spring II: 4
Left (Tie)
知る知らずことありがほのまとゐかな茅花抜く野にけふもくらしつ
| shiru shirazu koto ari gao no matoi kana tsubana nuku no ni kyô mo kurashitsu |
Folk I know and strangers, both, Purposefully have come For music-making; Gathering reed-ears from the meadow, Today I’ll pass my day… |
67
Right (Tie)
いつしかと子日に出でし春の野を菫摘むまで踏みならしつる
| itsu shika to ne no hi ni ideshi haru no no o sumire tsumu made fuminarashitsuru |
How quickly came The Rat’s Day: I went out to The springtime fields and, Until violet-gathering season comes Will I tread them down. |
68
The Right say that it seems that people must have come for something more important than ‘field pleasures’ if they come ‘purposefully’, to which the Left respond that, of course, people take their field pleasures seriously, and suggest that the Right refer to the winning poem in the previous round. They then ask if reed ears don’t appear later in the season than violets, and so query whether the Right’s poem is appropriate at this stage in the contest.
Shunzei says merely that, ‘the comments by both teams are entirely appropriate’ and makes the round a tie.
Spring II: 2
Left (Win).
うちむれて菫摘むまに飛火野の霞のうちにけふもくらしつ
| uchimurete sumire tsumu ma ni tobuhino no kasumi no uchi ni kyō mo kurashitsu |
Gathered all together, In picking violets, On Tobuhi Plain Amongst the haze Have we spent this day… |
63
Right.
暮ぬるかいざ歸りなん春の野のまとゐはけふに限るべきかは
| kurenuru ka iza kaerinan haru no no no matoi wa kyō ni kagirubeki ka wa |
Is dusk a’falling? Well then, let’s be homeward bound. Among the fields in Springtime, Music, this day Alone, will not sound. |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office
64
The Right team state that the Left’s poem certainly expresses the conception [kokoro wa tashika nari] of ‘Field Pleasures’ but perhaps introduces the topic of ‘violets’ too early for this poetry competition’s sequence. The Left respond, ‘If the poem matches the conception for Field Pleasures [yayū no kokoto dani araba], the matter of timing is no great fault [fukaki toga naku]! The Right’s poem is more on the theme of ‘longing to be heading home’, than ‘Field Pleasures’, and the sentiment of the latter topic is weak [kokorozashi asashiki]’.
Shunzei judges that the Left’s poem seems well-constructed [utazama wa yoroshiki], but that the diction [kotoba] of using ma ni (‘while’) in the expression sumire tsumu ma ni (‘In picking violets’), is ‘undesirable’. The Right’s use of diction is charming [kotobazukai okashikaran], but the poem really is about longing to be off home. The Left’s final stanza is excellent [yoroshiki], and so their poem has to be the winner.
Kei’un Hyakushu 18
Violets
わが身世に猶すてやらですみれ草こゝろは染じ色ふかくとも
| wa ga mi yo ni nao suteyarade sumiregusa kokoro wa someji iro fukakutomo |
This world I Cannot yet abandon; The violets Will not stain my soul, No matter how deep their hue. |
yamaji kite
On violets: passing through the mountains on the way to Ôtsu.
山路来て何やらゆかしすみれ草
| yamaji kite nani yara yukashi sumiregusa |
Coming along the mountain paths Somehow ’tis all more dear to find A violet. |
(1685)