Left – Dwarf bamboo[i]
たまとのみつゆのみゆるはささがにのいとををにしてぬけばなりけり
| tama to nomi tsuyu no miyuru wa sasagani no ito o o ni shite nukeba narikeri | Simply as jewels Do the dewdrops seem, when Making the tiny crab—the spider’s Web their thread, They are strung upon it… |
4
Right
(Missing)
[i] The topic of this poem is given as ‘Dew’ (Tsuyu 露) in the other text of the match, although the poem is identical. ‘Spider’ (sasgani) contains sasa (‘dwarf bamboo’)/
Composed when I had instructed various people to compose on ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels’.[i]
ささがにの玉ぬくいとのををよわみ風にみだれて露ぞこぼるる
| sasagani no tama nuku ito no o o yowami kaze ni midarete tsuyu zo koboruru | A tiny crab, the spider Strings gems on her web, Threads so fragile, that Confused by the wind The dewdrops scatter. |
[i] A reference to: Composed at a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋ののにおくしらつゆは玉なれやつらぬきかくるくものいとすぢ aki no no ni / oku shiratsuyu wa / tama nare ya / tsuranukikakuru / kumo no itosuji ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels, / Pierced through and strung / On spider webs?’ Fun’ya no Asayasu (KKS IV: 225). Sanetomo has used the initial part of the Kokinshū poem as the topic for composition.
When there had been a gale, and someone had called to see how she was, in the silence later, she wrote this and sent it.
荒かりし風の後より絶えするは蜘蛛手にすがく糸にやあるらん
| arakarisi kaze no noti yori taesuru Fa kumode ni sugaku ito ni ya aruran |
Wildly The wind has gone, and Broken are The spider’s spanning Webs – is that how we are to be? |
Sagami
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