Tag Archives: yamaji

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 44

Round Nineteen

Left (Win)

くさまくらおなじたびねのそでにまたよはのしぐれもやどはかりけり

kusamakura
onaji tabine no
sode ni mata
yowa no shigure mo
yado wa karikeri
Needing a grassy pillow
When travelling just the same as I, dozing
I find my sleeves drenched even more,
For the midnight shower, too,
Has found lodging.

Kojijū
87

Right

いほりさすやまぢはすぎぬはつしぐれふるさとまでやめぐりゆくらむ

iori sasu
yamaji wa suginu
hatsushigure
furusato made ya
meguriyukuramu
I put up my hut
Upon the mountain path that you passed by,
O, first shower!
As far as my ancient home
I wonder, will you make your way?

Lord Sanemori
88

The poem of the Left, saying ‘When travelling just the same as I dozing, / I find my sleeves drenched even more’ and then following this with ‘For the midnight shower, too, / Has found lodging’, has an extremely charming conception and configuration. In addition to the poem of the Right also having a charming conception, it begins with ‘O, first shower!’ and then continues, ‘As far as my ancient home’, which is an effective use of diction. Nevertheless, the conception of the Left’s poem is even better and it wins.

SKKS X: 924

For the Hundred Poem Sequences Commemorating the Reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.

やまぢにてそほちにけりな白露のあかつきおきの木木のしづくに

yamaji nite
sōchinikeri na
shiratsuyu no
akatsuki oki no
kigi no shizuku ni
On a mountain path
How damp have I become!
Silver dewdrops
Fall with the dawn
In droplets from the trees…

Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Kunizane

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kiku awase 17

Composed on someone passing through chrysanthemums to reach a sage’s dwelling.
濡れて干す山路の菊の露のまにいつか千歳を我は経にけむ

nurete Fosu
yamazi no kiku no
tuyu no ma ni
ituka titose wo
ware Fa Fenikemu
Drenched, then drying
On this mountain path with chrysanthemum
Dewdrops—in that little space
Has, somehow, a thousand years
Passed me by?

Sosei
17

This poems was included in Kokinshū (V: 273), where it has a somewhat different headnote.

Love VII: 6

Left (Tie).
足引の山路の秋になる袖はうつろふ人のあらしなりけり

ashihiki no
yamaji no aki ni
naru sode wa
utsurou hito no
arashi narikeri
Leg wearying
Mountain trails in autumn
Have my sleeves become,
For she fades from my life, as
A departing storm…

Lord Sada’ie.
971

Right.
この世には吉野の山の奧にだにありとはつらき人に知られじ

kono yo ni wa
yoshino no yama no
oku ni dani
ari to wa tsuraki
hito ni shirareji
Within this world, were I
In the Yoshino mountains’
Heart, even so
That cruel
One would know it not!

Jakuren.
972

The Right state: the Left’s poem does not refer to a specific mountain – we wonder whether this is acceptable? In addition, ‘in autumn have my sleeves’ (aki ni naru sode) and ‘she…as a storm’ (hito no arashi) is difficult to understand. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to indicate.

In judgement: in connection with the criticism made of the Left’s poem, I do not feel that it is always essential to refer to a specific mountain. The other matters are, indeed, difficult to understand. The underlying sense of the Right’s poem seems overly pretentious. It is reminiscent of the tales of Boyi and Shuqi, or of Jie Zhitui, and Mount Shouyang and Mount Mian. Really, it does put me in mind of the Four White-Headed Recluses of Mount Shang, where it says, ‘They emerged due to the plans of Zhang Liang, made for Huidi, who said, “Though I may lie down with the greybeards, enjoying Mount Shang myself, all, in the end, are people under Zhang Liang.”’ It is extremely difficult, in the end, to make these sentiments relevant to our own land. Thus, I find it inappropriate to accept the content of the Right’s poem. The Left’s poem has its faults, too, so cursorily, I make this round a tie.