Tag Archives: yorozuyo

Kinkai wakashū 656

13th July 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

たづのゐるながらのはまの浜風に万代かけて波ぞよすなる

tazu no iru
nagara no hama no
hamakaze ni
yorozuyo kakete
nami zo yosu naru

Cranes rest
Upon the long beach at Nagara, where
With the beach-breeze
O’er ten thousand ages
The waves roll in![i]

656

[i] See: Topic unknown. おきつかぜ夜半にふくらし難波がたあか月かけて浪ぞよすなる oki tsu kaze / yowa ni fukurashi / naniwagata / akatsuki kakete / nami zo yosu naru ‘The wind from out the offing / Has blown throughout the night, it seems: / At Naniwa Inlet / With the break of dawn / The waves roll in!’ Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Sadayori (Shinkokinshū XVII: 1597); and: Composed on the bridge at Nagara. 春の日のながらのはまに舟とめていづれか橋と問へどこたへぬ haru no hi no / nagara no hama ni / fune tomete / izure ka hashi to / toedo kotaenu ‘In the springtime sun / At the beach of Nagara / I halted my boat; / ‘Where is the bridge?’ I / Asked, yet answer came there none.’ Dharma Master Egyō (Shinkokinshū XVII: 1595)

Kokinshū

KKS XVII: 907

16th June 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Topic unknown.

梓弓いそべのこ松たが世にかよろづ世かねてたねをまきけむ

adusayumi
isobe no komatu
ta ga yo ni ka
yoroduyo kanete
tane wo makikemu

A catalpa bow,
The dwarf pine upon the rocky shore
Has through whose lifetimes lived?
“That it last ten thousand ages!”
Was with its seed a’planted, perhaps?

Anonymous

Tōgū gakushi noritada uta'awase

Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 02

1st May 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Mugwort in the Grounds[i]

Left

よろづよもときはならなんけふのためいはひておほすそののよもぎは

yorozuyo mo
tokiwa naranan
kyō no tame
iwaite ōsu
sono no yomogi wa

For ten thousand ages more
Evergreen, I would you be!
For today’s
Celebration, lushly growing
Mugwort in the grounds…

Right

そののうちにおふるよもぎのえだしげみすゑさかゆべくみゆるきみかな

sono no uchi ni
ouru yomogi no
eda shigemi
sue sakayubeku
miyuru kimi kana

Within the grounds
A’growing, the mugwort’s
Branches are lush
To the very end they flourish,
As do you appear to, my Lord!

In ancient times, folk arose on this day with the dawn together with the birds and, taking those branches of mugwort from within their grounds that resembled people, dried them in the shade and made medicinal draughts—I wonder, were both Left and Right unaware of this? There is not even a dewdrop’s worth of diction in accordance with the topic, so I must make this round a tie.

かたかたにとるかたもなきよもぎぐさひとかずならぬここちこそすれ

katakata ni
toru kata mo naki
yomogigusa
hito kazu naranu
kokochi koso sure

Both sides say
Nothing noteworthy about
Mugwort plants,so
Neither is worth much,
I feel!

Judge 2

[i] Sono no naka no yomogi 園中蓬

Eien narabō uta'awase

Eien narabō uta’awase 35

19th March 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Seven

Left

かすがやまちえにさかゆるさかきばはよろづよまでのきみがためか

kasugayama
chie ni sakayuru
sakakiba wa
yorozuyo made no
kimi ga tame ka

Upon Kasuga Mountain
A thousand branches grow,
Leafy, on the sacred tree—
Until ten thousand ages pass
Will they ward my Lord!

Lady Kazusa
69

Right

君がよはいふかぎりなしみよしののこがねがみねにみよをまつまで

kimi ga yo wa
iu kagiri nashi
miyoshino no
kogane ga mine ni
miyo o matsu made

My Lord’s reign—
Words cannot describe:
‘til fair Yoshino’s
Golden peak’s
Age one must await!

Lady Shikibu
70

The poem of the Left seems poetic to an extraordinarily outlandish degree! The poem of the Right’s ‘‘til fair Yoshino’s / Golden peak’s / Age one must await!’ has a sufficient conception of felicitation. Thus, these tie.

That the Left is addressed to Mount Kasuga is highly admirable. Is the Right’s ‘golden peak’ a reference to Mount Mitake? It’s very difficult to say anything profound here. Arbitrarily, I would make this a tie—the quality of the poems makes that seem right.

Eien narabō uta'awase

Eien narabō uta’awase 34

19th March 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Six

Left (Win)

うれしさはおほつのはまにたつなみのかずもしられぬきみがみよかな

ureshisa wa
ōtsu no hama ni
tatsu nami no
kazu mo shirarenu
kimi ga miyo kana

My joy is
Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach
Break waves
In numbers quite unknown,
Such is my Lord’s reign most fair!

Cell of Fragrant Cloud
67

Right

かすがやまみねのしらがしよろづよをきみにといへばかみもいさめず

kasugayama
mine no shiragashi
yorozuyo o
kimi ni to ieba
kami mo isamezu

Kasuga Mountain has
White-barked evergreen oaks upon its peak:
‘Ten thousand generations
For my Lord!’—should I say that,
The God will surely not refuse!

Cell of Compassionate Light
68

The poem of the Left’s ‘Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach’ and what follows is something that sounds grievously prosaic. With that said, there are many parts of the poem which are not. What is the poem of the Right’s ‘White-barked evergreen oaks on its peak / Ten thousand generations’ linked with in the remainder of the poem? I wonder what it’s composed about… The Left doesn’t contain any errors, so I still say it wins.

The Left’s poem, as I have said in an earlier round, appears to lack smoothness. Is the poem of the Right’s ‘white-barked evergreen oaks’ a long-standing expression? I can’t seem to recall a prior precedent. ‘The God will surely not refuse’ is vague, too. Is it asking the deity’s favour for the speaker? While I am somewhat hesitant, given my appallingly constricted knowledge, I will, fearfully, say that this is inferior.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 15

6th December 2025 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Three

Left

万代の秋のかたみになす物はきみがよはひをのぶるしらぎく

yorozuyo no
aki no katami ni
nasu mono wa
kimi ga yowai o
noburu shiragiku

Of ten thousand ages’
Autumns a keepsake
I will make:
My Lord’s age
Extended by a white chrysanthemum!

Lord Akinaka
29

Right

今朝みればさながら霜をいただきて翁さびゆくしら菊の花

kesa mireba
sanagara shimo o
itadakite
okina sabiyuku
shiragiku no hana

When this morn I look
That’s how it is: with frost
Bestowed
A lonesome ancient seems
This white chrysanthemum bloom!

Lord Mototoshi
30

Toshiyori states: this first poem is strongly characterized by felicitation, and that’s about all the fault I can mention. As for the second poem, ‘a lonesome ancient seems’ is certainly an expression I don’t know. Still, if I think of examples from prior poems, ‘lone ancient’ could be interpreted as deriving from ‘dotaged ancient’, but then the conception seems different here, so this is most likely wrong. I can only give a decision once I am certain.

Mototoshi states: ‘Of ten thousand ages’ / Autumns a keepsake / Will make’ resembles Kanemori’s famous work,[1] which has often been alluded to in composition, I think. This poem is charming. ‘Will make’ is an extremely abbreviated expression, and so the final ‘age / Extended by a white chrysanthemum’ appears to have little connection to it. There is Tomonori’ s ‘Dew-dappled / Let us pluck and wear’[2], and also responses sent on the 9^th day of the Ninth Month to the residences of Tadamine and Tsurayuki like ‘Bearing droplets / Age is extended by / Chrysanthemums’, aren’t there. Given that’s the case there would be many such keepsakes of extended age. As for the Right’s ‘That’s how it is: with frost / Bestowed / A lonesome ancient seems, well, it seems that just how I composed a poem about lingering chrysanthemums—have I done something wrong?

[1] SIS III: 214

[2] KKS V: 270

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 13

4th December 2025 Thomas Leave a comment

Lingering Chrysanthemums

Round One

Left (Both Judges – Win)

紫に匂へるきくは万代のかざしのために霜や置きつる

murasaki ni
nioeru kiku wa
yorozuyo no
kazashi no tame ni
shimo ya okitsuru

With violet
Shine these chrysanthemums:
That for ten thousand ages
We might wear them in our hair—
Is that why the frost has fallen?

Lady Kazusa
25

Right

おのづから残れる菊をはつ霜は我が置けばとぞおもふべらなる

onozukara
nokoreru kiku o
hatsushimo wa
wa ga okeba to zo
omouberanaru

Surely,
Of the lingering chrysanthemums
The first frost,
‘Tis because I’ve fallen!’
Seems to think!

Lord Toshiyori
26

Toshiyori states: while the first poem is not remarkable, it does sound smooth. The concluding ‘has fallen’, though—would it be excessive to say that I feel it’s a bit grating? In the second poem, the assembled company have stated that ‘seems to’ is something that they have never heard before in their lives and given that they have said that this is what it sounds like, I make the Left the winner.

Mototoshi states: ‘With violet / Shine these chrysanthemums’ sounds appropriately poetic, but saying ‘that…we might wear them in our hair’ followed by the final ‘has fallen’ is a sequencing that is, in great part, inharmonious and lacking in gentle beauty. Nevertheless, I feel that the second poem’s ‘Surely, / Of the lingering chrysanthemums’ and the final ‘seems to’ is so unfamiliar that it makes me wonder what is going on with the sequencing there, so a single dipping in violet dye is superior and, I feel, all the sweeter!