On winter rain, from a hundred poem sequence on the four seasons, composed in Jōkyū 2 [1220].
都人ちぎりしものをはつ雪に松の葉をしき夕暮の雨
| miyakobito chigirishi mono o hatsuyuki ni matsu no ha o shiki yūgure no ame | Capital folk Did make a vow: Upon the first snows Pine needles spread By the evening rain. |
Lord Ietaka, Junior Second Rank
Composed when he presented a hundred poem sequence, during the reign of former Emperor Horikawa.
山ざとはさびしかりけりこがらしのふく夕ぐれのひぐらしのこゑ
| yamazato Fa sabisikarikeri kogarasi no Fuku yuFugure no higurasi no kowe | A mountain retreat is Lonely, indeed; The biting wind Blows of an evening with The sundown cicadas’ cries. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
あきのよにたれをまつとかひぐらしのゆふぐれごとになきまさるらん
| aki no yo ni tare o matsu to ka higurashi no yūgure goto ni nakimasaruran | On an autumn night Who is it that you await, I wonder? The sundown cicadas With each evening Cry ever louder… |
41
あき風のふきくるよひはきりぎりす草のねごとにこゑみだれけり[1]
| akikaze no fukikuru yoi wa kirigirisu kusa no ne goto ni koe midarekeri | The autumn wind Comes gusting late at night, when The crickets From every single blade of grass Let out confused cries. |
42
Zithers 筝
ことのねのことぢにむせぶ夕ぐれはけもいよだちぬそぞろさむさに
| koto no ne no kotoji ni musebu yūgure wa ke mo iyodachinu sozoro samosa ni | A zither’s notes Span a tearful Evening, as My hair stands on end With the sudden chill. |
Toshiyori
Groves 原
道とほみ日も夕ぐれになりぬればそのはらまでとさしてこそゆけ
| michi tōmi hi mo yūgure ni narinureba sonohara made to sashite koso yuke | My road is yet long, and The sun toward twilight Does go, so Just as far as Sonohara Let it still shine on! |
Daishin
Left (Tie)
一夜のみ宿かる人の契とて露結び置く草枕かな
| hitoyo nomi yado karu hito no chigiri tote tsuyu musubioku kusamakura kana | For just a single night Will he rent my lodging and Make a brief bond of love; Dewdrops tangled with My grassy pillow… |
A Servant Girl
1163
Right
結びけん契もつらし草枕待つ夕暮も宿を頼みて
| musubiken chigiri mo tsurashi kusamakura matsu yūgure mo yado o tanomite | Tangled Brief bonds are chill; With a grassy pillow She awaits the evening and A request for lodging. |
Takanobu
1164
Left and Right state together: both poems have only a faint conception of entertainers.
In judgement: both Left and Right have a ‘grassy pillow’ (kusamakura) and a faint conception of entertainers, as the Gentlemen have already stated. They seem to me to somehow resemble the poem by the Left in Round Nine. The Left’s ‘dewfall drops tangled’ (tsuyu musubioku) and the Right’s ‘brief bonds are chill’ (chigiri mo tsurashi) are both elegant. Once again, I make this a tie.
Left (Win)
あはれにぞ鳴あかすなる蛬われのみしぼる袖かと思ふに
| aware ni zo nakiakasunaru kirigirisu ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni |
How sad it is – Crying with the dawn is The cricket, though I alone am wringing Out my sleeves, I feel. |
Lord Suetsune
1075
Right
露深きあはれを思へきりぎりす枕の下の秋の夕暮
| tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe kirigirisu makura no shita no aki no yūgure |
Deep in dew and Sad, I wish you were, O, cricket, Beneath my pillow On this autumn evening… |
Nobusada
1076
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults we can mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: our feelings are the same as those of the Right
In judgement: both Left and Right are on ‘crickets’ (kirigirisu) and their configuration and diction sound equally elegantly beautiful. I feel that the Right, with ‘deep in dew and sad, I wish you were’ (tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe), is somewhat lacking in the conception of the poet’s own love, but the Left, with ‘I alone am wringing out my sleeves, I feel’ (ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni), has an excellent conception of love, so I must state that the Left is the winner.
Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮
| kono koro no kokoro no soko o yoso ni miba shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure |
Of late Of the depths of my heart Were you to catch a distant glimpse: A stag belling in the meadow On an autumn evening… |
A Servant Girl
1067
Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也
| kurekakaru susono no tsuyu ni shika nakite hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari |
Twilight Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts, With a stag’s sad cry; Awaiting him, my sleeves, too, Are wet with tears. |
Nobusada
1068
Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.
When she was alone, an enquiry arrived from someone as to how she was, so she attached this to a morning glory and sent it to him.
夕暮のさびしき物は朝顔の花を頼める宿にぞ有りける
| yuFugure no sabisiki mono Fa asagaFo no Fana wo tanomeru yado ni zo arikeru |
The evening is So lonely: A morning glory Bloom alone is trustworthy At my house! |
Anonymous
心すむ尾上の松の風にまた鹿の音たぐふ秋の夕暮
| kokoro sumu onoe no matsu no kaze ni mata shika no ne taguu aki no yūgure |
Across the enlightened Pines of Onoe The wind, once more Resembles a stag’s cry On an autumn evening. |