Tag Archives: yūgure

SShKKS XIII: 1329

On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].

いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな

ika ni sen
semete wa tabi no
soradanome
munashiku matan
yūgure mogana
O, what am I to do?
At least, it’s due to travel’s
Unreliable skies that
Emptily I would wait
This evening—if only that were so!

Iehira, Junior Third Rank
従三位家衡

Fubokushō XVI: 6665

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

SZS V: 303

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

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 21

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


[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (V: 257).

Love X: 12

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.

Love VIII: 28

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.

Love VIII: 24

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.