yukusue no chitose o komete harugasumi tatsuta no yama ni matsukaze zo fuku
The future for A thousand years contained within The haze of spring: On the mount of Tatsuta The wind blows through the pines![i]
661
[i] See: Topic unknown. ゆかむ人こん人しのべ春がすみたつたの山のはつさくら花 yukamu hito / kon hito shinobi / harugasumi / tatsuta no yama no / hatsu sakurabana ‘Folk who go / And those who come, secretly do dwell upon / The haze of spring / Over Mount Tatsuta’s / First flowering cherry blossoms.’ Middle Counsellor Yakamochi (Shinkokinshū I: 85)
yukusue mo kagiri wa shirazu sumiyoshi no matsu ni ikuyo no toshi ka henuran
Even the future’s Limits are unknown for Sumiyoshi’s Pines—how many ages and Years might they pass through?[i]
659
[i] See: Topic unknown. 我見てもひさしく成りぬ住の江の岸の姫松いくよへぬらむ ware mite mo / hisashiku narinu / suminoe no / kishi no himematsu / ikuyo henuramu ‘Even to my sight / Eternal are / Suminoe’s / Princess pines upon the shore: / How many ages have they passed through?’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 905)
ware mo ikade yo ni nagaraete sumiyoshi no matsu no chitose no yukusue mo mimu
Somehow, I, too, Would endure in this world, that Sumiyoshi’s Pine’s thousand years End I would see!
Masahira 125
Right
たとへけむなみはわがみにあらはれぬこぎゆくふねのあとはほかかは
tatoekemu nami wa wagami ni arawarenu kogiyuku fune no ato wa hoka ka wa
Might I compare The waves, which on my sorry self Have made their mark, with A boat rowing out, leaving A wake, or if not that then what? [1]
Chikashige 126
The Left seems to be imagining something very unrealistic. The Right has the poem ‘To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking’ in mind, and appears to have the charming conception of sorrowing over the face of Grand Duke Jiang appearing in the waves on the Wei River, but ‘if not that then what?’ sounds a bit overblown. With that being said, the Left feels like a plea for good fortune, and the Right evokes impermanence. The matters are only distantly connected, and thus in terms of faults and merits they are equal.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 世の中をなににたとへむあさぼらけこぎゆく舟のあとのしら浪 yo no naka o / nani ni tatoemu / asaborake / kogiyuku fune no / ato no shiranami ‘This mundane world: / To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking, / A boat rows out / Whitecaps in its wake.’ Novice Mansei (SIS XX: 1327)
Both Left and Right state: there is no separation between man and woman.
In judgement: ‘Young shoot of wild rice at Yodo’ (yodo no wakagomo) and ‘Ide’s jewelled waters’ (ide no tamamizu) are both elegant in style, but the Left has pledged a more profound bond. The Right has ‘the slight reflection left’ (mada kage asaki) and the Left is a poem about a vow which has been made. The Right is just referring to events of the past. Thus, ‘depth’ should win.
