Teiji-in uta’awase 05

Left (Win)

はるがすみたちしかくせばやまざくらひとしれずこそちりぬべらなれ

harugasumi
tachishi kakuseba
yamazakura
hito shirezu koso
chirinuberanare
If the spring haze
Has risen to conceal
The mountain cherries,
Then, indeed, will no one know
When they have seemed to scatter!

Tsurayuki
9

Right

たのまれぬはなのこころとおもへばやちらぬさきよりうぐひすのなく

tanomarenu
hana no kokoro to
omoeba ya
chiranu saki yori
uguisu no naku
Untrustworthy are
The blossoms’ hearts
I do think, so
While they are unscattered
Will the warbler sing.

Okikaze
10[i]

Both of these are the same—they tie.[ii]


[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XI: 1549), attributed to Okikaze, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’. It is also included twice in Kokin rokujō (I: 31) and (VI: 4395): in both cases the poem is attributed to Okikaze, but the first instance lacks a headnote, while the second is classified as a ‘Warbler’ poem. Finally, it is also included in Mandaishū (II: 254), again attributed to Okikaze, but this time with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’.

[ii] Given that the Left’s poem here is marked as winning, presumably Uda means that both poems are equally worthy of a win—that is, that this is a yoki ji, a ‘tie of quality’.

Teiji-in uta’awase 04

Left

いそのかみふるのやまべのさくらばなこぞみしはなのいろやのこれる

isonokami
furu no yamabe no
sakurabana
kozo mishi hana no
iro ya nokoreru
In Isonokami
At Furu, on the mountainside is
Cherry blossom—
The flowers I did see last year:
Are their hues lingering on?

Suekata[i]
7

Right

ほどもなくちりなむものをさくらばなここらひささもまたせつるかな

hodo mo naku
chirinamu mono o
sakurabana
kokora hisasa mo
matasetsuru kana
Before a moment’s gone
Seem to scatter
The cherry blossoms, after
Everyone forever
Having made to wait!

Ise
8

The Left only shows affection for the past year, and lacks a conception of the current one—a loss.


[i] Suekata 季方.The identity of this poet is unclear. Hagitani (1963, 174) suggests he could have been the son of any one of a number of nobles: Prince Koga 興我王 (dates unknown); Fujiwara no Toshiyuki 藤原敏行 (?-901/07); Fujiwara no Sugane 藤原菅根 (856-908); or the younger brother of Taira no Atsuyuki 平篤行 (?-910).

Teiji-in uta’awase 03

Left (Win)

きつつのみなくうぐひすのふるさとはちりにしむめのはなにざりける

kitsutsu nomi
naku uguisu no
furusato wa
chirinishi mume no
hana ni zarikeru
Ever coming, simply
To sing—the warbler’s
Ancient home
The scattered plum
Blossoms is not.

Mitsune

5[i]

Right

みちよへてなるてふももはことしよりはなさくはるにあひぞしにける

michiyo hete
naru chō momo wa
kotoshi yori
hana saku haru ni
ai zo shinikeru
Three thousand generations enduring,
They say, are the peaches:
From this year
Blossom blooming spring
Have they encountered.

Korenori

6[ii]

This poem says ‘generation’ when it should be composed about a year—it loses.


[i] This poem is included in Shinchokusenshū (I: 36), attributed to Sakanoue no Korenori, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] A minor variant of this poem, which changes the first phrase to ‘For three thousand years’ (michi tose ni), is included in Shūishū (V: 288), attributed to Mitsune, with the headnote ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

Teiji-in uta’awase 02

Left

さかざらむものならなくにさくらばなおもかげにのみまだきみゆらむ

sakazaramu
mono naranaku ni
sakurabana
nao mo kage ni nomi
madaki miyuramu
Wishing not to bloom
Will not remain
The cherry blossom, but
Even so their shape alone
Swiftly, I would wish to see!

Mitsune
3

Right

やまざくらさきぬるときはつねよりもみねのしらくもたちまさりけり

yamazakura
sakinuru toki wa
tsune yori mo
mine no shirakumo
tachimasarikeri
When the mountain cherry
Has bloomed,
Earlier than usual
Clouds of white around the peak
Do rise spectacularly!

Tsurayuki
4[i]

The Left uses ‘wish’[ii] twice; the Right places the mountain cherries at a distance—that make the round a tie.


[i] This poem is included in Gosenshū (I: 118), with the headnote, ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] Uda is objecting to Mitsune’s double usage of the auxiliary verb -ramu in his judgement here.

Teiji-in uta’awase 01

Spring

Ten Poems on the Second Month

Left

あをやぎのえだにかかれるはるさめはいともてぬけるたまかとぞみる

aoyagi no
eda ni kakareru
harusame wa
ito mo te nukeru
tama ka to zo miru
Upon the green willow
Branches hang
Spring raindrops—
As if each frond were hand-threaded
With gems do they appear.

Ise
1

Right

あさみどりそめてみだれるあをやぎのいとをばはるのかぜやよるらむ

asamidori
somete midareru
aoyagi no
ito oba haru no
kaze ya yoruramu
Pale green
Dyes the tangled
Willow
Fronds—do spring’s
Breeze they seem to beckon?

Korenori
2

I’d say both of these are good—a tie.

Hon’in sadaijin-ke uta’awase 10

Evergreens

ちりかはる心なけれどみやまぎのときはは秋もしられざりけり

chirikawaru
kokoro nakeredo
miyamagi no
tokiwa wa aki mo
shirarezarikeri
A flighty
Heart, has it not, yet
Deep within the mountains, that the trees
Are evergreen, even the autumn
Seems not to know…

19

Gentian

した草の花をみつればむらさきに秋さへふかくなりにけるかな

shitagusa no
hana o mitsureba
murasaki ni
aki sae fukaku
narinikeru kana
When in the undergrowth
Flowers I do see, their
Violet in
Autum much deeper
Has become!

20

Hon’in sadaijin-ke uta’awase 09

Bamboo

Left

つゆもおけとなびくものからたけのはのいろうつろへるあきもみぬかな

tsuyu mo oke to
nabiku mono kara
take no ha no
iro utsuroeru
aki mo minu kana
‘Fall, O, dewdrops!’, I say, then
Weighed down
The bamboo leaves’
Hues fading
I’ll see not this autumn!

18

Asters

Right

あきののにいろなきつゆはおきしかどわかむらさきに花はそみけり

aki no no ni
iro naki tsuyu wa
okishikado
wakamurasaki ni
hana wa somikeri
Upon the autumn meadows
Colourless dew
Has fallen, yet
With pale violet
Have the blooms been dyed.

18

Hon’in sadaijin-ke uta’awase 08

Scarlet leaves

Left

つねよりもはやきもみぢはしらつゆのわきて心をおけるとやみん

tsune yori mo
hayaki momiji wa
shiratsuyu no
wakite kokoro o
okeru to ya min
Earlier than
Usual upon the scarlet leaves
Have silver dewdrops
Burst—is it my heart that
With them seems to fall?

15

Right

もみぢばのながれてせけばやまがははあさきよりなほみづやひぬらん

momijiba no
nagarete sekeba
yamagawa wa
asaki yori nao
mizu ya hinuran
Scarlet leaves
Flow down and block
A mountain stream, so
Shallower than ever do
Its waters seem to fall?

16

Hon’in sadaijin-ke uta’awase 07

Marlberry

Left

あさごとにきりはふれどもあしひきのやまたち花はいろもかはらず

asa goto ni
kiri wa furedomo
ashihiki no
yamatachibana wa
iro mo kawarazu
With every morning
The mist rolls down, yet on
The leg-wearying
Mountains, the marlberry’s
Hues remain unchanged.

13

Right

みねだにやすみうくならんあしひきのやまたち花のみやまゐをせる

mine dani ya
sumi’ukunaran
ashihiki no
yamatachibana no
miyamai o seru
Does even the peak
Seem so hard to dwell upon?
The leg-wearying
Mountain marlberry has
Turned the hidden spring a darker hue.

14

Hon’in sadaijin-ke uta’awase 06

Bush clover

Left

しかのこゑたかさごやまのはぎなればをりてこしよりねをやなくらん

shika no koe
takasagoyama no
hagi nareba
oritekoshi yori
ne o ya nakuran
A stag’s cry
On Takasago Mountain, where
Lies bush clover:
Might someone have come and picked her
That he lets out such cries?

11

Right

あきはぎの花のながるるかはのせにしがらみかくるしかのねもせぬ

akihagi no
hana no nagaruru
kawa no se ni
shigarami kakuru
shika no ne mo senu
Autumn bush clover
Blooms flow down
The river rapids and
Hang upon the lattice weir, and
The stag cries not at all…

12