Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 33

Round Thirty-Three

Left (Tie)

人数にあらずなるみのうらに又老の浪さへよるぞかなしき

hito kazu ni
arazu narumi no
ura ni mata
oi no nami sae
yoru zo kanashiki
Numbered among proper folk
I am not, as at Narumi
Bay, yet again do cruel
Waves of age
Break—so sad!

Lord Kinshige
65

Right

うきながらなほをしまるる命かな後の世とてもたのみなければ

ukinagara
nao oshimaruru
inochi kana
nochi no yo tote mo
tanominakereba
In constant suffering
Still do I regret
This life!
For even in the world to come
Can I place no trust…

Moromitsu
66

Neither has any parts I can’t understand.

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 04

Left (Win)

あひ見てもあはでもなげくたなばたのいつかこころはのどけかるらむ

aimite mo
awade mo nageku
tanabata no
itsuka kokoro wa
nodokekaruramu
Even having met him,
Now she sees him not, grieving is
The Weaver Maid—
When is it that her heart
Might find some peace?

7

Right

あはずしておもひしよりもたなばたはあかずわかれてのちぞわびしき

awazushite
omoishi yori mo
tanabata wa
akazu wakarete
nochi zo wabishiki
She would not meet him
Once she thought, but far more, now,
The Weaver Maid,
Endlessly, after
Parting is filled with lonely sadness.

8

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 03

Left (Tie)

あふことをまつとなげきしときよりもたなばたつめはいまやわぶらむ

au koto o
matsu to nagekishi
toki yori mo
tanabatatsume wa
ima ya waburamu
For a meeting
Did she pine and grieve,
But from that moment
The Weaver Maid
Now seems filled with lonely sadness.

5

Right

ながきよにつくすともなきたなばたのこひはそらにやもりわたるらん

nagaki yo ni
tsukusu tomo naki
tanabata no
koi wa sora ni ya
moriwataruran
The long night through
Did not exhaust at all
The Weaver Maid’s
Love into the skies
Seems to overflow.

6

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 32

Round Thirty-Two

Left

いつとても身のうき事はかはらねど昔は老をなげきやはせじ

itsu tote mo
mi no uki koto wa
kawaranedo
mukashi wa oi o
nageki ya wa seji
Ever does
My suffering remain
Unchanged, yet
Long ago, my age
Surely, was not a source of grief.

Atsuyori
63

Right (Win)

かくばかりうき世の中もすてはてんと思ふになればかなしかりけり

kaku bakari
ukiyo no naka mo
sutehaten to
omou ni nareba
kanashikarikeri
Such a singular
Mundane world of suffering
To abandon completely
I have come to think, but
Still I am sad.

Kūnin
64

I feel that both are true, but the Right seems a little superior at present.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 31

Round Thirty-One

Left

むらさきに色もかはらずあけ衣我がくろかみの白く成るまで

murasaki ni
iro mo kawarazu
akegoromo
wa ga kurokami no
shirokunaru made
To violet
Hues will never change
My robes of red
Until my tresses of black
Have turned grey…

Masashige
61

Right (Win)

世をもいとふ世にも我が身のいとはれてはなれがたきぞあやしかりける

yo o mo itou
yo ni mo wa ga mi no
itowarete
hanaregataki zo
ayashikarikeri
By this world that I hate so
My sorry self in turn
Is hated, so
That it is so hard to leave
Is a strange thing, indeed.

Kūnin
62

The Left isn’t bad, but as for the Right, well, it truly is a strange thing, isn’t it.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 30

Round Thirty

Personal Grievances

Left (Tie)

としをへて梅も桜もさくものを我が身のはるにまちぞかねぬる

toshi o hete
ume mo sakura mo
saku mono o
wa ga mi no haru ni
machi zo kanenuru
The years go by and
The plum and cherry, too,
Burst into bloom, yet
For the springtime of my sorry self
It is so hard to have waited!

Kiyosuke
59

Right

数ならで年へぬる身は今さらに世をうしとだにおもはざりけり

kazu narade
toshi henuru mi wa
ima sara ni
yo o ushi to dani
omowazarikeri
Innumerable are
The years I’ve passed, but
Right now, that
The world is a cruel place, even
I do not think.

Shun’e
60

Both of these have no faults to point out, but also no superlative parts either.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 29

Round Twenty-Nine

Left (Win)

君やあらぬ我が身やあらぬおぼつかなたのめしことのみなかはりぬる

kimi ya aranu
wa ga mi ya aranu
obotsukana
tanomeshi koto no
mina kawarinuru
Aren’t you who you once were?
Aren’t I who I was then?
How strange that
All we trusted in
Has changed.

Shun’e
57

Right

恋ひしなん命ぞをしきつれもなき人にしも身をかへんねたさに

koishinan
inochi zo oshiki
tsure mo naki
hito ni shimo mi o
kaen netasa ni
That I would die of love
Makes me regret my life!
But for that cruel
Girl should I
Exchange myself—exasperating!

Yorisuke

58

I feel the left is old-fashioned, isn’t it? And yet, it is not without feeling. The Right does not have a poor conception, but its diction is insufficient.

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 02

Left

あかずしてわかれにしかばあまのがはこひしきせのみおもほゆるかな

akazushite
wakarenishikaba
ama no gawa
koishiki se nomi
omohoyuru kana
Unsatisfied
Have they parted, so
At the River of Heaven’s
Rapids, their loving meeting alone
Does fill their thoughts!

3

Right (Win)

たなばたのまれにあふよのしののめのみえぬばかりぞきりはふらまし

tanabata no
mare ni au yo no
shinonome no
mienu bakari zo
kiri wa furamashi
The Weaver Maid
Has but a rare night’s meeting, so
At the edge of dawn
That it simply not be seen
She wishes for the fog to fall.

4

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 01

Among the courtiers in service to His Majesty, former Emperor Uda, it was possible to pick out those who had some sensitivity and those who did not, so in a certain year, when the kōshin rite came around on the 7th day of the Seventh Month, those gentlemen who were thought to have this sensitivity spent the day composing poems on the topic of ‘feelings after meeting at Tanabata’ which were divided into teams and matched.

Left

としごとにこりずやあるらんたなばたのあひてこひしきわかれのみする

toshigoto ni
korizu ya aruran
tanabata no
aite koishiki
wakare nomi suru
Every single year
Does she never learn, I wonder?
The Weaver Maid
Meets and then with love
Does simply part.

1

Right (Win)

おもひやる心のそらにしらるればたなばたつめのわかれかなしな

omoiyaru
kokoro no sora ni
shirarureba
tanabatatsume no
wakare kanashiki
Yearning fills
The heavens of her heart—
How well she knows it, for
The Weaver Maid’s
Parting is so sad.

2

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase

This is a small-scale contest containing only twenty-six poems. It was held on the 7th day of the Seventh Month, Engi 16 [8.8.916] (Hagitani 1957, 205), when the kōshin rite fell on that day, meaning that those participating had to stay up throughout the night. As the name of the contest suggests, the poets were courtiers in the service of former Emperor Uda, although their names have not been recorded; nor has the identity of the judge, but given the context, it seems likely that this will have been Uda himself. The 7th day of the Seventh Month was when Tanabata, the meeting between the celestial lovers, the Weaver Maid and the Herd Boy, was celebrated, and so it is unsurprising that the topic set for the match was ‘feelings after meeting at Tanabata’.