Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 16

Round Four

Left

さをしかのなくねはよそにききつれど涙は袖の物にぞ有りける

saoshika no
naku ne wa yoso ni
kikitsuredo
namida wa sode no
mono ni zo arikeru
The stag’s
Sad bell in the distance
Did I hear, yet still
My tears my sleeves
Have covered.

Sadanaga
31

Right (Win)

山たかみおろすあらしやよわるらんかすかに成りぬさをしかの声

yama takami
orosu arashi ya
yowaruran
kasuka ni narinu
saoshika no koe
From the mountain’s heights
Descending, has the storm wind
Weakened?
Faintly comes
The stag’s bell.

Lord Suetsune
32

I do wonder about the Left, given that there appears to be a poem by the late Lord Toshiyori:

さをしかのなくねは野べにきこゆれどなみだは床の物にぞ有りける

saoshika no
naku ne wa nobe ni
kikoyuredo
namida wa toko no
mono ni zo arikeru[1]
The stag’s
Sad bell upon the plain
I heard, yet
My tears my bed
Have covered.

I am a little leery of the Right’s central line, but overall it is not the case that this poem lacks conception, so it should win.


[1] KYS (3) III: 225 Composed on ‘listening to stags in a hut in the fields’. Also SZS V: 310 ‘Composed when he heard a stag belling while at a mountain retreat in Tanakami’. Also Sanboku kikashū 451 ‘Listening to stags in a hut in the fields’.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 15

Round Three

Left (Win)

たれよりも秋のあはれやまさるらん声にたてては鹿ぞ鳴くなる

tare yori mo
aki no aware ya
masaruran
koe ni tatete wa
shika zo nakunaru
Who might it be that
The sadness of autumn
Strikes more keenly?
Lifting up his voice,
It is the stag crying out!

Lord Yorisuke
29

Right

春夏はなにに心をなぐさめて秋のみ鹿の妻をこふらん

haru natsu wa
nani ni kokoro o
nagusamete
aki nomi shika no
tsuma o kouran
Spring and summer, too,
How do they the heart
Console?
‘Tis in autumn, alone, the stag
Seems to yearn for his mate.

Kenshō
30

The Left charmingly sounds as if the scene it describes is entirely natural. The Right isn’t bad, but, I seem to recall that there was a poem in—I think it was the Poetry Match at Lord Aritsuna’s Residence—that has the phrase ‘In autumn, above all, / The stag seems to yearn for his mate’, so it would have better to refrain from the final two lines. The Left should win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 14

Round Two

Left (Win)

ふく風も身にしむ秋の夕ぐれに哀をそふる鹿のこゑかな

fuku kaze mo
mi ni shimu aki no
yūgure ni
aware o souru
shika no koe kana
The gusting wind
Pierces my flesh on an autumn
Evening, as
Sadness laces
The stag’s cry!

Lord Michyoshi
27

Right

妻こふるさ夜ふけがたの鹿のねに声うちそへて秋風ぞ吹く

tsuma kouru
sayo fukegata no
shika no ne ni
koe uchisoete
akikaze zo fuku
Yearning for his mate as
Brief night wears on,
A stag’s cry
Is voiced, lacing
The gusting autumn wind.

Tamechika
28

Both Left and Right have the same overall content, but the Left’s ‘yearning for his mate as / Brief night wears on’ reverses the appropriate order of the diction: it would be preferable to say ‘Brief night wears on as / Yearning for his mate’. The Left has no such issues and so it should win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 13

Round One

Deer

Left (Tie)

さをしかも秋をかなしとおもへばやときしも声をたてて鳴くらん

saoshika mo
aki o kanashi to
omoeba ya
toki shimo koe o
tatete nakuran
Does the stag, too,
Autumn’s sadness
Feel?
That at this time, of all, his cry
Should ring out so…

Lord Shige’ie
25

Right

嶺になく鹿の音ちかくきこゆなり紅葉吹きおろす夜はのあらしに

mine ni naku
shika no ne chikaku
kikoyu nari
momiji fuki’orosu
yowa no arashi ni
Crying upon the peak
The stag’s bell close by
Sounds, carried
With blown down scarlet leaves
On the midnight storm…

Lord Tsunemori
26

The Left truly sounds as if it grasps the conception with its use of ‘of all, his cry’. The Right, too, is poetic with ‘blown down scarlet leaves’. There may be some who say that one should not compose using a subsidiary topic, yet in the poetry match held in Tentoku[i] and the poetry match held by Emperor Kazan[ii], this was judged not to be a fault.


[i] This was the Dairi uta’awase Tentoku yo-nen 内裏歌合 天徳四年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Tentoku 4’) held by Emperor Murakami on the 30th day of the Third Month, Tentoku 4 [28.4.960].

[ii] This was the Dairi uta’awase Kanna gan-nen 内裏歌合 寛和元年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Kanna 1’) held by Emperor Kazan the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1 [28.8.985].

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 10

Left (Tie)

あかなくにわかれにしかばたなばたのおりきしそではいまやぬるらむ

akanaku ni
wakarenishikaba
tanabta no
orikishi sode wa
ima ya nururamu
If, though unsatisfied
She did part, then
Would the Weaver Maid’s
Woven and then worn sleeves
Now be truly drenched?

19

Right

たなばたのあひけむそらもおもほえじわかれてのちの心まどひに

tanabata no
aikemu sora mo
omohoeji
wakarete nochi no
kokoro madoi ni
The Weaver Maid
It seems, met him in the skies, but
It does not feel so,
After parting
Lost at heart…

20

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 09

Left

あまのがはわたりてのちぞたなばたのふかきこころもおもひしるらむ

ama no gawa
watarite nochi zo
tanabata no
fukaki kokoro mo
omoishiruramu
After the River of Heaven
She has crossed,
The Weaver Maid
The depths of her heart’s
Feelings seems to know too well.

17

Right (Win)

あふよなきたなばたなればいまはとてかへるくもぢにまどはれしかな

au yo naki
tanabata nareba
ima wa tote
kaeru kumoji ni
madowareshi kana
Were there no night’s meeting
For the Weaver Maid, then
Now,
Upon her homeward path among the clouds
Would she have wandered, lost!

18

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

我がやどものこる花なくうゑつれど野べのけしきは猶ぞ床しき

wa ga yado mo
nokoru hana naku
uetsuredo
nobe no keshiki wa
nao zo yukashiki
At my dwelling
Lingering blooms are there none
Though I did plant them,
The prospect of a meadow is
Charming still!

Lord Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, Senior Secretary of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office
23

Right

秋萩の枝もとををにおく露のはらはばあやな花やちりなん

akihagi no
eda mo tōo ni
oku tsuyu no
harawaba aya na
hana ya chirinan
The autumn bush-clover
Branches bent with
Fallen dewdrops—
Should I sweep them off, then
Would the blossoms scatter, I wonder?

Lay Priest and Master of the Left Capital Office Norinaga
24

Doesn’t the Right seem to resemble the poem in the Ancient and Modern Collection which says

をりてみば落ちぞしぬべき秋萩の枝もとををにおけるしら露

oritemiba
ochi zo shinubeki
akihagi no
eda mo t
ōo ni
okeru shiratsuyu
Were I to pluck one,
‘Twould fall and smash:
Autumn bush-clover’s
Branches bent
With fallen silver dewdrops.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 11

Round Eleven

Left (Win)

われこそは野べをば宿にうつしつれたがさそひこし虫の音ぞこは

ware koso wa
nobe oba yado ni
utsushitsure
ta ga sasoikoshi
mushi no nezoko wa
‘Twas I, indeed, who
The meadow to my dwelling
Shifted, but
Who is it has been invited here
By the insects’ songs?

Shun’e Tayū no kimi
21

Right

秋の野の千くさの花の色色を心ひとつにそめてこそみれ

aki no no no
chikusa no hana no
iroiro o
kokoro hitotsu ni
somete koso mire
The autumn meadows
Thousand grasses’ blooms
Have hues a’plenty, but
My heart, but one,
Has been dyed, you see!

Mikawa, Court Lady to His Excellency
22

The Left sounds as if the poet is being comforted by the insects which is at some variance from the essential meaning of the topic, and yet when I listen to it, it has an abundance of charm. The Right doesn’t differ, does it, from Kanemasa’s poem in the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Minister of the Centre in Gen’ei 2 [1119]:

秋くれば千くさに匂ふ花の色の心ひとつにいかでしむらん

aki kureba
chikusa ni niou
hana no iro no
kokoro hitotsu ni
ikade shimuran
When the autumn comes
The thousand grasses glow
With flowers’ hues, but
Why, then, does my heart with but one
Seem to be stained?

Thus, the Left wins.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 10

Round Ten

Left (Win)

色色に心ぞうつる秋ののは露もあだなる花しなければ

iroiro ni
kokoro zo utsuru
aki no no wa
tsuyu mo adanaru
hana shi nakereba
From one to another
My heart does shift, for
In the autumn meadows
Even a slightly unattractive
Bloom is there not a one…

Master Shinkaku
19

Right

花すすき風のけしきにしたがひて心おこらぬ人なまねきそ

hanasusuki
kaze no keshiki ni
shitagaite
kokoro okoranu
hito na maneki so
O, silver grass!
The feelings of the wind
Follow, and
Folk whose hearts will not be moved
Beckon not!

Lay Priest and Supernumerary Director of the Bureau of Horses, Right Division Sanekiyo
20

The Left, in terms of both conception and diction seems to be much better composed than the Right.

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 08

Left (Tie)

あひ見むとおもひしよりもわかれてののちぞわびしきこひまさりけり

aimimu to
omoishi yori mo
wakarete no
nochi zo wabishiki
koimasarikeri
We would meet and see each other
I thought then, but then
We parted and
Later, filled with lonely sadness
Did I love you, even more.

15

Right

あかでゆくひこぼしなればとしをへてわすれざりけるうれしげもなし

akade yuku
hikoboshi nareba
toshi o hete
wasurezarikeru
ureshige mo nashi
Unsatisfied goes
The Herd Boy, so
As the year passes by,
Unable to forget,
He shows no sign of joy.

16