From a poetry match held by Tsurayuki when he was Suō province in Tengyō 2 – The beginning of Summer.
いつしかとなつになるらしうつせみのこゑもあはれになきはじむらし
| itsu shika to natsu ni narurashi utsusemi no koe mo aware ni nakihajimurashi | All of a sudden Summer has come, it seems: Cicada shell Songs, sadly Seem to sound in the air. |
Anonymous
Round Seven
Left
ほととぎすひとこゑなきてすぎぬれどしたふ心ぞちぢにありける
| hototogisu hitokoe nakite suginuredo shitau kokoro zo chiji ni arikeru | The cuckoo A single call cried out, and Passed me by, yet Missing him, my heart He left in a thousand, thousand pieces. |
Lady Kazusa
27
Right (Win)
ほととぎすくものたえまにもる月のかげほのかにもなきわたるかな
| hototogisu kumo no taema ni moru tsuki no kage honoka ni mo nakiwataru kana | The cuckoo, as From a gap between the clouds Drips the moon’s Light, faintly Calls on! |
Lady Shikibu
28
Both poems are of the same quality.
The Left’s poem really makes me wonder why that should be the case, with the final ‘he left’ putting me in mind of someone in court dress who has forgotten to put on his shoes! The Right’s poem appears rather more bright than it needs to be. Furthermore, if one says that the ‘light is faint’ then shouldn’t the moon be hidden by the clouds? It’s vague over that, but if there were a prior poem as precedent, then it would be a good composition. For the present, I will make it the winner.
Round Six
Left
夜もすがらまつにはなかでほととぎすあしたのはらにひとこゑぞきく
| yomosugara matsu ni wa nakade hototogisu ashita no hara ni hitokoe zo kiku | All through the night I pined without a song, O, cuckoo Then with the morn on Ashita plain I hear a single call! |
Cell of Fragrant Cloud
25
Right (Win)
五月にはしばなくやとぞほととぎすなほうらまちにさぬるよもなし
| satsuki ni wa shiba naku ya to zo hototogisu nao uramachi ni sanuru yo mo nashi | In the Fifth Month Incessantly might he sing—I think, so The cuckoo I am already eagerly awaiting, Sleeping not at all on any night! |
Cell of Compassionate Light
26
The Left’s poem seems to have an extraordinary conception, yet its diction is insufficient. The Right’s poem is old-fashionedly artless and thus has elements which are entirely poetically backward-looking.
The Left’s poem is particularly oddly composed in that is fails to account for the essential meaning of Ashita Plain. Does saying a ‘single call now’[1] mean that that one could wait expectantly during the day, too?
As for the Right’s poem, a cuckoo is not something that calls incessantly, yet I wonder if this composition is not, in some form, a plea that it would? As for ‘eagerly await’, well, I feel that it would be better to have ‘awaited’ rather than ‘awaiting’—that sounds like something one would have done ‘nothing but’ first. It seems a bit distasteful, like a poem by someone who has been perusing the Collection of a Myriad Leaves.
[1] On a folding screen for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony of the Northern Princess. 行きやらで山ぢくらしつほととぎす今ひとこゑのきかまほしさに yukiyarade / yamaji kurashitsu / hototogisu / ima hitokoe no / kikamahoshisa ni ‘I cannot go ahead / As twilight falls upon the mountain paths / For a cuckoo’s / Single call now / Is what I long to hear…’ Minamoto no Kintada (SIS II: 106)
Round Five
Left
ほととぎすはなたちばなにやどるともなのらざりせばいかでしらまし
| hototogisu hanatachibana ni yadoru to mo nanorazariseba ikade shiramashi | The cuckoo Among the orange blossom May make his lodging, but If he fails to announce himself How would one ever know? |
Controller’s Graduate
23
Right
さよなかにみふねの山のほととぎすほのかになきてすぎぬなるかな
| sayo naka ni mifune no yama no hototogisu honoka ni nakite suginu naru kana | In the midst of a night so brief Upon Mifune Mountain, A cuckoo, Faintly crying, Has passed his time! |
Kerin’in Graduate
24
It is entirely impossible to decide between these two poems.
Neither of these poems is particularly bad. The Left flows smoothly and is elegant; the Right starts with ‘Mifune Mountain’ and then continues with ‘faintly’, which certainly does not lack skill. Thus, I would say that these should tie, although this will doubtless be a source of some dissatisfaction to the writer of the Right.
Round Four
Left (Win)
あたらしきただひとこゑをほととぎすいかなるさとになきとよむらん
| atarashiki tada hitokoe o hototogisu ika naru sato ni nakitoyomuran | How fine Simply is your single call, O, cuckoo, What might be the estate which Resounds with your song? |
Cell of the Fragrant Elephant
21
Right
いかばかりあはれならましほととぎすかくまたれてしきなかましかば
| ika bakari aware naramashi hototogisu kaku matareteshi kinakamashikaba | How deeply Moving might it be? For a cuckoo To have long awaited and He then comes to call… |
Cell of Everlasting Truth
22
In regard to the Left’s poem, in the Poetry Match held in Engi 3, there was a compostion which went ‘Until in Kataoka / The plains of Ashita / Does resound / The mountain cuckoos / Are singing now!’[i] When this was recited, His Majesty laughed and so it was not read aloud all the way to the end. The expression ‘resound’ is poor. The diction of the Right’s poem is terribly stilted and really doesn’t trip off the tongue, but strictly speaking it has no particular faults. I make it the winner.
The Left’s poem seems move my heart to the greatest degree. However, it really is the case that ‘resounding with song’ is something which happens after hearing it—that’s when it would seem right to compose ‘come resound with song’. It’s extremely imprudent to guess and say that somewhere ‘might resound with song’ without hearing it. And yet, there is the conception of there being times, too, when the cuckoo doesn’t sing. In the Right’s poem ‘To have long awaited’ lacks harmony, and I would want there to be a break there, so I should say that the Left wins.
[i] This poem is Teiji’in uta’awase 48.
Composed and sent when he heard that Inspector Kinmichi had had a number of people compose poems on the bush warbler at his residence.
春霞たちへだつれど鶯の声はかくれぬものとしらずや
| harugasumi tachihedatsuredo uguisu no koe wa kakurenu mono to shirazu ya | The haze of spring Arising, interferes, yet The warbler Is unable to conceal his cry— I wonder if he know it? |
Former Consultant Tsunemori
Written on the edge of a folding screen by a painting of geese flying in the clouds, when His Majesty ordered a celebration for the Junior Principal Handmaid.
白雲の中にまがひてゆく雁もこゑはかくれぬ物にざりける
| shirakumo no naka ni magaite yuku kari mo koe wa kakurenu mono ni zarikeru | Within the clouds, so white, Entangled Goes a goose, Unable to conceal his cry With anything at all! |
