Category Archives: Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 07

Leave a comment

Round Seven

Left (Both Judges – Win)

音にさへ袂をぬらす時雨かな槙の板屋のよはの寝覚に

oto ni sae
tamoto o nurasu
shigure kana
maki no itaya ni
yowa no nezame ni		Even the sound
Does soak my sleeves with
A shower
Striking my roof of cedar boards,
Awaking at midnight…

Lord Sadanobu
13

Right

しぐれとて柞の杜にたちよれば木のはとともに降りかかるかな

shigure tote
hahaso no mori ni
tachiyoreba
ko no ha to tomo ni
furikakaru kana		When with a shower’s fall
Within the oak forest
I head to stand
Together with the leaves,
It strikes me as it falls!

Lord Munekuni
14

Toshiyori states: the first poem’s composition on one’s sleeves getting soaked on hearing a sound is extremely charming. It sounds like that’s really how it is. The latter poem, too, is smooth, and the final line appears to have had some thought put into it, so I dread having to say that the first poem wins.

Mototoshi states: ‘a shower at midnight upon a roof of cedar boards’ is a particularly superlative image, and that this would drench one’s sleeves is also extremely charming. While ‘the oak forest’ does not appear bad, it’s not that remarkable, and ‘waking at midnight’ is something that certainly occurs, I feel.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 06

Leave a comment

Round Six

Left (M – Tie)

さもこそは槙のまやぶき薄からめもるばかりにもうつ時雨かな

samo koso wa
maki no mayabuki
usukarame
moru bakari ni mo
utsu shigure kana		Truly,
A roof of cedar boughs
Seems scanty, for
It simply leaks when
Struck by a shower!

Lord Morotoshi
11

Right (T – Win)

木の葉のみ染むるかとこそおもひしに時雨は人のみにしみにけり

ko no ha nomi
somuru ka to koso
omoishi ni
shigure wa hito no
mi ni shiminikeri		‘Is it the leaves upon the trees alone
It dyes?’
I wondered once, but
A shower on folk’s
Flesh does leave a mark…

Lord Masamitsu
12

Toshiyori states: the first poem deliberately starts with ‘A roof of cedar boughs’ and then concludes with ‘Struck by a shower’ which is vague. It does sound like the poet might have had ‘the lonely sighing sound of rain beating against my window’ in mind when composing. In any case, this is something which would have been better avoided. If he wished to compose on this sort of thing, and had done so without this element, then the poem would not be unpleasant. As for the Right, well, this does sound somewhat scanty! Still, what kind of colour might the poet’s flesh be marked? If it was the colour of the leaves, then this would be pretentious, wouldn’t it. If he wanted to refer to the hue of the wind in the pines, then why didn’t he say so? As a composition about a shower, though, this sounds slightly better.

Mototoshi states: having such a thin roof of cedar boughs struck by a passing shower feels frightening for the people under it. At the beginning of the world, rain as thick as axles fell, I hear—what a terrifying shower that must have been! The expression ‘rain beating against my window’ occurs in a poem from Cathay, referring, it seems, to rain blown by the wind horizontally striking one’s fence. Thus, it does sound extremely moving to compose about rains striking one’s window and keeping one awake, but, then again, while it’s certainly true that showers dye the treetops on the mountains in all directions, what sort of mark would they leave on a person’s flesh? It sounds like the old tale of the well-warden’s sign, doesn’t it! This round, both poems are about the same.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 05

Leave a comment

Round Five

Left (T – Tie)

時雨には菅の小笠も水もりて遠の旅人ぬれやしぬらん

shigure ni wa
suga no ogasa mo
mizu morite
ochi no tabibito
nure ya shinuran		In such a shower
A little hat of woven sedge, too,
Drips with water;
A distant traveller
Is drenched, no doubt…

Lady Kazusa
9

Right (M – Win)

霜さえて枯行くをのの岡べなるならの朽葉にしぐれ降るなり

shimo saete
kareyuku ono no
okabe naru
nara no kuchiba ni
shigure furu nari		Chill the frost upon
The sere meadows on
The hillside where
Upon the withered oak leaves
A shower is falling.

Lord Mototoshi
10

Toshiyori states: In the first poem, ‘drips with water’ is vague. In the second poem, ‘hillside where’ lacks smoothness. What are we to make of ‘withered oak leaves’? If leaves have withered away, then they wouldn’t make any sound, would they. Is this even possible?

Mototoshi states: the diction of ‘In such a shower / A little umbrella of woven sedge, too, / Drips with water’ is something which lacks any prior precedent. ‘Dripping with water’ give the impression of a painted pot with a crack in it, so what kind of shower can this be? It would be more normal to refer to having to shelter beneath one’s sleeves. While it is lacking in any superlative features, I feel that the sound of a shower on withered oak leaves is somewhat more commonplace.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 04

Leave a comment

Round Four

Left (M – Win)

水鳥の青葉の山やいかならん梢をそむる今朝のしぐれに

mizutori no
aoba no yama ya
ika naran
kozue o somuru
kesa no shigure ni		Waterfowl fly above
Aoba Mountain—
O, what is to become
Of the treetops dyed
By this morning’s shower?

Lord Akinaka
7

Right (T – Win)

かきくもり蜑の小ぶねにふく苫の下とほるまで時雨れしにけり

kakikumori
ama no obune ni
fuku toma no
shita tōru made
shigureshinikeri		Clouds rake in above
The fisher’s tiny boat—
Through its rush-woven roof
And even beneath
A shower has fallen.

Lord Michitsune
8

Toshiyori states: Continuing on from ‘Waterfowl fly above / Aoba Mountain’ with ‘the treetops dyed’ is simple and straightforward. The latter poem’s emphasis on the fisher’s tiny boat is an unexpected expression, yet because it is not a fault, I make this poem the winner.

Mototoshi states: saying ‘Waterfowl fly above / Aoba Mountain’ is extremely hackneyed, yet the poem of the Right has ‘Clouds rake in above / The fisher’s tiny boat— / Through its rush-woven roof’: both spring showers and summer ones, too, are not things which fall constantly, so it is difficult to believe that they could fall ‘even beneath’. So, I have to determine that a shower dyeing the treetops is a little better.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 03

Leave a comment

Round Three

Left (T – Win)

時雨には色ならぬ身の袖笠もぬるればかをる物にぞ有りける

shigure ni wa
iro naranu mi no
sodegasa mo
nurureba kaoru
mono ni zo arikeru		When, amidst a shower
My colourless
Umbrella of sleeves
Is soaked, something scented
Does it become!

Lady Shōshō
5

Right (M – Win)

冬くれば散りしく庭のならの葉に時雨音なふみ山べのさと

fuyu kureba
chirishiku niwa no
nara no ha ni
shigure oto nau
miyamabe no sato		When the winter comes
Scattered and spread across the grounds
Are oak leaves,
Sounding among the showers
On this deep mountain estate…

Lord Masakane
6

Toshiyori states: the first poem has ‘my colourless’—does this mean that the garment the poet is wearing is white? Or that the speaker is lacking in passion? If the garment is white, then it’s difficult to say that it changes colours, while if one is lacking in passion, it’s also difficult to see the connection with an umbrella of sleeves being scented. In general, though, the poem’s style is lacking in fault. The second poem appears to have replicated all the faults of an earlier work. While one can certainly say ‘Oak leaves / Scattered and spread’, saying ‘Scattered and spread / Oak leaves’ gives one the feeling that something is out of sequence. This is a bit unreasonable, but because it’s difficult to avoid the faults of its earlier model, I still feel it should lose.

Mototoshi states: one really wants to know what sort of lack there is. The poem says ‘soaked, something scented’, but doesn’t reference an earlier work which, for example, mentions plum blossom. Still, I feel that ‘Sounding among the showers / On this deep mountain’ is conspicuously good.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 02

Leave a comment

Round Two

Left (T – Tie; M – Win)

あやしくも時雨にかへる袂かなゐなの笠はらさして行けども

ayashiku mo
shigure ni kaeru
tamoto kana
ina no kasawara
sashite yukedomo		How strange that
From the shower I shelter
Beneath my sleeves!
Though into the umbrella of the dwarf-bamboo groves of Ina
Is where I’m heading…

A Court Lady
3

Right

ぬるれども嬉しくもあるか紅葉ばの色増す雨の雫とおもへば

nuredomo
ureshiku mo aru ka
momijiba no
iro masu ame no
shizuku to omoeba		Soaked, yet
Happy am I!
For the scarlet leaves
Take on brighter hues with these rain
Drops, I feel…

Lord Akikuni
4

Toshiyori states: The first poem’s section on ‘the umbrella of the dwarf-bamboo groves of Ina’ is well expressed, but then is ‘shower I shelter’ referring to clothing? The second poem can be read as meaning that the speaker is happily being soaked by raindrops standing beneath scarlet leaves on one particular day, but getting drenched by any old shower, even if it’s one which stains leaves scarlet is not something that would make one happy and, sounds tedious. Both poems sound vague, so they should tie.

Mototoshi states: ‘the shower I shelter / Beneath my sleeves’ is better than ‘Happy am I!’

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 01

Leave a comment

Showers

Round One

Left (Win – Both judges)

終夜嵐の音にたぐひつつ木の葉とともに降るしぐれかな

yomosugara
arashi no oto ni
taguitsutsu
ko no ha to tomo ni
furu shigure kana		All night long
The sound of storm winds
Is laced
With that of leaves and
Falling showers!

Lady Settsu, in service to the Empress
1

Right

おぼつかないかにしぐるる空なればうらごの山のかたみなせなる

obotsukana
ika ni shigururu
sora nareba
urago no yama no
kataminase naru		How puzzling it is!
What sort of shower
From the skies is it that
Makes Urago Mountain
Show such a thing?

Lord Toshiyori
2

Toshiyori states: While the conception and diction of the first poem are not that unusual, it appears to have no errors to indicate. The second poem’s choice of diction—using ‘show such a thing’—is vague: I wonder if when composing about this mountain that’s what one does? Nevertheless, the assembled company have stated that ‘Urago Mountain’ feels unpoetic as a piece of diction, and thus I make the Left the winner.

Mototoshi states: I feel that ‘With that of leaves and / Falling showers!’ is a moving and charming conception, but find it impossible to understand why Urago Mountain should ‘show such a thing’ in the poem of the Right! I have to say that the Left is superior.

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase – Topics and Participants

Leave a comment

Poetry Match at the Residence of the Palace Minister – 2nd day of the Tenth Month, Gen’ei 1[i]

Topics

ShowersLingering ChrysanthemumsLove
Poets of the Left  Poets of the Right
Lady Settsu, in service to the Empress[ii]  Lord Toshiyori[iii]
A Court Lady[iv]  Lord Akikuni[v]
Lady Shōshō Lord Toshiyori’s Daughter Court Lady in service at the Chancellor’s Residence[vi]  Lord Masakane[vii]
Lord Akinaka[viii]  Lord Michitsune[ix]
Lady Kazusa[x]  Lord Mototoshi[xi]
Lord Morotoshi[xii]  Lord Masamitsu[xiii]
Lord Sadanobu[xiv]  Lord Munekuni[xv]
Lord Morikata[xvi]  Lord Tadataka[xvii]
Lady Shinano Nagazane’s Daughter Court Lady in service at the Chancellor’s Residence[xviii]  Lord Nobutada[xix]
Lord Tadafusa[xx]  Lord Kanemasa[xxi]
Lord Toshitaka[xxii]  Lord Tokimasa[xxiii]
Lord Shigemoto[xxiv]Lord Tamezane[xxv]

Judges

Lord Toshiyori

Lord Mototoshi

[i] 内大臣家歌合　元永元年十月二日

[ii] Kōgōgū settsu no kimi皇后宮摂津公

[iii] 俊頼朝臣

[iv] Nyōbō女房: a sobriquet for the sponsor of the contest, Tadamichi.

[v] Akikuni ason顕国朝臣: Minamoto no Akikuni 源顕国 (1083-1121). The eldest son of Minamoto no Kunzane 源国信 (1069-1111); his mother was a daughter of Takashina no Yasunaka 高階泰仲. Like his father Akikuni served Emperor Horikawa and was eventually appointed Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Left Division and Supernumerary Assistant Master of the Empress Household Office, reaching Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade. He was active in the poetic circles of his time and has seven poems included in imperial anthologies, starting with Kin’yōshū.

[vi] Shōshō no kimi Toshiyori no musumi kanpaku-ke nyōbō少将公俊頼朝臣女　関白家女房

[vii] 雅兼朝臣

[viii] Akinaka ason 顕仲朝臣: Fujiwara no Akinaka 藤原顕仲 (1059-1129). The third son of Fujiwara no Sukenaka藤原資仲 (1021-1087); his mother was a daughter of Minamoto no Tsuneyori 源経頼 (985-1039). Akinaka was adopted by Fujiwara no Moto’ie 藤原基家 (1023-1093). He had a respectable court career for minor member of the Fujiwara house, ending as an Assistant Lieutenant in the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division at Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade. He participated in a number of poetic events around this time, and was one of the poets for the Horikawa hyakushu.

[ix] 道経朝臣

[x] Kazusa no kimi上総公 : little is known about this court lady—neither her dates nor her family background have been recorded. All that can be said with certainty is that she was in service to Horikawa’s empress, Atsuko (Tokushi) and was active in poetic events between 1096-1124.

[xi] 基俊朝臣

[xii] 師俊朝臣

[xiii] 雅光朝臣

[xiv] 定信朝臣

[xv] 宗国朝臣

[xvi] 盛方朝臣

[xvii] 忠隆朝臣

[xviii] 信濃公永実女　関白家女房

[xix] 信忠朝臣

[xx] 忠房朝臣

[xxi] 兼昌朝臣

[xxii] 俊隆朝臣

[xxiii] 時昌朝臣

[xxiv] 重基朝臣

[xxv] 為実朝臣

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka 24

Leave a comment

山家にはならのから葉の散敷きてしぐれの音もはげしかりけり

yamaga ni wa
nara no karaba no
chirishikite
shigure no oto mo
hageshikarikeri		In a mountain hut
The withered oak leaves
Scattering around and
The shower’s sound is
Severe, indeed!

Tamemitsu

Toshiyori’s judgement:

The poem on a mountain hut uses ‘withered oak leaves’ which sounds particularly poor; if one wants to refer to withered leaves then I would conclude the poem with this and not continue. In addition, I wonder about saying ‘the shower’s sound is severe’ – it gives the impression of standing on the peak of Mount Arachi and looking down upon the valley below.

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase gen’ei gan-nen jūgatsu futsuka

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase

Leave a comment
Shinpen kokka taikan no.141
Heian-chō uta’awase taisei no.296
Title内大臣家歌合
Romanised TitleNaidaijin-ke uta’awase
Translated TitlePoetry Contest held at the House of the Palace Minister
Alternative Title(s)Naidaijin tadamichi uta’awase 内大臣忠通歌合
Date2/10/Gen’ei 1 [16.11.1118]
Extant Poems72
Identifiable ParticipantsY
JudgementsY
TopicsShowers (shigure 時雨); Lingering chrysanthemums (zangiku 残菊); Love (koi 恋)

Go to the contest