Category Archives: Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 03

Plum

Round Three

Left (Tie)

あしがきのおくゆかしくもみゆるかな誰がすむ宿の梅の立えぞ

ashigaki no
oku yukashiku mo
miyuru kana
ta ga sumu yado no
ume no tachie zo
A fence of reeds and
Within, how charming
They appear!
Who is it dwells at this house of
Beckoning branches of plum?

Lord Kiyosuke
5

Right

ひばりあがる春の日ぐらし袖たれてかきねの梅の花みるわれは

hibari agaru
haru no higurashi
sode tarete
kakine no ume no
hana miru ware wa
Skylarks soar
In springtime all day long,
Dangling my sleeves, upon
The plum inside the lattice fence,
At the blossom gaze I…

Kenshō
6

The Left is in cliched style, while the final line of the Right is interrupted—a tie, I think.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 02

Round Two

Left

鶯は春をしりてもなきぬなる我が身は春をしらでこそなけ

uguisu wa
haru o shiritemo
nakinunaru
wa ga mi wa haru o
shirade koso nake
The warbler
Knowing of the springtime
Cries out, but
My sorry self, of spring
All unknowing, cries.

Masashige
3

Right (Win)

杣人よをののおとしばしとどめなん谷の鶯はつねなくなり

somabito yo
ono no oto shibashi
todomenan
tani no uguisu
hatsune nakunari
O, woodcutter,
Your axe’s sound, briefly
Won’t you stop?
For the warbler in the valley
Has let out his first call…

Kenshō
4

The Left’s poem, too, is smooth; the Right poem’s diction is halting, but its conception does not sound bad. It should win, I’d say.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 01

Warblers

Round One

Left (Tie)

鶯のなく木の本にふる雪はは風に花のちるかとぞみる

uguisu no
naku ki no moto ni
furu yuki wa
hakaze ni hana no
chiru ka to zo miru
The warbler
Sings from in a tree, its roots
Covered by falling snow;
Breeze stirred by its wingbeats, blossom
Does seem to scatter.

Lord Kiyosuke
1

Right

うぐひすのなきて木づたふ梅がえにこぼるる露や涙なるらん

uguisu no
nakite kozutau
ume ga e ni
koboruru tsuyu ya
namida naruran
The warbler
Crying flits from
Branch to plum branch;
Has the dripping dew
His tears, perhaps, become?

Shun’e
2

Both Left and Right proceed smoothly, but what are we to make of the line ‘Crying flits’ in the Right’s poem? As this is also an expression which implies that dew is falling, these should tie.