時雨降る秋の山辺をゆくときは心にもあらぬ袖ぞひちける
| shigure furu aki no yamabe o yuku toki wa kokoro ni mo aranu sode zo hichikeru | Drizzle falls In autumn on the mountain meadows; And when I travel there Not my heart, but My sleeves are truly drenched. |
11
年ごとにいかなる露のおけばかも秋の山辺の色濃かるらむ
| toshi goto ni ikanaru tsuyu no okeba kamo aki no yamabe no iro kokaruramu | Every single year However many dewdrops May fall The autumn mountain meadows Turn to richer hues, it seems. |
12
久方の天照る月のにごりなく君が御代をばともにとぞ思ふ
| hisakata no ama teru tsuki no nigorinaku kimi ga miyo oba tomo ni to zo omou | The eternal Heaven-shining moon is So clear that My Lord’s reign Lives together with it in my thoughts! |
9
宵よひに秋の草葉におく露の玉にぬかむととれば消えつつ[1]
| yoiyoi ni aki no kusaba ni oku tsuyu no tama ni nukamu to toreba kietsutsu | Night after night Upon the blades of autumn grass Fall dewdrops; I would thread those jewels, but At a touch, ever do they vanish away… |
10
[1] This poem is also Shinsenzaishū 316, where it is attributed to Ōshikōchi no Mitsune.
朝ごとに山にたちまふ朝霧は紅葉みせじとをしむなりけり
| asagoto ni yama ni tachimau asagiri wa momiji miseji to oshimu narikeri | With every morning Twining round the mountains The morning mists – that They cannot reveal the scarlet leaves Is regrettable, indeed! |
7
秋の夜は人をしづめてつれづれと掻きなす琴の音にぞたてつる
| aki no yo wa hito o shizumete tsurezure to kakinasu koto no ne ni zo tatetsuru | On an autumn night When folk are all abed, Idly Plucked a zither’s Strains sound out. |
8
音羽山秋としなれば唐錦かけたることも見ゆる紅葉か
| otowayama aki to shi nareba karanishiki kaketaru koto mo miyuru momiji ka | On Otowa Mountain When autumn comes Cathay brocade Is hung about – Seem so the scarlet leaves? |
5
女郎花何の心になけれども秋はさくべきこともゆゆしく
| ominaeshi nani no kokoro ni nakeredomo aki wa sakubeki koto mo yuyushiku | O, maidenflowers, Something within my heart Is lacking, yet That you must bloom in autumn Is a fine thing, indeed! |
6
はまちどりあきとしなればあさぎりにかたまどはしてなかぬ日ぞなき
| hamachidori aki to shinareba asagiri ni kata madowashite nakanu hi zo naki | The plovers on the beach: When the autumn comes, In the morning mists Do lose their way; No day dawns without their cries… |
3
あきくればみやまざとこそわびしけれよるはほたるをともしびにして[1]
| aki kureba miyamazato koso wabishikere yoru wa hotaru o tomoshibi ni shite | When the autumn comes My hut deep in the mountains Is lonelier by far; At night with fireflies For my lantern. |
4
[1] This poem also appears as Fubokushō 5545 where is it is listed as by Ōe no Chisato
Round One
Left
山だもるあきのかりほにおく露はいなおほせどりのなみだなりけり
| yamada moru aki no kariho ni oku tsuyu wa inaosedori no namida narikeri | Warding mountain fields, in Autumn upon a hasty hut The dripping dewdrops are Migrating birds’ Tears. |
Tadamine
1
Right
たつたひめいかなるかみにあればかは山をちくさにあきはそむらん
| tatsutahime ika naru kami ni areba ka wa yama o chikusa ni aki wa somuran | Princess Tatsuta: What manner of deity Might she be, that All the mountain’s thousand grasses She dyes with autumn hues? |
2
| Shinpen kokka taikan no. | 3 |
| Heian-chō uta’awase taisei no. | 4 |
| Title | 是貞親王家歌合 |
| Romanised Title | Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase |
| Translated Title | Poetry Contest at the House of Imperial Prince Koresada |
| Alternative Title(s) | 二宮歌合 Ni no miya uta’awase (‘The Second Prince Poetry Contest’); 仁和御時親王歌合 Ninna no ōntoki shinnō uta’awase (‘The Imperial Prince’s Poetry Contest held during the Reign of the Ninna Emperor’) |
| Date | Autumn, before 9/Kanpyō 5 [10.893] |
| Extant Poems | 71 |
| Sponsor | Prince Koresada 是貞親王 |
| Identifiable Participants | Fujiwara no Toshiyuki 藤原敏行 (?-901/907); Ōe no Chisato 大江千里 (dates unknown); Ki no Tomonori 紀友則 (845?-907); Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之 (ca. 866/872-945); Mibu no Tadamine 壬生忠岑 (ca. 860-920); Fun’ya no Asayasu 文屋朝康 (dates unknown); Ōshikōchi no Mitsune 凡河内躬恒 (859?-925?); Fun’ya no Yasuhide 文屋康秀 (?-885) |
| Judgements | N |
| Topics |
Koresada 是貞 (?-903) was a son of Emperor Kōkō 光孝天皇 (830-887; r. 884-887) and the elder brother of Sadami 定省, who was to ascend the throne as Emperor Uda 宇多 (867-931; r. 887-897). Like his brother, Koresada’s chances of becoming emperor seemed lost when he was demoted to commoner status in 870 with the awarding of the Minamoto 源 surname as a result of the machinations of Fujiwara no Mototsune 藤原基経 (836-891), but after events resulted in the return of Sadami to princely status and his installation as emperor in 887, it was felt to be inapproriate for the sovereign’s elder brother to remain a commoner and he was readmitted to the imperial family in 891.
While Koresada is the official sponsor of this poetry contest, it is, in many ways, a precursor to the subsequent Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 寛平御時后宮歌合 (‘Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor’) and so it seems that Uda had a strong influence over its content. Extant records of the contest contain 71 poems but scholars speculate that it may originally have had as many as forty or fifty rounds and thus 80 or 100 poems in total. Many of this contest’s poems were also included in other collections and anthologies (see below), and it is from these that the identities of a number of the poets taking part have been identified. As a result of the lack of both any records of the formal conduct of the competition, and judgements of the poems’ quality, it is possible that this is an early example of a ‘selected poem match’ (senka awase 撰歌合), where poems were chosen from poets’ various works and assembled into the format of a competition.
The following is a partial listing of where poems from the competition can be found in other collections.
Kokinshū
| KKS IV: 189 KKS IV: 193 KKS IV: 197 KKS IV: 207 KKS IV: 214 KKS IV: 218 | KKS IV: 225 KKS IV: 228 KKS IV: 239 KKS V: 249 KKS V: 257 KKS V: 263 | KKS V: 266 KKS V: 270 KKS V: 278 KKS V: 295 KKS V: 306 KKS XII: 582 |
Gosenshū
Here are some short video explainers about the poems in the contest.