Category Archives: Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 04

Left (Win)

あひ見てもあはでもなげくたなばたのいつかこころはのどけかるらむ

aimite mo
awade mo nageku
tanabata no
itsuka kokoro wa
nodokekaruramu
Even having met him,
Now she sees him not, grieving is
The Weaver Maid—
When is it that her heart
Might find some peace?

7

Right

あはずしておもひしよりもたなばたはあかずわかれてのちぞわびしき

awazushite
omoishi yori mo
tanabata wa
akazu wakarete
nochi zo wabishiki
She would not meet him
Once she thought, but far more, now,
The Weaver Maid,
Endlessly, after
Parting is filled with lonely sadness.

8

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 03

Left (Tie)

あふことをまつとなげきしときよりもたなばたつめはいまやわぶらむ

au koto o
matsu to nagekishi
toki yori mo
tanabatatsume wa
ima ya waburamu
For a meeting
Did she pine and grieve,
But from that moment
The Weaver Maid
Now seems filled with lonely sadness.

5

Right

ながきよにつくすともなきたなばたのこひはそらにやもりわたるらん

nagaki yo ni
tsukusu tomo naki
tanabata no
koi wa sora ni ya
moriwataruran
The long night through
Did not exhaust at all
The Weaver Maid’s
Love into the skies
Seems to overflow.

6

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 02

Left

あかずしてわかれにしかばあまのがはこひしきせのみおもほゆるかな

akazushite
wakarenishikaba
ama no gawa
koishiki se nomi
omohoyuru kana
Unsatisfied
Have they parted, so
At the River of Heaven’s
Rapids, their loving meeting alone
Does fill their thoughts!

3

Right (Win)

たなばたのまれにあふよのしののめのみえぬばかりぞきりはふらまし

tanabata no
mare ni au yo no
shinonome no
mienu bakari zo
kiri wa furamashi
The Weaver Maid
Has but a rare night’s meeting, so
At the edge of dawn
That it simply not be seen
She wishes for the fog to fall.

4

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase 01

Among the courtiers in service to His Majesty, former Emperor Uda, it was possible to pick out those who had some sensitivity and those who did not, so in a certain year, when the kōshin rite came around on the 7th day of the Seventh Month, those gentlemen who were thought to have this sensitivity spent the day composing poems on the topic of ‘feelings after meeting at Tanabata’ which were divided into teams and matched.

Left

としごとにこりずやあるらんたなばたのあひてこひしきわかれのみする

toshigoto ni
korizu ya aruran
tanabata no
aite koishiki
wakare nomi suru
Every single year
Does she never learn, I wonder?
The Weaver Maid
Meets and then with love
Does simply part.

1

Right (Win)

おもひやる心のそらにしらるればたなばたつめのわかれかなしな

omoiyaru
kokoro no sora ni
shirarureba
tanabatatsume no
wakare kanashiki
Yearning fills
The heavens of her heart—
How well she knows it, for
The Weaver Maid’s
Parting is so sad.

2

Teiji’in tenjōbito uta’awase

This is a small-scale contest containing only twenty-six poems. It was held on the 7th day of the Seventh Month, Engi 16 [8.8.916] (Hagitani 1957, 205), when the kōshin rite fell on that day, meaning that those participating had to stay up throughout the night. As the name of the contest suggests, the poets were courtiers in the service of former Emperor Uda, although their names have not been recorded; nor has the identity of the judge, but given the context, it seems likely that this will have been Uda himself. The 7th day of the Seventh Month was when Tanabata, the meeting between the celestial lovers, the Weaver Maid and the Herd Boy, was celebrated, and so it is unsurprising that the topic set for the match was ‘feelings after meeting at Tanabata’.