Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 09

Round Nine

Cuckoos

Left (Tie)

時鳥心のままにたづぬとて鳥のねもせぬ山に来にけり

hototogisu
kokoro no mama ni
tazunu tote
tori no ne mo senu
yama ni kinikeri
A cuckoo
Was my heart’s desire, and so
Did I come a’visiting, but
Not a single bird call sounds
In the mountains now I’ve arrived!

Lord Kiyosuke
17

Right

しをりして又たづねこん時鳥この山にてぞ一こゑもきく

shiorishite
mata tazunekon
hototogisu
kono yama nite zo
hitogoe mo kiku
Breaking branches,
Let us go visit there once more!
As for the cuckoo,
Upon this mountain,
I hear his single call!

Atsuyori
18

The Left has a strong conception of visiting but has ‘cuckoo’ initially and then follows this with ‘bird’, which is a fault, isn’t it? However, it appears there are some earlier instances of this, and thus I would not wish to say that this is not good expression. The Right’s poem has nothing to indicate, but as an earlier example, in the ‘Poetry Match held at the Kaya Palace’, Lord Michitoshi recited

おしなべて山のしら雪つもれどもしるきはこしのたかねなりけり

oshinabete
yama no shirayuki
tsumoredomo
shiruki wa koshi no
takane narikeri
Each and every
Mountain has snow, so white,
Piled upon it, yet
Most remarkable is
Koshi’s High peak.

Kaya-no-in shichiban uta’awase 44

Koshi Peak is a mountain, making this a precedent, and moreover this was not felt to be a fault at the time.[1] In addition, there are also many examples of poems referring to both warblers and cuckoos, are there not?


[1] The judge in the contest says Michitoshi’s poem is ‘straightforwardly beautiful’.

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