Snow

Round One

Left (Win)

たまのきにははそのもりもなりにけりふるしらゆきのきえぬかぎりは

tama no ki ni hahaso no mori mo narinikeri furu shirayuki no kienu kagiri wa

Into trees of gems has The oak forest Turned While the falling snow Does not fade away…

Lord Dainagon
43[i]

Right

ゆきふればあをばの山も見がくれてときはのきをやけさはをるらむ

yuki fureba aoba no yama mo migakurete tokiwa no ki o ya kesa wa oruramu

Snow has fallen, so The verdant mountain Vanishes from sight— Might the evergreens Be broken the morning?

Lord Chūnagon
44[ii]

The poem of the Left is entirely lacking in any interest. Isn’t this a sage’s jewelled tree? It really leaves me grief-stricken. The poem of the Right contains two faults in a single work. First, this is not the right time of year to be referring to a ‘verdant mountain’. Second, ‘vanishes from sight’ refers to disappearing in water. In the Collection of a Myriad Leaves ‘vanishing from sight’ is written as ‘hidden in the water’. Thus we have lines such as, ‘swarming frogs hiding in the weeds beneath the waves’. There are no prior poems mentioning ‘mountains vanishing from sight’ in either ancient or modern times.

On the matter of the ‘tree of gems’, I heard a long time ago that this might have appeared in an important source, but as this is something I know little about, even if this is a fault, it’s difficult for me to say anything about it. Well, in any case, it doesn’t sound bad. Would someone who knows all about this compose poorly? The Right’s poem lacks elegance, but it doesn’t sound like it has any other faults. It’s inferior to the Left only in ornamentation.

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[i] Some sources identify Mototoshi as the composer of this poem.

[ii] This poem is included in Toshiyori’s personal collection, Sanboku kikashū (670), with the headnote, ‘Composed in place of someone for a poetry match in Nara’,