samushiro ni iku yo no aki o shinobikinu ima hata onaji uji no hashihime
Beneath a scanty coverlet How many autumns Have I endured alone? Now, indeed, I am the same As the maid at Uji Bridge![1]
515
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. さむしろに衣かたしきこよひもや我をまつらむうぢのはしひめ samushiro ni / koromo katashiki / koyoi mo ya / ware o matsuramu / uji no hashihime ‘Upon a scanty coverlet / Beneath a single robe / On this night, too, / I wonder, does she await me, / My maid at Uji Bridge.’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 689)
niwa no omo ni shigerinikerashi yaemugura towade ikuyo noaki kaenuran
All around my grounds How thickly seems to have grown Mugwort in layer after tangled layer; With no visits from him how many times Has autumn come round and round?
yamamoto no mori no shimenawa nagaki yo o aki no oshika no nakiakasuran
At the mountains’ foot lies A sacred grove with garlands Long as the nights In autumn when the stag Bells in the dawn.
Tomoshige 79
Right
なよ竹のよながき秋の山風に幾たび鹿のね覚しつらん
nayotake no yo nagaki aki no yamakaze ni ikutabi shika no nezameshitsuran
Green bamboo with Knots as apart as the autumn night is long, While with the mountain wind How many times might the stag Have awakened?[1]
Dharma Master Zenshin 80
The Left’s poem has ‘at the mountains’ foot lies a sacred grove with garlands long as the nights’ which sounds pleasant. The Right has ‘knots as apart as the autumn night is long, while with the mountain wind’—these, too, seem to have no clear winner or loser, yet still, the Left should be superior and should win.[2]
[1] An allusive variation on: Composed when the gentlemen in the Crown Prince’s service were presented with wine, on the occasion of Tadafusa being appointed Secretary of an embassy to China, during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor. なよ竹のよながきうへにはつしものおきゐて物を思ふころかな nayotake no / yo nagaki ue ni / hatsushimo no / oki’ite mono o / omou koro kana ‘Green bamboo with / Knots as far apart as the night is long / While the first frost settles on my active / Thoughts these days!’ Fujiwara no Tadafusa (KKS XVIII: 993)
hisakata no katsura no kage ni naku shika wa hikari o kakete koe zo sayakeki
In the eternal Silver trees’ glow The belling stag Is limned with light, and His voice sounds clear, indeed!
A Court Lady 65
Right (Win)
天川秋の一夜のちぎりだにかた野に鹿の音をや鳴くらん
ama no kawa aki no hitoyo no chigiri dani katano ni shika no ne o ya nakuran
By the River of Heaven For a single autumn night’s Brief bond— Is that why a stag at Katano Does cry out so?
Ietaka 66
The Right’s poem, by beginning with ‘By the River of Heaven / For a single autumn night’s / Brief bond’ and then continuing with ‘a stag at Katano’ sounds particularly refined, evoking memories of bygone days when Prince Koretaka sought lodging from the Weaver Maid when hunting at Katano—how charming it is.[2] The Left’s poem overall is not particularly bad and seems to lack any obvious faults, but the Right’s poem surpasses it in every way: it is not one of the normal run of compositions and thus, it must win.
[1] 夜鹿 – there are early examples of poems on related topics in Kin’yōshū and Senzaishū.
[2] Gotoba is referring to a pair of poems in Kokinshū which are contextualized by an account of a hunting expedition by Prince Koretaka 惟喬 (844-897): Once, when he had gone hunting in the company of Prince Koretaka, they dismounted by the banks of a river called Ama no Gawa (River of Heaven), and while they were tippling, the Prince commanded that Narihira offer him a wine cup with a poem expressing the feelings of a hunter arriving at the river of Heaven, so he composed the following: かりくらしたなばたつめにやどからむあまのかはらに我はきにけり kari kurashi / tanabatatsume ni / yado karamu / ama no kawara ni / ware wa kinkeri ‘While hunting night is falling, / So from the Weaver Maid / Let us beg lodging / For to the Riverbank of Heaven / Have we come!’ Ariwara no Narihira (KKS IX: 418); The prince recited the above poem many times, but was unable to think of a reply so, being one of the party, Aritsune composed this: ひととせにひとたびきます君まてばやどかす人もあらじとぞ思ふ hito tose ni / hito tabi kimasu / kimi mateba / yado kasu hito mo / araji to zo omou ‘In a single year / But once comes / The Lord she awaits, so / One who provides lodging / She is not, I’d say!’ Ki no Aritsune (KKS IX: 419). These poems were famously incorporated into chapter 82 of Ise monogatari with four others to provide an expanded context. See Horiuchi and Akiyama (1997, 157-160) for the original text and Mostow and Tyler (2010, 175-179) for an English translation and commentary.
tsuyu sugaru niwa no hagiwara irozukinu ika naru hito no omoisomuran
All clung with dew, The bush clover grove in the grounds Has taken on such hues, that I wonder who it is Might have just fallen into passion’s flames?
Chikanari 61
Right (Win)
おく露は秋のならひの萩が枝にあまるや雁の涙なるらん
oku tsuyu wa aki no narai no hagi ga e ni amaru ya kari no namida naruran
Dewdrops falling is Autumn’s custom for The bush clover branches, but Added to them are the goose Tears, perhaps?[1]
Ie’kiyo 62
The Left’s poem has a person’s feelings being dyed by the bush-clover, but I cannot think why this should be? The Right’s poem seems particularly pleasant. Thus, it wins.
[1] An allusive variation on: Composed on the occasion of a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋の夜のつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりの涙やのべをそむらむ aki no yo no / tsuyu oba tsuyu to / okinagara / kari no namida ya / nobe o somuran ‘On Autumn nights / The dew as dewdrops / Falls, but, / Perhaps goose tears / Stain the fields?’ Mibu no Tadamine (KKS V: 258)
