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みなといづるあまのを舟のいかりなはくるしき物とこひをしりぬる
| minato iduru ama no wobune no ikarinaFa kurusiki mono to koFi o sirinuru | Leaving port, A fisher’s tiny boat Its anchor rope So painful it is To know passion’s yearning. |
Anonymous
Tag Archives: ama
Kinkai wakashū 700
On seeing the salt fires of fisherfolk, when I had gone out to the beach.
いつもかくさびしきものかあしのやに焼きすさびたるあまのもしほ火
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka ashi no ya ni keburi susabitaru ama no moshiobi | Are they always such Lonely things? Above the roofs of reeds Thin trails of smoke From fishers’ seaweed salt fires…[i] |
700
[i] See: いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮 itsumo kaku / sabishiki mono ka / tsu no kuni no / ashiya no sato no / aki no yūgure ‘Are they always such / Lonely things? / In the land of Tsu, / Reed-roofed villages / On an autumn evening…’ Ietaka (Rōnyaku gojusshu uta’awase 497)
Kinkai wakashū 618
Among my Shinto poems
いにしへの神代のかげぞ残りける天の岩戸の明がたのつき
| inishie no kamiyo no kage zo nokorikeru ama no iwato no akegata no tsuki | The bygone Age of Gods’ light Lingers in The Heavens’ stone door Opening, for the moon at dawn.[i] |
618
[i] See: On the conception of the moon at dawn, for the Kasuga Poetry Match. 天の戸をおしあけがたの雲間より神よの月の影ぞ残れる ama no to o / oshi akegata no / kumoma yori / kamiyo no tsuki no / kage zo nokoreru ‘Upon the gates of Heaven / Pushing brightening / Through the cloud-gaps / From the Age of Gods, the moon’s / Light lingers.’ The Regent and Chancellor (Shinkokinshū XVI: 1547)
Kinkai wakashū 617
When Dharma Master Sosen (he known as Taneyuki at the time) had gone to Shimōsa, I sent this to him in the Eleventh Month, Kenpō 6 [1218] to say he should return.
恋しともおもはでいはば久かたのあまてる神も空にしるらん
| koishi to mo omowade iwaba hisakata no ama teru kami mo sora ni shiruran | That I long for you, Should I not think, but say, The eternal Deity shining in the Heavens, Would know it in the skies.[i] |
617
[i] See: Composed on the conception of felicitation for the poetry match held at the residence of His Excellency, Saneyuki. みづがきのひさしかるべき君が代をあまてる神やそらにしるらん mizugaki no / hisashikarubeki / kimi ga yo o / ama teru kami ya / sora ni shiruran ‘As sacred precincts, / Eternal shall be / My Lord’s reign, as / Shining in the Heavens the deity / In the skies must know!’ Fujiwara no Tametada (Kin’yōshū V: 328)
KYS V: 328
Composed on the conception of felicitation for the poetry match held at the residence of His Excellency, Saneyuki.
みづがきのひさしかるべき君が代をあまてる神やそらにしるらん
| midugaki no Fisasikarubeki kimi ga yo wo ama teru kami ya sora ni siruran | As sacred precincts, Eternal shall be My Lord’s reign, as Shining in the Heavens the deity In the skies must know! |
Fujiwara no Tametada
Kinkai wakashū 572
Boats
世中はつねにもがもななぎさこぐあまの小船のつなでかなしも
| yo no naka wa tsune ni mogamo na nagisa kogu ama no obune no tsunade kanashi mo | This mundane world, I would be ever so! Rowing through the calm, A fisher’s tiny boat’s Hawsers move me most! [i] |
572
[i] See: A poem from Michinoku. みちのくはいづくはあれどしほがまの浦こぐ舟のつなでかなしも michinoku wa / izuku wa aredo / shiogama no / ura kogu fune no / tsunade kanashi mo ‘O, Michinoku, / This may be true elsewhere, too, but / At Shiogama / Bay, a rowing boat’s / Hawsers move me most!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XX: 1088)
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 03
Rice seedling Planters[i]
Left
てもたゆくむろのはやなへとりもあへずおのがおのがもいそぐめるかな
| te mo tayuku muro no hanae tori mo aezu ono ga ono ga mo isogumeru kana | With gentle hands The young seedlings in the root-house Swiftly taking Each and every one Hurries along! |
5
Right
なはしろとはるみしものをいつのまにたごおりたちてさなへとるらん
| nawashiro to haru mishi mono o itsu no ma ni tago oritachite sanae toruran | The seed-shoots that I saw in springtime have, In but a moment, by The lads standing in the paddies, Taken for seedlings. |
6
While it lacks a depth of conception of fallow paddies resembling the marshy mud between the reeds, surveying the scene in line with this time of year, it is certainly the case that men planting rice-seedlings appear—this is the superficial content of the Left’s poem, but its diction is somewhat stiff. The Right seem superior for its balance between the initial and latter section of the poem, it’s bright overall impression and its configuration implying the swift flow of water around the seedlings.
| tori mo aezu kokorogokoro ni isogedomo ama wa so shiranu muro no hayanae | Swiftly over Both conceptions Have I hurried, yet As a fisherman, am ignorant of Young seedlings in the root-house! |
Judge 3
[i] Torinaehito 取苗人
Eien narabō uta’awase 30
Round Two
Left (Win)
君がよはあまのいはとをいづるひのいくめぐりてふかずもしられず
| kimi ga yo wa ama no iwato o izuru hi no iku meguri chō kazu mo shirarezu | My Lord’s reign: Since from the stone door in the heavens Emerged the sun, ‘How many circuits has she made?’, they ask— A number quite unknown. |
Lord Saburō
59
Right
みかさやまふもとのさとはあめのしたふるにおもひもあらじとぞ思ふ
| mikasayama fumoto no sato wa ame no shita furu ni omoi mo araji to zo omou | At Mikasa Moutain’s Foot, in a hamlet ‘neath the heavens Passing time—painful thoughts There I’d have not a one, I feel! |
Ushigimi
60
The Left’s poem goes beyond the general flow of diction, containing mystery and depth. I have to say it is truly superior. While the Right’s poem has no faults to mention, it has yet to emerge from prosaic expression. Thus, the Left wins.
The ‘stone door in the heavens’ is that which the supreme sun-deity Amaterasu stood before and then entered. But when we’re talking about dawn breaking at the end of night, we say ‘gates of heaven’. Which of these two was did the poet have in mind, I wonder? If he was thinking of dawn breaking, then the usage is erroneous, but even if he did mean ‘stone door of the heavens’, then do we use this about the circuits of the sun? This is vague. In addition, the final ‘they ask’ is difficult to pronounce. As for the Right’s poem, ‘‘neath the heavens’ lacks emotion. The dual use of ‘thoughts’ and ‘feels’, as I have already remarked, is not an error, but does grate on the ears a bit.
GYS IX: 1251
Eien narabō uta’awase 09
Round Two
Left
をちかたやくも井の山のほととぎすあまつよそにもなきわたるかな
| ochikata ya kumoi no yama no hototogisu ama tsu yoso ni mo nakiwataru kana | From the distant Mount within the clouds A cuckoo In yonder heavens Sings his song! |
Lord Saburō
17
Right
ほととぎすしのだのもりのしのびねをたづねざりせばいかできかまし
| hototogisu shinoda no mori no shinobine o tazunezariseba ikade kikamashi | A cuckoo In Shinoda’s sacred grove Lets out a hushed cry; Had I not come to visit here, How might I have heard it? |
Ushigimi
18
In regards the poem of the Left’s ‘from the distant’ and what follows, extremely recently and colloquially, at the Nakatomi purification ceremony it seems there was a composition, ‘in the distance, below the trees so lush’. This diction is contrary to the expected style of waka and something which occurs only extremely rarely. Truly, one does not compose using such diction in a poetry match. The poem of the Right has nothing of interest about it, yet it also lack faults to mention, so it wins.
This round, neither poem appears bad. The Left has a novel style, while the Right seems cliched, but its expression is smooth. I wonder if we could see these as a tie.
