When she was asked about the possibility of a meeting.
みるめ刈る海人の行きかふ湊路に勿来の関も我は据ゑぬを
| mirume karu ama no yukikau minatoji ni nakoso no seki mo ware wa suenu o |
Gathering seaweed The fisherfolk go back and forth Along the harbour ways; Come not to the barrier of Nakoso – I have not placed it there, so… |
Ono no Komachi
小野小町
This poem is also Komachi-shū 小町集 (late. C9th) 5.
Sent to a woman without much sentiment, when he had not visited her for a long time:
伊勢の海のあまのまてかたいとまなみながらへにける身をぞ恨むる
| ise no umi no ama no madekata itoma nami nagaraFenikeru mi wozo uramuru |
By the sea at Ise A diver-girl does work Without surcease Endlessly I hate myself! |
Minamoto no Hide’aki
The latest scholarship suggests that the expression should be read madekata (classical Japanese was written without voicing indicators, so there was no orthographic distiction between te and de – both would have been written て) and utilises a Man’yō expression meaning ‘left and right’ referring to the constant side-to-side movement of the ama girls’ hands and shoulders as they worked – hence the translation above – but it is unlikely that the Roppyaku-ban Uta’awase poets would have had this understanding of it. Matekata did not just cause controversy in this competition – it was discussed extensively in many other premodern critical works, none of which came to a definitive conclusion.
Left (Win).
靡かじな海士の藻塩火焚き初めて煙は空にくゆりわぶ共
| nabikaji na ama no moshiobi takisomete kemuri wa sora ni kuyuriwabutomo |
She has not so much as waved to me, yet The fisher-folk salt fires Have begun to kindle and The smoke into the skies Has yet to rise… |
607
ight.
葦の屋の隙漏る雨の雫こそ音聞かぬより袖は濡れけれ
| ashi no ya no hima moru ame no shizuku koso oto kikanu yori sode wa nurekeri |
Through a roof of reeds’ Chinks, drenching rain Drops Make no sound, yet Soak my sleeves. |
608
The Right state that it should be kuyuru in the Left’s poem – and that they are not accustomed to hearing kuyuri. The Left state that, ‘while the rain falling on a roof of reeds would make no sound, once it became drops dripping through, it would. In addition, while it “makes no sound”, how can it be love?’
Shunzei’s judgement: The gentlemen of the Right’s claim that the Left’s poem should be kuyuri is incorrect. This is simply a case of the same diction as in utsuru-utsuri, todomaru-todomari – I should not have to give more examples. In form the poems do have good and bad points [utazama zen’aku arubeki]. I have the feeling I have recently seen something similar to the Right’s metaphorical use of a roof of reeds. Or maybe it was not that recently. The Left’s ‘has yet to rise’ seems better. I shall make it the winner.
Left (Tie).
斧の柄をかくてや人はくたしけん山路おぼゆる春の空かな
| ono no e o kakute ya hito wa kutashiken yamaji oboyuru haru no sora kana |
‘His axe haft: Is this how he Let it rot away?’ I wonder on the mountain paths Under the springtime skies. |
131
Right (Tie).
春の日は灘の塩屋のあま人もいとまありてやくらしわぶらん
| haru no hi wa nada no shioya no amabito mo itoma arite ya kurashiwaburan |
In the springtime sun At Nada, the salt-making Fisher-folk, too, Have time to spare, and Live with it heavy on their hands… |
132
Both teams say they can find nothing to criticise in the other’s poem.
Shunzei agrees, saying, ‘You gentlemen have already stated that there is no reason to fault either poem. The round must be a tie.’
Left (Tie).
須磨の海人の袖に吹こす塩風のなるとはすれど手にもたまらず
| suma no ama no sode ni fukikosu shio kaze no naru to wa suredo te ni mo tamarazu |
Among the Suma fisher-folks’ Sleeves blows The brine-filled tidewind: Well-used to it, yet My hand can hold it not. |
159
Right (Tie).
やすらひに出でける方も白鳥の鳥羽山松のねにのみぞなく
| yasurai ni idekeru kata mo shiratori no tobayama matsu no ne ni nomi zo naku |
Pained with parting and Whence you went unknowing, As a white dove on Toba Mountains’ pine tree Roots am I, constantly crying. |
160
When he heard from the house of a woman of whom he was fond and with whom he had been conversing, that she had been conversing with numberless others.
潮の間にあざりする海人もをのが世々かひ有とこそ思へべらなれ
| siFo no ma ni azarisuru ama mo wono ga yoyo kaFiari to koso omoFuberanare |
All along the tide-space Gathering shellfish, the fisherfolk In their lives Have purpose: As must I! |
Ki no Haseo
Left (Tie).
くるゝ夜は衛士のたく火をそれと見よ室の八嶋も都ならねば
| kururu yo wa eji no taku hi wo sore to miyo muro no yashima mo miyako naraneba |
In the dark of night, The conscripts kindled flames Behold as my love, for The waters of Muro no Yashima Lie not within the capital. |
113
Right (Tie).
蘆の屋に螢やまがふ海人やたく思ひも戀も夜はもえつゝ
| ashi no ya ni hotaru ya magau ama ya taku omoi mo koi mo yoru wa moetsutsu |
In a reed-roofed hut, One might mistake for fireflies, or Fisherfolk’s kindled fires The passion and the love, that Burns in me throughout the night. |
114
On new herbs, from a hundred poem sequence he presented to the Grand Shrine.
けふとてやいそなつむらんいせしまやいちしのうらのあまのをとめご
| kyô tote ya isona tsumuran ise shima ya ichishi no ura no ama no otomego |
Today’s the day, and so I wonder, will they gather seaweeds? On the isle of Ise At the beach of Ichishi, The fisher-maids… |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari
藤原俊成