Tag Archives: asagasumi

Entō ōn’uta’awase 8

Round Eight

Left (Win)

朝まだきたつや霞の波まより昨日はみえし淡路島山

asa madaki
tatsu ya kasumi no
namima yori
kinō mieshi
awajishima yama
Early in the morning,
Breaking, haze
From between the waves, rather than
Yesterday’s sight of
The mountains of Awaji Isle…

Fujiwara no Tomoshige
15

Right

さえ残る雪げの春の朝霞かすむ名のみや空に立つらん

saenokoru
yukige no haru no
asagasumi
kasumu na nomi
sora ni tatsuran
Do chilly remnants of
Snowmelt in spring
Make morning haze’s
Blur in name alone
Drift into the skies?

Dharma Master Zenshin
16

The Left’s ‘Yesterday’s sight of the mountains of Awaji Isle’ sounds pleasant. The Right’s ‘Blur in name alone drift into the skies’ does not sound bad, but thinking of the conception of the topic, haze in name only is a bit inferior, isn’t it? Thus, the Left wins.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 03

Round Three

Left (Win)

春の夜のあくる霞の立田山これや神代の衣なるらん

haru no yo no
akuru kasumi no
tatsutayama
kore ya kamiyo no
koromo naruran
At a spring night’s
Dawn the haze around
Tatsuta Mountain—
Is this how in the age of gods
Raiment might have been?

Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
5

Right

朝霞雲居をかけて見わたせばいたりいたらぬ山の端もなし

asagasumi
kumoi o kakete
miwataseba
itari itaranu
yama no ha mo nashi
When, upon the morning haze
Draping from the clouds,
I turn my gaze, it
Spread out, and fails to reach,
Not a single mountain’s edge.

Nobunari, Senior Third Rank
6

Both Left and Right are difficult to tell apart, yet the Left’s ‘clothing of the Age of Gods’ would seem to be superior.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 02

Round Two

Left (Tie)

大はらやをしほの里の朝霞ゆききになれし春ぞ忘れぬ

ōhara ya
oshio no sato no
asagasumi
yukiki ni nareshi
haru zo wasurenu
In Ōhara
At Oshio estate among
The morning haze
Accustomed to go back and forth,
Never will I forget that springtime!

The Former Minister of the Centre
3

Right

浦人のしほやく里のあさ霞春の物とやわかでみるらん

urabito no
shio yaku sato no
asagasumi
haru no mono to ya
wakade miruran
Folk dwelling by the bay
Roasting salt in their village:
The morning haze
From a scene in spring ‘tis
Hard to distinguish, is it not?[1]

Kozaishō
4

The Left’s poem composes ‘Oshio estate among the morning haze accustomed to go back and forth’ and, in addition to seeming to have some feeling in it, displays fine configuration and diction, while the Right’s poem ‘From as scene in spring ‘tis hard to distinguish, is it not?’ recollects Narihira’s poem ‘a scene from spring: ever-falling rain to gaze upon all day’ and has a gentle air about it, so both are difficult to distinguish from each other. I make this a tie.


[1] An allusive variation on KKS XIII: 616.

Eikyū hyakushu 414

When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春

年すぐる山べなこめそ朝がすみさこそは春と友にたつとも

toshi suguru
yamabe na kome so
asagasumi
sa koso wa haru to
tomo ni tatsu tomo
The year’s passage shows
On the mountain slopes – enfold them not,
O, morning haze!
For truly, it is as spring’s
Companion that you should rise…

Akinaka

MYS II: 88

[One of] Four poems composed by the Empress Iwanohime, when thinking fondly of the Emperor [Nintoku].

秋の田の穂の上に霧らふ朝霞いつへの方に我が恋やまむ

aki no ta no
po no pe ni kirapu
asagasumi
idupe no kata ni
wa ga kopiyamamu
In the autumn fields
Above the ears of rice hangs
The morning haze;
Nowhere does
My love end.

Empress Iwanohime
磐姫皇后