Composed after I had had various people compose on the autumn oak leaves on Mount Sao in a shower.
さほやまのははそのもみぢちぢの色にうつろふ秋は時雨ふりにけり
| saoyama no hahaso no momiji chiji no iro ni ustsurou aki wa shigure furinikeri | Upon Mount Sao The oaks’ autumn leaves are A multitude of hues Shifting in the autumn, for The showers fall. |
Round Twelve
Left (Tie)
柞原しぐれにそむるくれなゐはこずゑの風や吹きてほすらん
| hahasowara shigure ni somuru kurenai wa kozue no kaze ya fukitehosuran | The oak groves by The showers are dyed With scarlet— Might the wind through the treetops, Gusting, bring dryness? |
Shinkaku
95
Right
紅葉ばは入日の影のさしそひてゆふくれなゐの色ぞことなる
| momijiba wa irihi no kage no sashisoite yūkurenai no iro zo kotonaru | The autumn leaves By sunset’s light Are struck, and Evening’s scarlet Hue is startlingly fine! |
Lay Priest Norinaga
96
In the Left’s poem I would want there to be an expression such as ‘robe’ or ‘brocade’ which is being blown. As for the Right, it lacks any unusual diction, but has no noticeable faults, so these should tie.
Round Eleven
Left
おぼつかないづれうらごの山ならんみなくれなゐにみゆる紅葉ば
| obotsukana izure urago no yama naran mina kurenai ni miyuru momijiba | How strange it is— Where is Urago Mountain, I wonder? When all the same scarlet Seem the autumn leaves… |
Kiyosuke
93
Right (Win)
大ゐ河きしのもみぢのちるをりは浪にたたするにしきとぞみる
| ōigawa kishi no momiji no chiru ori wa nami ni tatasuru nishiki to zo miru | At the River Ōi, When the scarlet leaves upon the bank Come to fall, Cut out by the waves, Does their brocade appear! |
Mikawa
94
When I listen to the Left I wonder what on earth it’s actually about—the end seems redolent of love. The Right doesn’t seem to have any particular faults, so it should win.
Round Eight
Left (Tie)
紅葉ばは紅ふかく成りゆけど独さめたる松の色かな
| momijiba wa kurenai fukaku nariyukedo hitori sametaru matsu no iro kana | The autumn leaves Deeply scarlet Are becoming, yet Singly, all the more aware am I Of the pine tree’s hues! |
Koreyuki
87
Right
ははそ原しぐるるままにときは木のまれなりけるも今ぞみえける
| hahasowara shigururu mama ni tokiwagi no marenarikeru mo ima zo miekeru | As the oak groves Linger under showers, An evergreen, So rare, is What appears to me now. |
Kojijū
88
Both Left and Right drop scarlet leave and are composed on evergreens, so they lack the essence of the topic, don’t they. The Right has the finer configuration, but autumn leaves, pointlessly, fail to appear in it. In addition, somewhat distastefully, it puts me in mind of the poem, ‘…Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems’,[1] so the best these can do is tie.
[1] A poem from a poetry contest held by Her Majesty, the Empress, in the Kanpyō period. 雪ふりて年のくれぬる時こそつひにもみぢぬ松も見えけれ yuki furite / toshi no kurenuru / toki ni koso / tsui ni momijinu / matsu mo miekere ‘Snow falls and /The year reaches its evening, / It is at this time that / Truly, evergreen / The pine tree seems.’ Anonymous (KKS VI: 340)
The End of Autumn
Left
あきやまはからくれなゐになりにけりいくしほしぐれふりてそめけむ
| akiyama wa karakurenai ni narinikeri iku shioshigure furitesomekemu | The autumn mountains To Cathay scarlet Have turned; How many dippings with drizzle Have fallen to dye them so? |
15
Right (Win)
さほやまのははそのもみぢうすけれどあきはふかくもなりにけるかな
| saoyama no hahaso no momiji usukeredo aki wa fukaku mo narinikeru kana | On Sao Mountain The oak trees autumn leaves Are pale in hue, yet Most deep has autumn Become! |
Korenori
16
Left
唐ころもほせど袂の露けきは我が身の秋になればなりけり
| karakoromo hosedo tamoto no tsuyukeki wa wa ga mi no aki ni nareba narikeri | My Cathay robe I dry, and yet the sleeves Dew dampness is because For me autumn Has come. |
108[1]
Right
秋の露色のことごとおけばこそ山も紅葉も千くさなるらめ
| aki no tsuyu iro no kotogoto okeba koso yama mo momiji mo chigusa narurame | The autumn dewdrops In a medley of colours Do truly fall, so The mountains and the autumn leaves, too, Turn a multitude of hues. |
109
[1] Shinchokusenshū V: 298
Scarlet leaves dyed with dew (露染紅葉)
Left
白露のそむる紅葉のいかなればから紅にふかくみゆらん
| shiratsuyu no somuru momiji no ikanareba karakurenai ni fukaku miyuran | When silver dewdrops Stain the autumn leaves What happens, but Their scarlet hues Seem all the deeper. |
A Court Lady
23
Right
いかにおくしら露なれば紅葉ばのくれなゐふかく色をそむらん
| ika ni oku shiratsuyu nareba momijiba no kurenai fukaku iro o somuran | How can they fall— These silver dewdrops—so The autumn leaves with Ever deeper scarlet Hues are dyed? |
A Court Lady
24
Left (Tie).
散果てん木葉の音を殘しても色こそなけれ嶺の松風
| chirihaten ko no ha no oto o nokoshitemo iro koso nakere mine no matsukaze |
Completely scattered Are the leaves, but the sound Remains Lacking only the hue As the wind blows through the pines on the peak. |
491
Right.
時雨ゆく松の緑は空晴て嵐にくもる峰の紅葉葉
| shigure yuku matsu no midori wa sora harete arashi ni kumoru mine no momijiba |
Is drizzle falling On the pines so green? The skies are clear, Clouded only by a storm Of scarlet leaves from the peaks… |
492
The Right have no criticisms to make of the Left’s poem. The Left state that they find the Right’s poem, ‘difficult to grasp’. In reply, the Right say, ‘It is conceived after a Chinese poem that “the wind in the pines is the sound of rain”.’
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s poem is excellent in both configuration and diction [sugata kotoba yoroshiku haberumere]. The Right’s ‘clouded only by a storm’ (arashi ni kumoru) sounds charming in conception [kokoro okashiku kikoyu] – even without drawing upon the Chinese model. In this round, too, there is no clear winner or loser and it must tie.
Left.
はかなしや浮きたる風に誘はれていづち生田の杜の木葉ぞ
| hakanashi ya ukitaru kaze ni sasowarete izuchi ikuta no mori no konoha zo |
How fleeting! The fickle wind Beckons, but Where does Ikuta’s Sacred grove send its leaves? |
489
Right.
惜しみかね嶺の紅葉に染置きし心の色も散り果てにけり
| oshimikane mine no momiji ni someokishi kokoro no iro mo chirihatenikeri |
I cannot regret, that Scarlet leaves from on the peak Have laid a stain Upon the hues within my heart And scattered them all over! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
490
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem. The Left wonder whether the use of ‘I cannot regret’ (oshimikane) implies that the poet feels nothing prior to that.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s final section is elegant [yū ni haberu], but although I have heard of many different types of wind, I have no recollection of any familiarity [kikinarete mo oboehaberane] with a ‘fickle wind’ (ukitaru kaze). While I feel the Right’s poem has no particular faults, the initial ‘I cannot regret’ (oshimikane) does not seem to fit will with what follows. The poems are alike and the round must tie.