While on the path across the Shiga Mountains, he met a large number of women, and later composed this and sent it to them.
あづさゆみはるの山辺をこえくれば道もさりあへず花ぞちりける
| adusa yumi Faru no yamabe o koekureba miti mo sariaFezu Fana zo tirikeru |
A catalpa bow When the springtime mountains I traverse I cannot pass along the way So many flowers have fallen! |
Tsurayuki
梓弓入佐の山にまとふかなほの見し月の影や見ゆると
| adusa yumi irusa no yama ni matoFu kana Fonomishi tuki no kage ya miyuru to |
A catalpa bow At Mount Irusa is aimed; Is aimed; Dimly glimpsed, that moon, Will I see her light once more? |
梓弓引きて許さずあらませば斯かる恋には逢はざらましを
| adusayumi hikite yurusazu aramaseba kakaru kopi ni wa apazaramasi wo |
A catalpa bow Drawn tight: reject me – Should you do that Such love as this Will I have never felt! |
A gentle poem in reply to His Majesty, by Princess Unakami.
梓弓爪引く夜音遠音にも君が御幸を聞くかくし良しも
| adusayumi tumabiku yo’oto no topo oto ni mo kimi ga miyuki o kiku kakusi yosi mo |
A catalpa bow String plucked in the night Sounds in the distance; That Your Majesty will on a journey go Is just as fortunate to hear. |
Left (Win)
うちむれてなれぬる人の心をば野邊の霞もへだてやはせん
| uchimurete narenuru hito no kokoro o ba nobe no kasumi mo hedate ya wa sen |
To a gathering Of friendly folk With hearts all in accord, The haze across the fields Will be no hindrance, at all. |
65
Right.
梓弓春の日ぐらし引つれているさの原にまとゐをぞする
| azusayumi haru no higurashi hikitsurete irusa no hara ni matoi o zo suru |
A catalpa bow: Spring, all day long, Drawn out Upon Irusa Plain Let’s music make! |
66
The Right have nothing special to say about the Left’s poem, but the Left grumble that the Right’s seems to be more on the theme of bows, than ‘field pleasures’, and add that they ‘fail to understand’ the reason why Irusa Plain has been singled out, among all the plains in Japan.
Shunzei, however, says that this criticism is ‘completely unjustified’ and that the Right’s poem is ‘strictly in accord’ with the theme of ‘field pleasures’. He goes on to praise the use of association in the poem, with azusa yumi, ‘catalpa bow’, associating with haru (‘spring’, but also ‘draw (a bow)’), hiki (‘pull’), iru (‘shoot (a bow)’) and mato (‘target’). Moving on to the Left’s poem, he says that the final stanzas seem ‘particularly good’, and that it would ‘do a disservice’ to the composition of poetry if he awarded a victory based on association alone, so the Left’s poem must be the winner.
Left (Tie).
もゝしきや射手引く庭の梓弓昔にかへる春に逢ふかな
| momoshiki ya ite hiku niwa no azusa yumi mukashi ni kaeru haru ni au kana |
Hundred fold, the palace, where Archer draw, within the gardens Bows of catalpa wood: Olden times are recalled And meet again, this springtime. |
59
Right (Tie).
梓弓春の雲井に引つれてけしきことなるけふの諸人
| azusa yumi haru no kumoi ni hikitsurete keshiki kotonaru kyô no morobito |
Catalpa bows: In springtime to the cloud-borne palace They are brought; How exceptional the scene: A crowd of noble folk, this day. |
60
The Right query why in the Left’s poem an annual festival should ‘recall olden times’, to which the Right respond that it is normal to compose poems about annual observances as if they had been discontinued and then revived. The Left make no comment about the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement is that, indeed, the Left’s poem had been composed as if an ancient rite had been revived and, furthermore with the reference to an ‘exceptional scene’ the intent had probably been to praise court festivals. Nevertheless, he has to adjudge the round a tie.
Left (Tie).
梓弓射手引く春のかひありてけふの諸矢は世にひゞく也
| azusa yumi ite hiku haru no kai arite kyō no moroya wa yo ni hibiku nari |
Catalpa bows, Archers drawing them in springtime Has an effect, indeed: Today, the paired arrows Resound throughout the world! |
57
Right (Tie).
梓弓はる九重に散る雪をけふ立舞の袖に見るかな
| azusa yumi haru kokonoe ni chiru yuki o kyô tachimai no sode ni miru kana |
Catalpa bows: Drawn in the ninefold palace walls, yet Falling snow This day’s dancing Sleeves do seem! |
58
The Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem, but the Left remark that ‘catalpa bow’ is a makura kotoba (a conventionalised poetic image) used with ‘spring’, and it is difficult to think that it is being used appropriately if related to ‘New Year archery’. (The complaint here seems to be related to the fact that in his original Nobusada writes haru, which I’ve translated here as ‘drawn’, phonetically, rather than with a Chinese character, making it initially seem like the verb haru ‘draw (a bow)’, rather than the homophonous ‘spring’.) The Left go on to make the aside that dancing took place within the palace on many other occasions besides the New Year Archery festival.
Shunzei, however, states bluntly that both poems contain ‘unnatural associations’ of ‘catalpa bow’ with ‘springtime effects’ for the Left, and ‘drawn in the ninefold palace’ for the right, so neither can be declared a winner.
Left (Win).
もゝしきに引つらなれる梓弓はるも鞆音の珍しき哉
| momoshiki ni hikitsuranareru azusa yumi haru mo tomone no mezurashiki kana |
By the hundredfold palace Arrayed, Catalpa bows: Sprung in springtime, bowstring on bracer: How rare the sound! |
55
Right.
舎人子が鞆うち鳴らす梓弓射手引わたる春は來にけり
| toneriko ga tomo uchinarasu azusa yumi ite hikiwataru haru wa kinikeri |
The guardsmen lads’ Bracers sound; Catalpa bows, Drawn by archers: Springtime is here, indeed! |
56
Again, the Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem this round, but the Left say the initial line of the Right’s poem is ‘unsatisfactory’. Shunzei, once again, agrees, remarking that, ‘the initial line sounds like the name of the tree used when referring to adding water to an ink-stone. Again, the Left is the winner.’ What he means by this is that toneriko, ‘guardsmen lads’ was homophonous with the word for ‘ash tree’. The old Japanese extracted a wax from ash trees, which was used to ease the running of sliding doors and shutters, and so by association, toneriko was used in poetry to refer to adding water to an ink-stone so that the ink, produced in solid sticks, would slide over it more easily. This image is inappropriate for a poem about the New Year Archery festival, and so the poem is of inferior quality, compared to the Left’s offering.
Left (Win).
梓弓はるの雲居にひゞくまで鞆音にかよふ的の音かな
| azusa yumi haru no kumoi ni hibiku made tomone ni kayou mato no oto kana |
Catalpa bows In springtime round the cloud-borne palace Resound; Bowstring on bracer and Arrow on target – what a sound! |
53
Right.
梓弓まうけの箭にやひかるらんはてまでけふは當りぬる哉
| azusa yumi môke no ya ni ya hikaruran hate made kyô wa atarinuru kana |
Catalpa bows’ Spare arrows: will they Be drawn, I wonder? By this day’s end All will have struck the target… |
54
The Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem, but the Left state that the initial section of the Right’s poem is ‘prosaic [heikai]’. Shunzei agrees, saying that the term ‘spare arrows’ is ‘unsuitable diction for poetry’ [uta kotoba ni yoroshikarazaru] and so the Left’s poem must be adjudged the winner.
Left.
心ある射手の舎人のけしきかな玉敷く庭に鞆音ひゞきて
| kokoro aru ite no toneri no keshiki kana tama shiku niwa ni tomone hibikite |
Souls stirred, The archers, guardsmen all, Are a sight Within the gem-strewn gardens, As bowstring snaps to bracer! |
51
Right (Win).
梓弓引く手ばかりはよそなれど心にいるは雲の上人
| azusayumi hiku te bakari wa yoso naredo kokoro ni iru wa kumo no uebito |
A catalpa bow: Drawn simply by the hand, Distant, it is, yet Letting fly, within their hearts, are The folk above the clouds… |
52
The Right team remark here that they were ‘unable to grasp’ the first line of the Left’s poem, possibly suggesting a judgement that kokoro aru, which I’ve translated here as ‘Souls stirred’, and which refers to the ability to be moved emotionally by phenomena, or events, was an unsuitable expression for mere ‘guardsmen’. The Left team state bluntly that the reference to ‘the folk above the clouds’ was ‘unsuited to this rite’, meaning the New Year archery contest, in which members of the higher nobility, the ‘folk above the clouds’, did not participate.