Preparing Tribute 貢調
笛竹のつかひはいつかこちくらんあなまちどほの道のあひだや
| fue take no tsukai wa itsuka kochi kuran ana machidō no michi no aida ya | Blowing on his bamboo flute When will the messenger Arrive here? O, the wait feels as long As the roads he travels on! |
Kanemasa
Left (Tie)
うらやましわがりこちくと笛の音を頼むる中の人は聞くらん
| urayamashi wagari kochiku to fue no ne o tanomuru naka no hito wa kikuran |
O, how I envious I am! To my house comes, a bamboo Flute’s strains – from A trustworthy, loving Man, it sounds… |
Lord Suetsune
1087
Right
より竹の君によりけんことぞ憂き一夜のふしに音のみ泣かれて
| yoritake no kimi ni yoriken koto zo uki hitoyo no fushi ni ne nomi nakarete |
Bamboo flotsam – That you should draw near Is cruel, indeed, for A single night together, brings Only the sound of weeping… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1088
‘Flotsam of bamboo’ (yoritake) and ‘comes, a bamboo’ (kochiku) are equally unsatisfying.
In judgement: ‘Flotsam of bamboo’ and ‘comes, a bamboo’ are of equal quality.
Sleet
ひまをあらみ竹のすがきの下さえてよなよなふるは霙なりけり
| hima o arami take no sugaki no shita saete yonayona furu wa mizore narikeri | Having gaps The lattice bamboo fence Is chill beneath, as Night after night falls Sleet. |
Tadafusa
川社しのにおりはへ乾す衣いかに乾せばか七日干ざらん
| kaFa yasiro sino ni oriFaFe Fosu koromo ikani Foseba ka nanoka Fizaran |
At a river shrine Stems of bamboo wave freely The clothes I’d dry How should I do so? Seven days still damp… |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
Left (Win).
葉を若みまだふし馴れぬ呉竹のこはしほるべき露の上かは
| ha o wakami mada fushinarenu kuretake no ko wa shiorubeki tsuyu no ue ka wa |
Fresh leaved, and Not yet grown to knots in bed, A bamboo Maid: will she draw the Kindly dew upon her? |
Lord Sada’ie.
861
Right.
情なき風に従ふ姫百合は露けきことやならはざるらん
| nasakenaki kaze ni shitagau himeyuri wa tsuyukeki koto ya narawazaruran |
The heartless Wind brushes A young star lily: To being dew drenched Is she, perhaps, unaccustomed? |
Lord Tsune’ie.
862
The Right state: the Left’s poem has not faults to indicate. The Left state: the Right’s poem lacks the conception of Love.
In judgement: the Left uses ‘bamboo’ (kuretake) and the Right ‘star lily’ (himeyuri): although the Left’s ‘Maid: will she draw’ (ko wa shiorubeki) does not seem possible to accept on grounds of style, but the Right, in addition to also lacking much conception of Love, has ‘heartless wind’ (nasakenaki kaze) which sounds poor. Thus, the Left should win, I think.
梅の花散らまく惜しみ我が園の竹の林に鴬鳴くも
| ume no pana tiramaku wosimi wa ga sono no take no payasi ni ugupisu naku kamo |
The plum blossom Will scatter, so full of regret In my garden’s Bamboo grove Does the warbler cry. |
Junior Secretary Aji no Okishima
少監阿氏奥島
Composed during the Engi Period for a folding screen, on the spirit of sacred music in the summer:
川社しのにおりはへ乾す衣いかに乾せばか七日干ざらん
| kawa yashiro shino ni orihae hosu koromo ikani hoseba ka nanoka hizaran |
At a river shrine Stems of bamboo wave freely The clothes I’d dry How should I do so? Seven days still damp… |
Ki no Tsurayuki
Left.
あまたたび竹の灯し火かゝげてぞ三世の佛の名をば唱る
| amata tabi take no tomoshibi kakagete zo miyo no hotoke no na oba tonaeru |
Many times The torches of bamboo Are flourished, and The three worlds’ Buddhas’ Names proclaimed. |
595
Right.
明やらぬ夜の間の雪は積もるとも氷れる罪や空に消らん
| akeyaranu yo no ma no yuki wa tsumoru tomo kōreru tsumi ya sora ni kiyuran |
There’s no light Within this night of snowfall Drifting, yet My frozen sins Do vanish into the skies… |
596
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we must say that the Left’s poem has no faults. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the expression ‘frozen sins’ (kōreru tsumi).
Shunzei’s judgement: saying ‘torches of bamboo’ (take no tomoshibi) in order to refer to the ‘three worlds’ Buddhas’, is a somewhat unusual expression. The Right’s ‘my frozen sins do vanish into the skies’ (kōreru tsumi ya sora ni kiyuran) seems elegant [yū ni miehaberu], but refers only to the sins vanishing, and the conception of the Buddhas’ names seems somewhat lacking. Comparing the two poems, they must tie.
Left (Win).
河竹のなびく葉風も年暮れて三世の佛の御名を聞くかな
| kawatake no nabiku hakaze mo toshi kurete miyo no hotoke no mina o kiku kana |
Bamboo by the river, Leaves streaming in the breeze, and The ending of the year, with The three worlds’ Buddhas Honoured names – I hear them both… |
591
Right.
嬉しくも罪は夜の間に消えぬ也暮行く年や身に積るらむ
| ureshiku mo tsumi wa yo no ma ni kienu nari kureyuku toshi ya mi ni tsumoruramu |
How pleasant that One’s sins in the space of a night Do disappear, and The year fading into dusk Seems to lie upon me! |
592
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem is pedestrian [tsune no koto nari].
Shunzei’s judgement: the sound of ‘Bamboo by the river, leaves streaming’ (kawatake no nabiku), leading to ‘the three worlds’ Buddhas’ (miyo no hotoke) is not a particularly good expression. In the Right’s poem, if it was changed to ‘the disappearance of one’s sins is pleasant, but’ (tsumi no kiyuru koto wa ureshiki o), this would be more in line with the conception of the final section of the poem. By beginning ‘how pleasant that’ (ureshiku mo) it sounds as if the poet is pleased to bear another year, too. I wonder, is ‘bamboo by the river’ a recollection of the Palace Gardens? The Left should win.
Left (Win).
吉野山篠の假寢に霜冴えて松風早し深ぬ此夜は
| yoshinoyama suzu no karine ni shimo saete matsukaze hayashi fukenu kono yo wa |
Upon Mt Yoshino, In fitful sleep upon a bed of bamboo, The frost falls chill, indeed, and The wind gusts through the pines, With the fall of night. |
559
Right.
外山なる柴の編戸は風過て霰横ぎる松の音かな
| toyamanaru shiba no amido wa kaze sugite arare yokogiru matsu no oto kana |
On the mountains’ edge My woven brushwood door Is pierced by the wind; Hearing hail blown horizontal Against the pines… |
560
Both Left and Right are exaggerated in their insistence that the other’s poem lacks any faults.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘Upon Mt Yoshino, in fitful sleep upon a bed of bamboo’ (yoshinoyama suzu no karine ni) would seem to suggest an ascetic who, having travelled into the mountains, has made himself a hut from bamboo and pillowed upon the tree roots, would it not? But here he seems to have simply cut them down, spread them out and lain upon them! In addition, ‘The wind gusts through the pines’ (matsukaze hayashi) fails to sound elegant [yū ni shi kikoezaru]. The Right, by starting with ‘On the mountains’ edge’ (toyamanaru), suggests that the poet is speaking of his own dwelling’s door in the mountains. ‘Hearing hail blown horizontal against the pines’ (arare yokogiru matsu no oto) also just does not sound appropriate. Both poems have an exaggerated feeling [kotogotoshikaran to wa kokorozashite], and I cannot grasp who they are referring to. However, the Left’s poem is, still, somewhat superior.