Tag Archives: blooms

Kinkai wakashū 210

When the bush clover was lingering in the grounds, and I was unable to see whether the blossoms had scattered with the moon shining behind them.

萩のはなくれぐれまでもありつるが月いでてみるになきがはかなさ

hagi no hana
kuregure made mo
aritsuru ga
tsuki idete miru ni
naki ga hakanasa
The bush clover blooms
Right until the evening
Did linger, but
With the rising moon they seem
Gone—how brief they are!

Kinkai wakashū 209

Bush clover at the roadside.

みちのべのをのの夕霧たちかへりみてこそゆかめ秋はぎの花

michi no be no
ono no yūgiri
tachikaeri
mite koso yukame
akihagi no hana
By the roadside
Across the meadows evening mists
Rise and fall endlessly;
Thus would I go and see
The autumn bush clover blooms.[1]

[1] An allusive variation on: For a poetry competition held in the Tenryaku era. 春ふかみゐてのかは浪たちかへり見てこそゆかめ山吹の花 haru fukami / ide no kawanami / tachikaeri / mite koso yukame / yamabuki no hana ‘In the depths of spring / Waves on the river at Idé / Rise and fall endlessly; / Thus would I go and see / The kerria blooms…’ Minamoto no Shitagō (SIS I: 68).

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

我がやどものこる花なくうゑつれど野べのけしきは猶ぞ床しき

wa ga yado mo
nokoru hana naku
uetsuredo
nobe no keshiki wa
nao zo yukashiki
At my dwelling
Lingering blooms are there none
Though I did plant them,
The prospect of a meadow is
Charming still!

Lord Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, Senior Secretary of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office
23

Right

秋萩の枝もとををにおく露のはらはばあやな花やちりなん

akihagi no
eda mo tōo ni
oku tsuyu no
harawaba aya na
hana ya chirinan
The autumn bush-clover
Branches bent with
Fallen dewdrops—
Should I sweep them off, then
Would the blossoms scatter, I wonder?

Lay Priest and Master of the Left Capital Office Norinaga
24

Doesn’t the Right seem to resemble the poem in the Ancient and Modern Collection which says

をりてみば落ちぞしぬべき秋萩の枝もとををにおけるしら露

oritemiba
ochi zo shinubeki
akihagi no
eda mo t
ōo ni
okeru shiratsuyu
Were I to pluck one,
‘Twould fall and smash:
Autumn bush-clover’s
Branches bent
With fallen silver dewdrops.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 11

Round Eleven

Left (Win)

われこそは野べをば宿にうつしつれたがさそひこし虫の音ぞこは

ware koso wa
nobe oba yado ni
utsushitsure
ta ga sasoikoshi
mushi no nezoko wa
‘Twas I, indeed, who
The meadow to my dwelling
Shifted, but
Who is it has been invited here
By the insects’ songs?

Shun’e Tayū no kimi
21

Right

秋の野の千くさの花の色色を心ひとつにそめてこそみれ

aki no no no
chikusa no hana no
iroiro o
kokoro hitotsu ni
somete koso mire
The autumn meadows
Thousand grasses’ blooms
Have hues a’plenty, but
My heart, but one,
Has been dyed, you see!

Mikawa, Court Lady to His Excellency
22

The Left sounds as if the poet is being comforted by the insects which is at some variance from the essential meaning of the topic, and yet when I listen to it, it has an abundance of charm. The Right doesn’t differ, does it, from Kanemasa’s poem in the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Minister of the Centre in Gen’ei 2 [1119]:

秋くれば千くさに匂ふ花の色の心ひとつにいかでしむらん

aki kureba
chikusa ni niou
hana no iro no
kokoro hitotsu ni
ikade shimuran
When the autumn comes
The thousand grasses glow
With flowers’ hues, but
Why, then, does my heart with but one
Seem to be stained?

Thus, the Left wins.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 08

Round Eight

Left (Tie)

うづら鳴く遠里小野の小萩はら心なき身も過ぎうかりけり

uzura naku
tōsato ono no
kohagiwara
kokoronaki mi mo
sugi’ukarikeri
Quails cry from
Tōsato plain’s
Bush-clover groves—
Even one as insensitive as I
Finds it hard to pass them by.

Kenshō Sukenokimi
15

Right

あきの野の花に心をそめしよりくさかやひめもあはれとぞ思ふ

aki no no no
hana ni kokoro o
someshi yori
kusakayahime mo
aware to zo omou
Since the autumn meadows’
Blooms my heart
Did fill, for
Kusakayahime
Fondness, I feel!

Tōren
16

As for the Left, if one is composing about bush-clover groves, then I would want the poem to mention Miyagi Plain. As for the Right’s Kusakayahime, I wondered if she appeared in the Chronicles of Japan, but in that work you have Izanagi-no-miko and Izanami-no-miko, who wed and create the first land, Akitsushima, and then many provinces, mountains, rivers and seas and thus trees and plants, too. It further states that the primordial tree was Kukunochi and the primordial plant was Kayanohime. The conception of the Right’s poem does not differ from this, yet it continues to mention Kusakayahime, which is unclear. I get the feeling that this poem was composed with the works composed for the banquet held for the completion of the Chronicles of Japan in mind, which refer to each and every spring and the ancient Kayanohime, but even these poems did not differ in conception from that of the main work. It’s impossible to pick a loser or winner.