Tag Archives: blossoms

Heike monogatari 76

Third Rank Lay Priest [Minamoto no Yorimasa] summoned his retainer, Watanabe Chōjitsu.

‘Take my head,’ he ordered, but overcome with the sorrow of taking his master’s life, Chōjitsu cried, overcome with tears, ‘Such a service is unthinkable. I would only dare to do it afterwards, should my Lord take his own life.’

‘I see,’ Yorimasa replied, then faced the west and chanted the name of Amida Buddha ten times in a loud voice, before reciting:

埋木の花さく事も無かりしにみのなるはてぞ哀なりける

umoregi no
hana saku koto mo
nakarishi ni
mi no naru hate zo
aware narikeru
On a drowned tree
Blossoms flower
Not a one—
To reach the end of life
Is sad, indeed!

With these as his last words, he ran the tip of his great sword through his belly, collapsing over it and died. At such a time, one would not normally be able to compose a poem, but Yorimasa had loved the Way of Waka extravagantly since he was young, so at the last he did not forget it.

Teiji-in uta’awase 20

Left (Tie)

はなみつつをしむかひなくけふくれてほかのはるとやあすはなりなむ

hana mitsutsu
oshimu kainaku
kyō kurete
hoka no haru to ya
asu wa narinamu
Ever do I gaze upon the blossom, in
Vain regret, for
Today will end and
A different spring will
Greet me on the morrow!

Mitsune
39

Right

けふのみとはるをおもはぬときだにもたつことやすきはなのかげかは

kyō nomi to
haru o omowanu
toki dani mo
tatsu koto ya suki
hana no kage ka wa
“Only today is left
Of spring”—I’ll not think that for
Even at such a time,
Is it easy to part from
The blossoms’ shade?

Mitsune
40[i]

‘Both of these are charming,’—they tied.


[i] This poem is included as the final spring poem in Kokinshū (II: 134), attributed to Mitsune, and with the headnote, ‘A poem on the end of spring from the Poetry Contest held by Former Emperor Uda’.

Teiji-in uta’awase 17

Left (Tie)

かけてのみみつつぞしのぶむらさきにいくしほそめしふぢのはなぞも

kakete nomi
mitsutsu zo shinobu
murasaki ni
iku shiosomeshi
fuji no hana zo mo
Hanging there do I
Ever gaze with wonder on
Their violet hues—
How many dippings dyed
The wisteria blossom so?

Mitsune
33

Right

みなそこにしづめるはなのかげみればはるのふかくもなりにけるかな

minasoko ni
shizumeru hana no
kage mireba
haru no fukaku mo
narinikeru kana
When in the water’s depths
Sunken blossoms’
Shapes I see,
How deep the springtime
Has become!

Korenori
34

Teiji-in uta’awase 14

Left

さはみづにかはづなくなりやまぶきのうつろふいろやそこにみゆらむ

sawamizu ni
kawazu nakunari
yamabuki no
utsurou iro ya
soko ni miyuramu
Among the marsh waters
The frogs are crying;
The kerria’s
Fading hues—might
They see them below the surface there?

27

Right (Win)

ちりてゆくかたをだにみむはるがすみはなのあたりはたちもさらなむ

chiriteyuku
kata o dani mimu
harugasumi
hana no atari wa
tachi mo sara namu
Scattering off
If only I might see them, but
The spring haze
Around the blossoms is
Already rising!

28

Teiji-in uta’awase 12

Left (Tie)

うつつにはさらにもいはじさくらばなゆめにもちるとみえばうからむ

utsutsu ni wa
sara ni mo iwaji
sakurabana
yume ni mo chiru to
mieba ukaramu
In the waking world
There is nothing more I might say,
O, cherry blossom!
You scattering through my dreams—
How I would hate to see it!

Mitsune
23

Right

はなのいろをうつしとどめよかがみやまはるよりのちにかげやみゆると

hana no iro o
utsushi to tomeyo
kagamiyama
haru yori nochi ni
kage ya miyuru to
The blossoms’ hues’
Reflection: hold it,
Mirror Mountain!
That after the springtime’s gone
I might see their shades.

Korenori
24[i]


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 73), attributed to Korenori, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest.’

Teiji-in uta’awase 05

Left (Win)

はるがすみたちしかくせばやまざくらひとしれずこそちりぬべらなれ

harugasumi
tachishi kakuseba
yamazakura
hito shirezu koso
chirinuberanare
If the spring haze
Has risen to conceal
The mountain cherries,
Then, indeed, will no one know
When they have seemed to scatter!

Tsurayuki
9

Right

たのまれぬはなのこころとおもへばやちらぬさきよりうぐひすのなく

tanomarenu
hana no kokoro to
omoeba ya
chiranu saki yori
uguisu no naku
Untrustworthy are
The blossoms’ hearts
I do think, so
While they are unscattered
Will the warbler sing.

Okikaze
10[i]

Both of these are the same—they tie.[ii]


[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XI: 1549), attributed to Okikaze, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’. It is also included twice in Kokin rokujō (I: 31) and (VI: 4395): in both cases the poem is attributed to Okikaze, but the first instance lacks a headnote, while the second is classified as a ‘Warbler’ poem. Finally, it is also included in Mandaishū (II: 254), again attributed to Okikaze, but this time with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’.

[ii] Given that the Left’s poem here is marked as winning, presumably Uda means that both poems are equally worthy of a win—that is, that this is a yoki ji, a ‘tie of quality’.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 19

なにしおへばあはれとおもふををみなへしたれをうしとかまだきうつろふ

na ni shi oeba
aware to omou o
ominaeshi
tare o ushi to ka
madaki utsurou
Bearing such a name,
She is dear, indeed, I feel, that
Maidenflower, but
Who is it that she does despise so,
That she fades so swiftly?

Mareyo
37

ちるはるをみなへしはなはあき風のふかむことをばくるしからじな

chiru haru o
mina heshi hana wa
akikaze no
fukamu koto oba
kurushikaraji na
Scattered in springtime
Have all the blossoms, so
When the autumn wind
Begins to blow
She suffers not, I think…

Motoyuki
38

GSS XV: 1077

When Ki no Tomonori had not yet been bestowed with any official position, in connection with this when he was asked how old he was and replied that he was forty.

今までになどかは花のさかずしてよそとせあまり年ぎりはする

ima made ni
nado ka Fa Fana no
sakazusite
yoso tose amari
tosigiri Fa suru
Up to this moment
Why is it that blossoms
Have yet to bloom?
After as much as forty years
Absent a year they are…

The Posthumous Chancellor