Right
夏なれば木高き枝になく蟬のかげにかくせる風を恋ふとか
| natu nareba kodakaki eda ni naku semi no kage ni kakuseru kaze wo koFu to ka | When the summer comes, In the topmost branches of the trees In the singing cicadas’ Shadows have you hidden The breeze I love? |
5
Tag Archives: branches
Eikyū hyakushu 580
Katsura 桂
なが月の月の光のさゆるかなかつらの枝にしもやおくらん
| nagatsuki no tsuki no hikari no sayuru kana katsura no eda ni shimo ya okuran | In the longest month The moonlight is Chill, indeed! Upon the branches of the silver trees I wonder, does frost fall? |
Kanemasa
Eikyū hyakushu 579
Katsura 桂
はれまなき心のやみにまよひつつえこそたをらね月のかつらを
| harema naki kokoro no yami ni mayoitsutsu e koso taorane tsuki no katsura o | No parting of the clouds Of darkness in my heart, so I am ever lost – No branch will I break from A silver tree upon the moon… |
Tadafusa
Eikyū hyakushu 578
Katsura 桂
人しれずけふをしまつと風はやみかつらの枝を折りもよわらず
| hito shirezu kyō o shimatsu to kaze hayami katsura no eda o ori mo yowarazu | Unknown to all For today have I made ready – Amid the rushing wind The katsura branches will I break without hesitation! |
Toshiyori
Eikyū hyakushu 577
Katsura 桂
我が身には吹くべき風も吹きこねばかつらの枝もをらずぞ有りける
| wa ga mi ni wa fukubeki kaze mo fukikoneba katsura no eda mo orazu zo arikeru | Upon my flesh I expect the touch of wind, but Not a gust does come, so The katsura branches, too, Have remained unbroken. |
Nakazane
Eikyū hyakushu 569
Sakaki 榊
ゆふしでやかけつついのることのははさかきがえだにしげるなるらん
| yūshide ya kaketsutsu inoru koto no ha wa sakaki no eda ni shigerunaruran | Mulberry cloth Hangs down, while the prayers’ Words Upon the branches of the sacred trees Do seem to grow ever thicker! |
Akinaka
KKS II: 119
A party of ladies on their way home from Shiga came into the precincts of the Kazan temple and stood for a while beneath the wisteria; when they had gone, he composed this and sent it to them.
よそに見てかへらん人にふぢの花はひまつはれよ枝はおるとも
| yoso ni mite kaFeran Fito ni Fudi no Fana FaFimatuFare yo eda Fa oru tomo | A casual glance, and Then those girls are gone; O, wisteria blooms, Twine around and hold them here, Though your branches break… |
Archbishop Henjō
SKS X: 353
Composed when there was much disturbance in the world.
朝な朝な鹿の柵む萩がえの末葉の露のありがたのよや
| asana asana sika no sikaramu Fagi ga e no suweba no tuyu no arigata no yo ya |
Every morning The stag is tangled in Bush clover branches, Dew upon the leaf-tips – Such is the length of life… |
Zōki
増基
Love VIII: 10
Left (Win)
うかりける我み山木の契かな連なる枝もありとこそ聞け
| ukarikeru wa ga mi yamagi no chigiri kana tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike |
In despair Am I: hidden among the mountain trees Is my love; Though once branches lay atop each other I did hear… |
Lord Suetsune
1039
Right
涙には憂き深山木も朽ちぬべし沖つ小嶋のひさきならねど
| namida ni wa uki fukayamagi mo kuchinubeshi oki tsu kojima no hisaki naranedo |
Among my tears, Drift, despairing, trees from the mountain deeps, Rotting all away, though On islets in the offing On bush-covered beaches, they are not… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1040
Both Left and Right state: we find no faults.
In judgement: both Left and Right use the image of ‘trees from the mountain deeps’ (fukayamagi), and neither is superior, or inferior, to the other in this, but I would have to say that the Left’s ‘though once branches lay atop each other I did hear…’ (tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike) is somewhat better than the Right’s ‘on bush-covered beaches, they are not…’ (hisaki naranedo).
Love VIII: 7
Left
相思ふ中には枝も交しけり君が梢はいやおちにして
| ai’omou naka ni wa eda mo kawashikeri kimi ga kozue wa iya’ochi ni shite |
Joined in love Branches meet and Twine together, they say, yet As the treetops, you fail to come Again, and yet again. |
Kenshō
1033
Right (Win)
人しれぬ心に君を楢柴のしばしもよそに思はずもがな
| hito shirenu kokoro ni kimi o narashiba no shibashi mo yoso ni omowasu mogana |
Unknown to all My heart to you Inclines among the oaks; For just a while, as a stranger I would you not think of me… |
Lord Takanobu
1034
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘again, and yet again’ (iya’ochi) does not sound pleasant. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem, having the conception of intertwined branches is pleasant, but ‘treetops at my house’ (yado no kozue) would be normal, so I wonder about ‘as the treetops, you fail to come’ (kimi ga kozue)? In the Right’s poem, although ‘among the oaks; for just a while’ (narashiba no shibashi) is commonplace, it is still more elegant than ‘again and yet again’.