Tag Archives: breeze

Kinkai wakashū 35

After I had had various people compose on the scent of plum carried on the breeze.

このねぬるあさけの風にかをるなり軒ばの梅の春のはつ花

kono nenuru
asake no kaze ni
kaoru nari
nokiba no ume no
haru no hatsubana
Having slept
The dawntime breeze
Is scented:
Beneath my eaves the plum
Shows spring’s first blossom.
Created with Soan.

Teiji-in uta’awase 07

Left (Win)

さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける

sakura chiru
ko no shitakaze wa
samukarade
sora ni shirarenu
yuki zo furikeru
The cherry scattering
Breeze beneath the trees
Lacks chill—
Unaware from within the skies
The snow is falling.

Tsurayuki

13[i]

Right

わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ

wa ga kokoro
haru no yamabe ni
akugarete
naganagashi hi o
kyō mo kurashitsu
My heart to
The mountainside in springtime
Is drawn—
The long, long day
Today, too, has reached its dusk.

Mitsune

14[ii]

The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

Teiji-in uta’awase 01

Spring

Ten Poems on the Second Month

Left

あをやぎのえだにかかれるはるさめはいともてぬけるたまかとぞみる

aoyagi no
eda ni kakareru
harusame wa
ito mo te nukeru
tama ka to zo miru
Upon the green willow
Branches hang
Spring raindrops—
As if each frond were hand-threaded
With gems do they appear.

Ise
1

Right

あさみどりそめてみだれるあをやぎのいとをばはるのかぜやよるらむ

asamidori
somete midareru
aoyagi no
ito oba haru no
kaze ya yoruramu
Pale green
Dyes the tangled
Willow
Fronds—do spring’s
Breeze they seem to beckon?

Korenori
2

I’d say both of these are good—a tie.

Teishi-in ominaeshi uta’awase 02

Left

あきののをみなへしるともささわけにぬれにしそでやはなとみゆらむ

aki no no o
mina heshiru to mo
sasa wake ni
nurenishi sode ya
hana to miyuramu
Through the autumn meadows
Everyone knows to pass, yet
Forging through the dwarf bamboo
Will my sleeves, so drenched,
Appear as the flowers do?[1]

3

Right

をみなへしあきののかぜにうちなびきこころひとつをたれによすらん

ominaeshi
aki no nokaze ni
uchinabiki
kokoro hitotsu o
tare ni yosuran
The maidenflower,
With a breeze across the autumn fields,
Waves back and forth;
Having but a single heart,
To whom does she incline, I wonder?

The Minister of the Left[2]
4[3]


[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.

[2] Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871-909).

[3] Kokinshū IV: 230; Shinsen man’yōshū 532; Kokin rokujō 3660

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 29

Left

吹く風の我が宿にくる夏の夜は月の影こそすずしかりけれ

fuku kaze no
wa ga yado ni kuru
natsu no yo wa
tsuki no kage koso
suzushikarikere
The gusting breeze
Comes to my house
Upon a summer night
Making the moonlight
Feel cool, indeed!

57

Right

ゆふされば蛍よりけにもゆるとも光みえねば人ぞつれなき

yū sareba
hotaru yori ke ni
moyuredomo
hikari mineba ya
hito no tsurenaki
With the fall of evening,
The fireflies’ are as nothing beside
My burning, yet
I cast no light, so
Will my love stay chill?

Tomonori

58[1]


[1] Kokinshū XII: 562/Shinsen man’yōshū 69/Kokin rokujō VI: 4013

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 26

Left

夏の風我が袂にしつつまればおもはむ人のつとにしてまし

natsu no kaze
wa ga tamoto ni shi
tsutsumareba
omowamu hito no
tsuto ni shitemashi
The summer breeze
Within my sleeves
Has become entangled, so
For the one I’m longing for
I would take it as a gift.

51

Right

なつ草のしげき思ひは蚊遣火の下にのみこそもえ渡りけれ

natsukusa no
shigeki omoi wa
kayaribi no
shita ni nomi koso
moewatarikere
As summer grasses
Lush my fires of passion: as
Mosquito smudges,
Beneath they simply
Burn everywhere.

52[1]


[1] Shinchokusenshū XII: 709/Shinsen man’yōshū 79

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 8

Round Eight

Left

秋風の吹来る声はやまながらなみ立ちかへるおとぞきこゆる

akikaze no
fukikuru koe wa
yama nagara
nami tachikaeru
oto zo kikoyuru
The autumn breeze’s
Cry comes gusting;
And in the mountains,
The sound of waves washing back and forth
Comes to my ears.

15

Right

すみの江の松を秋風吹くからにこゑうちそふる沖つ白なみ

suminoe no
matsu o akikaze
fuku kara ni
koe uchisouru
oki tsu shiranami
At Suminoe
The pines by the autumn breeze
Are blown, so
The sound lies atop
The whitecaps in the offing.

16