Tag Archives: brushwood fence

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Summer

Summer

Left

夏くればかみにあふひの草つみてかざしにいのるひとにばかりぞ

natsu kureba
kami ni aoi no
kusa tsumite
kazashi ni inoru
hito ni bakari zo
When the summer comes
For the God, hollyhocks
 Are plucked, and for a
Prayer placed in the hair of
All folk, every one!

7

夏草も茂りにければ駿河なる田子のうらなへ今やひくらん

natsu kusa mo
shigerinikereba
suruga naru
tago no ura nae
ima ya hikuran
The summer grasses, too,
Have grown lush, so
As Suruga’s
Tago Bay,
Do they now extend their charm?

8

夏虫のやどるにまつは色ならで春秋空にうつろひやする

natsumushi no
yadoru ni matsu wa
iro narade
haru aki sora ni
utsuroi ya suru
The summer insects
Lodge upon the pines
Unchanging hues;
Is it the spring and autumn skies
Which fade away?

9

Right

卯花の咲く夏の夜はやみなれどかきねにやどる月かとぞみる

u no hana no
saku natsu no yo wa
yami naredo
kakine ni yadoru
tsuki ka to zo miru
The deutzia flowers
Bloom upon a summer night
‘Tis dark, yet
Lodged upon my brushwood fence
I wonder if I see the moon?

10

五月きぬことかたらはむほととぎす君にあふちの花も咲きけり

satsuki kinu
koto katarawamu
hototogisu
kimi ni auchi no
hana mo sakikeri
That the Fifth Month has come
Is announced by
The cuckoo:
For you, the chinaberry
Blossoms, too, have bloomed.

11

空蝉のからにはあらで置く露の身をあらたむる心なるべし

utsusemi no
kara ni wa arade
oku tsuyu no
mi o aratamuru
kokoro narubeshi
A cicada’s shed
Shell I am not, for
The dripping dew
Does refresh my flesh, or
So my heart seems to feel.

12

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 7

A profusion of deutzia flowers in full bloom

Left

白妙に卯花さけるかきねをばつもりし雪とおもひけるかな

shirotae ni
u no hana sakeru
kakine o ba
tsumorishi yuki to
omoikeru kana
A spread of white mulberry cloth,
The deutzias have bloomed
Along my brushwood fence
Drifting snow is piled, or
So it seems!

Minamoto no Narikata
13

Right

みわたせばたかねののべのうつぎ原みな白妙にさきにけるかな

miwatseba
takane no nobe no
utsugiwara
mina shirotae ni
sakinikeru kana
When I gaze across
The high-peak meadows
A field of deutzia,
All as white as mulberry cloth,
Have bloomed there.

Ōe no Fumi’ichi
14

Summer I: 12

Left.

夏草のもとも拂はぬ故郷に露よりうへを風通ふなり

natsu kusa no
moto mo harawanu
furusato ni
tsuyu yori ue o
kaze kayounari
The summer grasses
Are yet uncut
At this ancient home of mine;
Over the fallen dewdrops,
The sound of gusting wind…

A Servant Girl.

203

Right (Win).

夏草のなかを露けみ分くる野はわが故郷の垣根なりけり

natsu kusa no
naka o tsuyukemi
wakuru no wa
wa ga furusato no
kakine narikeri
Within the summer grasses
Dewy depths,
Forging ‘cross the plain and
My ancient home’s
Brushwood fence appears.

Nobusada.

204

The Right team query, ‘How is it that the wind can pass “over the fallen dewdrops” (tsuyu yori ue o)?’ The Left content themselves with saying that the Right’s poem is ‘difficult to grasp’.

Shunzei, though, remarks, ‘The Left’s “over the fallen dewdrops” is a wonderfully charming expression. It is the initial “are yet uncut” (moto mo harawanu) which is extremely difficult to understand. The Right’s configuration and diction seem particularly fine [sugata kotoba yoroshiku koso haberumere], though, so it is, just, the winner.’

SKKS III: 180

Composed when feeling that it was the end of the Fourth Month.

うの花のむらむらさけるかきねをば雲まの月のかげかとぞみる

u no hana no
muramura sakeru
kakine o ba
kumo ma no tsuki no
kage ka to zo miru
The deutzia
Blooming in profusion
Along the brushwood fence
Through the cloud-breaks moon
Light do appear to be.

Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129) (r. 1072-1086)