When Lord Kanesuke had been promoted from Consultant Middle Captain to Middle Counsellor, the following year he went to the banquet held by the winner of the New Year Archery and composed this when all and sundry were recounting their thoughts.
旧里のみかさの山はとほけれど声は昔のうとからぬかな
| Furusato no mikasa no yama Fa toFokeredo kowe Fa mukasi no utokaranu kana | My ancient home Upon Mikasa Mountain is Distant, yet Your voices mean those bygone days I cannot dislike! |
Lord Kanesuke
From among the poems for the Fifteenth Night[i] (when I was thirty-four[ii]) and had heard that His Late Lordship[iii] was holding an entertainment.[iv]
いにしへの秋の空まですみだ川月にこととふ袖の露かな
| inishie no aki no sora made sumidagawa tsuki ni koto tou sode no tsuyu kana | In bygone days All the way to the autumn skies was Clear above the Sumida River, I would ask the moon with The dewdrops on my sleeves![v] |
[i] Jūgoya 十五夜: typically this referred to the night of the 15th day of the Eighth Month, when the moon was believed to be at its fullest and most beautiful.
[ii] The Japanese text in the original is ambiguous here and this is only one of several interpretations which have been offered for it. The most likely other one is that this is a simple miscopying of an entirely different phrase ‘when I presented three poems’.
[iii] A reference to Fujiwara (Kujō) no Yoshitsune 藤原(九条)良経 (1169-1206).
[iv] In this case, a poetry meet.
[v] An allusive variation on: When they arrived at the banks of the Sumida River, between the provinces of Musashi and Shimotsūsa, they thought fondly of the capital and, dismounting for a while on the river bank, they thought sadly about how far they had come. While they were gazing into space, the ferryman said, “Get on the boat quickly! The sun is going down.” So, they boarded and were about to set off, each one thinking miserably about someone he had left in the capital, when they saw a white bird with a red bill and legs splashing about in the river shallows. As it was a bird never seen in the capital, none of them could say what it was, so they asked the ferryman, and he replied that it was a miyakodori (capital bird); hearing this, Narihira composed the following: 名にしおはばいざ事とはむ宮こどりわが思ふ人はありやなしやと na ni shi owaba / iza koto towamu / miyakodori / wa ga omou hito wa / ari ya nashi ya to ‘If your name fits you, / There’s something I would ask, / O, Capital bird: / Is the lady in my thoughts / Still quite safe?’ Ariwara no Narihira (Kokinshū IX: 411)
While gazing at the blossom, after Middle Counsellor Atsutada has passed away, and various people had gone to a mountain retreat at Nishisakamoto on Mount Hiei.
いにしへはちるをや人の惜みけん花こそ今は昔こふらし
| inisiFe Fa tiru wo ya Fito no osimiken Fana koso ima Fa mukasi koFurasi | Long ago Their scattering would he Ever regret, but Now, ‘tis the blossom That seems to long for bygone days. |
The Ichijō Regent
The scent of orange blossom incense on the breeze[i]
Left
ふくかぜに花たちばなぞにほふなるむかしのそでにあやまたれつつ
| fuku kaze ni hanatachibana zo niou naru mukashi no sode ni ayamataretsutsu | With the gusting breeze Orange blossom’s Fragrance comes— For those sleeves of bygone days Do I ever mistake it… |
13
Right
つねよりもことにもあるかなけふをまつはなたちばなのかぜのにほひは
| tsune yori mo koto ni mo aru kana kyō o matsu hanatachibana no kaze no nioi wa | More than ever So special it is! For today have I awaited, Orange blossom’s Scented breeze… |
14
In general, orange blossom is scented during early summer showers or has its fragrance carried on the evening breeze, so I wonder about the folk of bygone days: there’s nothing to compare it with, making the Left’s poem as hackneyed as one on Isonokami, yet there’s nothing special about it, like a weed growing under the eaves. The Right’s poem has ‘for today have I awaited’, which I think requires a reference to sweet-flags. My overall impression of both poems is that their conceptions are unclear.
[Judge’s poem missing]
[i] Rōkitsu bōfū 盧橘芳風
Personal Grievances
Round One
Left
むかしとてみのおもひではなけれどもきみしのびねぞたえずなかるる
| mukashi tote mi no omoide wa nakeredomo kimi shinobine zo taezu nakaruru | Bygone days— Memories of me then Have I none, yet Thinking fondly of my Lord I weep constantly. |
Hyōenosuke
101
Right
いくよしもありへむものとしらぬみはうきもつらきもなにかなげかむ
| iku yo shimo ariemu mono to shiranu mi wa uki mo tsuraki mo nanika nagekamu | However many ages I may live through I know not, so For the coldness and cruelties Why should I grieve so? |
Lord Naganori
102
The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning ‘Memories of me then / Have I none, yet’ appears elegant. The conception of self-effacingly not recalling oneself but thinking fondly of one’s former master seems sadly moving. The Right’s poem appears splendidly direct in its emotional stance. With that being said, the Right lacks clear source of grief, whereas the Left has its fond recollections, and thus I have to say it wins.
