Round Thirty-Four
Left
もののふもあはれとおもへあづさ弓ひきのの夜半のさをしかの声
| mononofu mo aware to omoe azusayumi hikino no yowa no saoshika no koe | Let even a warrior Feel pity! A catalpa bow drawn On Hiki Plain at a midnight Stag’s call. |
The Former Minister of the Centre
67
Right (Win)
つれもなきつまをやたのむ秋風の身にさむき夜は鹿も鳴くなり
| tsure mo naki tsuma o ya tanomu akikaze no mi ni samuki yo wa shika mo nakunari | Is it his heartless Bride he seeks? The autumn wind Chills the bones at night As the stag, too, does cry.[1] |
Kozaishō
68
The Left’s poem seems to have no faults worth mentioning, but the Right’s poem is composed with the poem ‘The autumn wind / Chills my bones / As cold as / The woman I hope for / In the dark, night after night’ in mind and seems particularly pleasant, so it wins.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 秋風の身にさむければつれもなき人をぞたのむくるる夜ごとに aki kaze no / mi ni samukereba / tsuremonaki / hito o zo tanomu / kururu yo goto ni ‘The autumn wind / Chills my bones / As cold as / The woman I hope for / In the dark, night after night.’ Dharma Master Sosei (KKS XII: 555)
Taiwan Cherry
あづさゆみ春の山べにけぶりたちもゆともみえぬひざくらのはな
| azusayumi haru no yamabe ni keburi tachi moyu tomo mienu hizakura no hana | A catalpa bow: From the mountainside in springtime Smoke rising— Doesn’t it appear to be burning with Fiery cherry blossoms. |
6[i]
The Japanese name for this breed of cherry is hizakura (‘fire cherry’)—hence the imagery used in the poem.
[i] This poem is included in Kokin rokujō (4234), attributed to Ōchikōchi no Mitsune with the headnote ‘Taiwan Cherry’.
In the second year of Ōwa [962], he became a Chamberlain to the Crown Prince, and then within a month was also appointed a Secretary in the Ministry of Popular Affairs, so he sent this poem to the residence of Palace Lady Ukon, to express his pleasure at being doubly blessed.
ひく人もなしと思ひしあづさゆみ今ぞうれしきもろやしつれば
| Fiku Fito mo nasi to omoFisi adusayumi ima zo uresiki moroya situreba | No one there was to draw I thought, A catalpa bow, but Now what joy When a pair of arrows fly! |
Shitagō
