梓弓入佐の山にまとふかなほの見し月の影や見ゆると
| adusa yumi irusa no yama ni matoFu kana Fonomishi tuki no kage ya miyuru to |
A catalpa bow At Mount Irusa is aimed; Is aimed; Dimly glimpsed, that moon, Will I see her light once more? |
Tag Archives: catalpa bow
MYS XI: 2505
梓弓引きて許さずあらませば斯かる恋には逢はざらましを
| adusayumi hikite yurusazu aramaseba kakaru kopi ni wa apazaramasi wo |
A catalpa bow Drawn tight: reject me – Should you do that Such love as this Will I have never felt! |
MYS IV: 531
A gentle poem in reply to His Majesty, by Princess Unakami.
梓弓爪引く夜音遠音にも君が御幸を聞くかくし良しも
| adusayumi tumabiku yo’oto no topo oto ni mo kimi ga miyuki o kiku kakusi yosi mo |
A catalpa bow String plucked in the night Sounds in the distance; That Your Majesty will on a journey go Is just as fortunate to hear. |
Spring I: 30
Left (Tie).
もゝしきや射手引く庭の梓弓昔にかへる春に逢ふかな
| momoshiki ya ite hiku niwa no azusa yumi mukashi ni kaeru haru ni au kana |
Hundred fold, the palace, where Archer draw, within the gardens Bows of catalpa wood: Olden times are recalled And meet again, this springtime. |
59
Right (Tie).
梓弓春の雲井に引つれてけしきことなるけふの諸人
| azusa yumi haru no kumoi ni hikitsurete keshiki kotonaru kyô no morobito |
Catalpa bows: In springtime to the cloud-borne palace They are brought; How exceptional the scene: A crowd of noble folk, this day. |
60
The Right query why in the Left’s poem an annual festival should ‘recall olden times’, to which the Right respond that it is normal to compose poems about annual observances as if they had been discontinued and then revived. The Left make no comment about the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement is that, indeed, the Left’s poem had been composed as if an ancient rite had been revived and, furthermore with the reference to an ‘exceptional scene’ the intent had probably been to praise court festivals. Nevertheless, he has to adjudge the round a tie.
Spring I: 29
Left (Tie).
梓弓射手引く春のかひありてけふの諸矢は世にひゞく也
| azusa yumi ite hiku haru no kai arite kyō no moroya wa yo ni hibiku nari |
Catalpa bows, Archers drawing them in springtime Has an effect, indeed: Today, the paired arrows Resound throughout the world! |
57
Right (Tie).
梓弓はる九重に散る雪をけふ立舞の袖に見るかな
| azusa yumi haru kokonoe ni chiru yuki o kyô tachimai no sode ni miru kana |
Catalpa bows: Drawn in the ninefold palace walls, yet Falling snow This day’s dancing Sleeves do seem! |
58
The Right team have no comments to make about the Left’s poem, but the Left remark that ‘catalpa bow’ is a makura kotoba (a conventionalised poetic image) used with ‘spring’, and it is difficult to think that it is being used appropriately if related to ‘New Year archery’. (The complaint here seems to be related to the fact that in his original Nobusada writes haru, which I’ve translated here as ‘drawn’, phonetically, rather than with a Chinese character, making it initially seem like the verb haru ‘draw (a bow)’, rather than the homophonous ‘spring’.) The Left go on to make the aside that dancing took place within the palace on many other occasions besides the New Year Archery festival.
Shunzei, however, states bluntly that both poems contain ‘unnatural associations’ of ‘catalpa bow’ with ‘springtime effects’ for the Left, and ‘drawn in the ninefold palace’ for the right, so neither can be declared a winner.
Spring I: 26
Left.
心ある射手の舎人のけしきかな玉敷く庭に鞆音ひゞきて
| kokoro aru ite no toneri no keshiki kana tama shiku niwa ni tomone hibikite |
Souls stirred, The archers, guardsmen all, Are a sight Within the gem-strewn gardens, As bowstring snaps to bracer! |
51
Right (Win).
梓弓引く手ばかりはよそなれど心にいるは雲の上人
| azusayumi hiku te bakari wa yoso naredo kokoro ni iru wa kumo no uebito |
A catalpa bow: Drawn simply by the hand, Distant, it is, yet Letting fly, within their hearts, are The folk above the clouds… |
52
The Right team remark here that they were ‘unable to grasp’ the first line of the Left’s poem, possibly suggesting a judgement that kokoro aru, which I’ve translated here as ‘Souls stirred’, and which refers to the ability to be moved emotionally by phenomena, or events, was an unsuitable expression for mere ‘guardsmen’. The Left team state bluntly that the reference to ‘the folk above the clouds’ was ‘unsuited to this rite’, meaning the New Year archery contest, in which members of the higher nobility, the ‘folk above the clouds’, did not participate.
Spring I: 25
Left (Win).
けふは我君がみまへに取る文のさしてかたまる梓弓かな
| kyō wa wa ga kimi ga mimae ni toru fumi no sashite katamaru azusayumi kana |
Today to Our Lord’s Presence We take, missives Attached and drawn tight, Bows of catalpa wood… |
49
Right.
百敷や近きまもりの梓弓わが引く方ぞ心にはいる
| momoshiki ya chikaki mamori no azusayumi wa ga hiku kata zo kokoro ni wa iru |
Hundred-fold, the palace; Close by, sentries with Catalpa bows: Drawing them, Their hearts fly forth! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office.
50
The Right team state simply that they ‘don’t understand the content’ of the Left’s poem, while the Left remark airily of the Right’s that it ‘hits the topic dead on!’ Nevertheless, Shunzei says that the Left’s poem, ‘seems charming, with its image of letters to His Majesty attached to staves’, and awards it the victory.
Kei’un Hyakushu 33
Icehouse.
み狩野にみえし氷室やあづさ弓すゑもたえせぬみつきなるらん
| mikarino ni mieshi himuro ya azusa yumi sue mo taesenu mitsuki naruran |
In the royal hunting grounds I saw an icehouse – A catalpa bow – To the end enduring not Is its tribute, I’d say. |
SKKS I: 29
As a spring poem:
あづさゆみはる山ちかくいゑゐしてたえずきゝつる鶯のこゑ
| azusayumi haru yama chikaku ie ishite taezu kikituru uguisu no koe |
A catalpa bow Drawn – the mountains in springtime, nearby I dwell, Hearing endlessly The warbler’s song. |
Yamabe no Akahito
山部赤人
KYS VIII: 480
Composed on Love in the morning.
梓弓かへるあしたの思には引きくらぶべき事のなきかな
| adusa yumi kaFeru asita no omoFi ni Fa Fikikurabubeki koto no naki kana |
A catalpa bow Was my homeward path this morn: To my feelings, In comparison There is nothing, I feel. |
Fujiwara no Akisuke