Hidden Love
しのぶともかかる涙にからころもあらはれぬべき心地こそすれ
| shinobutomo kakaru namida ni karakoromo arawarenubeki kokochi koso sure | I hide them, yet Dripping tears upon My Cathay robe Surely have appeared, Or so I feel! |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
Tag Archives: cathay robe
MYS X: 2194
Tametadake shodo hyakushu 433
SZS XIII: 820
Composed on the conception of swearing one’s love in the middle of the day:
涙にや朽ちはてなましから衣袖のひるまと頼めざりせば
| namida ni ya kutiFatenamasi karakoromo sode no Firuma to tanomezariseba |
With tears Completely rotted will be My Cathay robe For to daytime dry the sleeves There is no one I can trust. |
Nakahara no Kiyoshige
中原清重
Love II: 22
Left (Tie).
唐衣重ぬる契朽ちずして幾夜の露をうち拂ふらん
| karakoromo kasanuru chigiri kuchizushite iku yo no tsuyu o uchiharauran |
Cathay robes Piled together mark our vow Unbroken; How many night’s dewfall Will they sleep away? |
703
Right.
夜を重ねかへす衣のうらみても現までとは思はざりしを
| yo o kasane kaesu koromo no uramite mo utsutsu made to wa omowazarishi o |
Night piled on night With robes reversed and Hating you; That it would be real one day I never did imagine! |
704
Left and Right together state they find no faults worth mentioning.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left seems to have taken a poem saying ‘truth has broken not, and now we meet again’ (shin’nyo kuchisezu aimitsuru kana) and deepened the conception. The Right, wearing clothes night after night and not thinking it would ‘become real’ (utsutsu made) seems a rather pointless activity. The poems are of the same quality.
Autumn I: 1
Left (Tie).
唐衣ひとへに夏の氣色にて袂に秋は知られざりけり
| karakoromo hitoe ni natsu no keshiki nite tamoto ni aki wa shirarezarikeri |
My Cathay robe: A single layer has summer’s Feel; Upon my sleeves is autumn Entirely unknown. |
301
Right.
秋來ぬと風の氣色は見ゆれども猶涼しさは音せざりけり
| aki kinu to kaze no keshiki wa miyuredomo nao suzushisa wa oto sezarekeri |
When autumn came In the breeze’s touch Did I feel it, Without coolness or Sound. |
302
The Right have no criticisms to make of the Left’s poem; the Left merely wonder ‘whether proceeding from ‘coolness’ (suzushisa) to ‘sound’ (oto) is appropriate expression, although it is in keeping with the spirit of the topic.’
Shunzei states, ‘The Left’s poem has no particular problems, but “My Cathay robe: a single layer” (karakoromo hitoe) is a somewhat old-fashioned expression, and saying “Upon my sleeves is autumn entirely unknown” (tamoto ni aki wa shirarezarikeri) seems rather pointless. In the Right’s poem, while it is in the spirit of “My eyes clearly” (me ni Fa sayakani), “Without coolness or sound” (nao suzushisa wa oto sezarekeri) is clumsy expression. Neither poem is a worthy victor this round.’