Tag Archives: cherry

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 30

Round Thirty

Personal Grievances

Left (Tie)

としをへて梅も桜もさくものを我が身のはるにまちぞかねぬる

toshi o hete
ume mo sakura mo
saku mono o
wa ga mi no haru ni
machi zo kanenuru
The years go by and
The plum and cherry, too,
Burst into bloom, yet
For the springtime of my sorry self
It is so hard to have waited!

Kiyosuke
59

Right

数ならで年へぬる身は今さらに世をうしとだにおもはざりけり

kazu narade
toshi henuru mi wa
ima sara ni
yo o ushi to dani
omowazarikeri
Innumerable are
The years I’ve passed, but
Right now, that
The world is a cruel place, even
I do not think.

Shun’e
60

Both of these have no faults to point out, but also no superlative parts either.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 08

Round Eight

Left (Tie)

うき世をば又なににかはなぐさめん花にさきだついのちともがな

ukiyo oba
mata nani ni ka wa
nagusamen
hana ni sakidatsu
inochi to mogana
In this cruel world
Is there yet anything else
To console me?
Before the blossoms’ departure
I would my life do the same…

Court Lady Taifu
15

Right

桜さく春の山風みねこせば雪ふりつもる谷のほそみち

sakura saku
haru no yamakaze
mine koseba
yuki furitsumoru
tani no hosomichi
When in cherry-blooming
Spring, the mountain breezes
Cross the peaks
Snow falls and piles high
Upon the narrow valley paths.

Moromitsu
16

Both poems are smooth, and on that basis, I would say that the Right is superior, but it has an archaic element, while the Left lacks anything unusual about it, so this is a tie of quality.

SKKS I: 87

Composed as a spring poem, when he presented poems to the Poetry Office.

葛城やたかまの桜さきにけりたつたのおくにかかる白雲

kazuragi ya
takama no sakura
sakinikeri
tatsuta no oku ni
kakaru shirakumo
In Kazuragi,
On Takama peak the cherry
Has bloomed!
To the heart of Tatsuta
Cling clouds of white…[1]

Jakuren

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] An allusive variation on KKS I: 59 and Wakan rōeishū II: 409/SKKS XI: 990.

KYS I: 57

Composed on blossom fallen on the water.

はなさそふあらしやみねをわたるらんさくらなみよるたにがはのみづ

Fana sasoFu
arasi ya mine wo
wataruran
sakuranami yoru
tanigaFa no midu
Enticing the blossom
Is it the storm wind upon the peak
That passes o’er
The cherry waves breaking
In the waters of a valley stream?

Lord Minamoto no Masakane

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Teiji-in uta’awase 07

Left (Win)

さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける

sakura chiru
ko no shitakaze wa
samukarade
sora ni shirarenu
yuki zo furikeru
The cherry scattering
Breeze beneath the trees
Lacks chill—
Unaware from within the skies
The snow is falling.

Tsurayuki

13[i]

Right

わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ

wa ga kokoro
haru no yamabe ni
akugarete
naganagashi hi o
kyō mo kurashitsu
My heart to
The mountainside in springtime
Is drawn—
The long, long day
Today, too, has reached its dusk.

Mitsune

14[ii]

The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

Summer 15

Left.

櫻色の袖もひとへにかはるまでうつりにけりな過る月日は

sakura iro no
sode mo hitoe ni
kawaru made
utsurinikeri na
suguru tsukihi wa
Cherry-coloured
Sleeves for single-fold
Garb are changed;
All already faded,
With the passing months and days…

29

Right (Win)

ふみしだく安積の沼の夏草にかつみだれそふしのぶもぢずり

fumishidaku
asaka no numa no
natsukusa ni
katsumidare sou
shinobu mojizuri
Crushed beneath my feet
At the marsh of Asaka
In the summer grasses
A confusion of irises
Longingly imprint their pattern.

30

Spring 14

Left (Tie).

網代木に櫻こませば行春のいさよふ浪をえやはとゞむる

ajirogi ni
sakura komaseba
yuku haru no
isayou nami o
e ya wa todomuru
Can stakes of fish traps,
Mixed with cherry petals,
Departing spring’s
Impeded waves
Bring to a halt, perhaps?

27

Right

あはれいかに霞も花もなれなれて雲しく谷に歸る鶯

aware ika ni
kasumi mo hana mo
narenarete
kumo shiku tani ni
kaeru uguisu
O, however much
The hazes and the blossoms
We have come to love,
To the cloud-strewn valleys
The warbler does return.

28