For a painting on a sliding door where there was a pine growing on the crags.
岩のうへにおふる小松の年もへぬいく千代までと契り置きけん
| iwa no ue ni ouru komatsu no toshi mo henu ikuyo made to chigiri okiken | Atop the crag Growing, a pine seedling: that ‘Twould pass through the years, Until it reach however many ages— It seems a vow was made. |
663
On the conception of ‘love, having once met, but no longer’ for the Poetry Match held at the Poetry Office.
ゆめかとよみし面影もちぎりしもわすれずながらうつつならねば
| yume ka to yo mishi omokage mo chigiri shi mo wasurezu nagara utsutsu naraneba | Was it a dream? Or not? That face I saw, and His promises, too, I cannot forget, Though real they were not… |
The Daughter of Toshinari, Assistant Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office
Round Thirty-Three
Stags in the Night[1]
Left
久方のかつらの陰に鳴く鹿は光をかけて声ぞさやけき
| hisakata no katsura no kage ni naku shika wa hikari o kakete koe zo sayakeki | In the eternal Silver trees’ glow The belling stag Is limned with light, and His voice sounds clear, indeed! |
A Court Lady
65
Right (Win)
天川秋の一夜のちぎりだにかた野に鹿の音をや鳴くらん
| ama no kawa aki no hitoyo no chigiri dani katano ni shika no ne o ya nakuran | By the River of Heaven For a single autumn night’s Brief bond— Is that why a stag at Katano Does cry out so? |
Ietaka
66
The Right’s poem, by beginning with ‘By the River of Heaven / For a single autumn night’s / Brief bond’ and then continuing with ‘a stag at Katano’ sounds particularly refined, evoking memories of bygone days when Prince Koretaka sought lodging from the Weaver Maid when hunting at Katano—how charming it is.[2] The Left’s poem overall is not particularly bad and seems to lack any obvious faults, but the Right’s poem surpasses it in every way: it is not one of the normal run of compositions and thus, it must win.
[1] 夜鹿 – there are early examples of poems on related topics in Kin’yōshū and Senzaishū.
[2] Gotoba is referring to a pair of poems in Kokinshū which are contextualized by an account of a hunting expedition by Prince Koretaka 惟喬 (844-897): Once, when he had gone hunting in the company of Prince Koretaka, they dismounted by the banks of a river called Ama no Gawa (River of Heaven), and while they were tippling, the Prince commanded that Narihira offer him a wine cup with a poem expressing the feelings of a hunter arriving at the river of Heaven, so he composed the following: かりくらしたなばたつめにやどからむあまのかはらに我はきにけり kari kurashi / tanabatatsume ni / yado karamu / ama no kawara ni / ware wa kinkeri ‘While hunting night is falling, / So from the Weaver Maid / Let us beg lodging / For to the Riverbank of Heaven / Have we come!’ Ariwara no Narihira (KKS IX: 418); The prince recited the above poem many times, but was unable to think of a reply so, being one of the party, Aritsune composed this: ひととせにひとたびきます君まてばやどかす人もあらじとぞ思ふ hito tose ni / hito tabi kimasu / kimi mateba / yado kasu hito mo / araji to zo omou ‘In a single year / But once comes / The Lord she awaits, so / One who provides lodging / She is not, I’d say!’ Ki no Aritsune (KKS IX: 419). These poems were famously incorporated into chapter 82 of Ise monogatari with four others to provide an expanded context. See Horiuchi and Akiyama (1997, 157-160) for the original text and Mostow and Tyler (2010, 175-179) for an English translation and commentary.
Round Eleven
Tanabata
Left (Win)
七夕はたえぬ契りをうれしともこよひばかりやおもひしるらん
| tanabata wa taenu chigiri o ureshi tomo koyoi bakari ya omoishiruran | The Weaver Maid’s Unending vow is A source of joy, yet Is it only on this night That she truly feels it? |
Shun’e
21
Right
天の河わたるこよひや七夕は中中袖をぬらさざるらん
| ama no kawa wataru koyoi ya tanabata wa nakanaka sode o nurasazaruran | The River of Heaven Does she cross tonight, so The Weaver Maid Truly, her sleeves Dampens not, I think! |
Yorisuke
22
I had asked that Master of Discipline Kōkaku be accorded the honour of the role of reader at the ceremony for the recitation of the Vimalakīrti nirdeśa Sutra, and when he was constantly passed over, had complained to the Hosshōji Lay Priest and former Palace Minister; even though he mentioned ‘Shimeji plain’, the following year Kōkaku was once more passed over, so I composed this and sent it to him.
契りおきしさせもが露をいのちにてあはれことしの秋もいぬめり
| tigiri okisi sasemo ga tuyu wo inoti nite aFare kotosi no aki mo inumeri | A promise dropped, as Dewfall on the mugwort— Such is life, so Miserable, this year’s Autumn must arrive. |
Fujiwara no Mototoshi
When he had gone to Michinoku as Governor, on seeing that one of the pines at Takekuma had withered, had a sapling planted to replace it; on returning to the same province later, after finishing his posting, he saw the tree he had planted once more.
栽ゑし時契りやしけんたけくまの松をふたたびあひみつるかな
| uwesi toki tigiri ya siken takekuma no matu wo Futatabi aFimituru kana | When I planted you, Did I make a vow, perhaps? That Takekuma’s Pine once more I would encounter!’ |
Lord Fujiwara no Motoyoshi
藤原元善
Taira no Sadafun had been conversing with a lady at the residence of Major Counsellor Kunitsune in great secrecy and matters had progressed to the point that they had vowed to be with each other to the end, when the lady was abruptly welcomed into the residence of the late Grand Minister, so he had no way at all of even exchanging letters with her; thus, when the lady’s five year old child was playing in the western wing of the minister’s mansion, Sadafun called her over and saying, ‘Show this to your mother,’ wrote this on her upper arm.
むかしせしわがかねごとのかなしきはいかにちぎりしなごりなるらん
| mukasi sesi wa ga kanegoto no kanasiki Fa ika ni tigirisi nagorinaruran | Long ago did I promise, but Might the sadness Of how I did once vow Be my only keepsake? |
Taira no Sadafun
From among his love poems.
ちぎりありてかかる思ひやつくばねのみねども人のやがて恋しき
| chigiri arite kakaru omoi ya tsukubane no minedomo hito no yagate koishiki | Do we have a bond, that Arouses such passions? Though As the peak of Tsukuba I see her not, yet am Filled with constant longing. |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Kin’kage
Left (Tie)
一夜のみ宿かる人の契とて露結び置く草枕かな
| hitoyo nomi yado karu hito no chigiri tote tsuyu musubioku kusamakura kana | For just a single night Will he rent my lodging and Make a brief bond of love; Dewdrops tangled with My grassy pillow… |
A Servant Girl
1163
Right
結びけん契もつらし草枕待つ夕暮も宿を頼みて
| musubiken chigiri mo tsurashi kusamakura matsu yūgure mo yado o tanomite | Tangled Brief bonds are chill; With a grassy pillow She awaits the evening and A request for lodging. |
Takanobu
1164
Left and Right state together: both poems have only a faint conception of entertainers.
In judgement: both Left and Right have a ‘grassy pillow’ (kusamakura) and a faint conception of entertainers, as the Gentlemen have already stated. They seem to me to somehow resemble the poem by the Left in Round Nine. The Left’s ‘dewfall drops tangled’ (tsuyu musubioku) and the Right’s ‘brief bonds are chill’ (chigiri mo tsurashi) are both elegant. Once again, I make this a tie.