The End of Autumn.
Left
琴の音に声よりあはせなく虫の秋のはつるはえこそしのばね
| koto no ne ni koe yori awase naku mushi no aki no hatsuru wa e koso shinobane | A zither’s strains Blended with the songs The insects cry, That autumn is ending They truly cannot recall! |
19
Right
長月の菊にぞ人をたのみつる花ひらくとも心うつるな
| nagatsuki no kiku zo hito o tanomitsuru hana hiraku tomo kokoro utsuru na | In the Longest Month A chrysanthemum, in a man Has placed its trust— The bloom may open, yet O, change not your heart! |
20
Poems from a Chrysanthemum Match held by the Senior Courtier Gentlemen in the presence of His Majesty, 13th day of the Tenth Month, Engi 13.
Left
ちりはててはななきときのはななればうつろふいろのをしくもあるかな
| chirihatete hakanaki toki no hana nareba utsurou iro no oshiku mo aru kana | All scattered now, For such a brief time are These flowers here; The fading of their hues Is something I regret! |
Okikaze
1
しらくものうへにしうつるきくなればいたくをにほへはなとみるべく
| shiraku mo no uenishi utsuru kiku nareba itaku o nioe hana to mirubeku | A white cloud, Planted is this gleaming Chrysanthemum, so Bright, indeed, shining Does the bloom look to be… |
Suetada[i]
2
あきすぎてはなざかりなるきくのはないろにたぐひてあきやかへれる
| aki sugite hanazakari naru kiku no hana iro ni taguite aki ya kaereru | Autumn is past and The flowers richly blooming are Chrysanthemums: With their hues Autumn does return! |
Korenori
3
なみとのみうちこそみゆれすみのえのきしにのこれるしらぎくのはな
| nami to nomi uchi koso miyure suminoe no kishi ni nokoreru shiragiku no hana | Simply as waves Do they, indeed, appear! At Suminoe Lingering on the shore White chrysanthemum blooms. |
Korenori
4
わぎもこがひもゆふぐれのきくなればあかずぞはなのいろはみえける
| wagimoko ga hi mo yūgure no kiku nareba akazu zo hana no iro wa miekeru | My darling girl Both day and eve is As a chrysanthemum, so Never sated am I with this flower’s Hues I see. |
Korenori
5
きくのはなふゆののかぜにちりもせでけふまでとてやしもはおくらん
| kiku no hana fuyu no kaze ni chiri mo sede kyō made tote ya shimo wa okuran | Chrysanthemum blooms In the winter wind Scatter not; Is it that up to today is when Frost is said to fall? |
Korenori
6
かげさへやこよひはにほふきくのはなあまてるつきにかのそはるらん
| kage sae ya koyoi wa niou kiku no hana ama teru tsuki ni ka no sowaruran | Even their shape Fills tonight with a scented glow; Chrysanthemum blooms To the heaven-shining moon Seem to add their fragrance. |
Korenori
7
[i] Fujiwara no Suetada/Suenawa 藤原季縄 (?-919). Little is known of Suetada’s life, other than that he was apparently close to Ise 伊勢 and exchanged poems with her. The circumstances of his death, however, are recorded in Yamato monogatari, which relates that he fell ill in Engi 19 (919) when he held the position of Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division (Ukonoe shōshō右近衛少将). On a day when he was due to be in attendance at the palace, he sent a message to Minamoto no Kintada 源公忠 (889-948), a Chamberlain and the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Housekeeping, to say that illness prevented his being there. Kintada replied that he should attend without fail on the day after tomorrow, but when that day came, Suetada sent him the following poem:
くやしくぞ のちにあはむと 契りける 今日をかぎりと 言はましものを
| kuyashiku zo nochi ni awamu to chigirikeru kyō o kagiri to iwamashi mono o | I am struck with bitterness! Once more would we meet Did I vow, but Today I meet my end— That is what I would say… |
SKKS VIII: 854
Concerned, Kintada ordered up a carriage and went immediately to Suetada’s residence, only to find he had died before he arrived. Greatly downcast, he returned to the palace and reported Suetada’s death to the emperor.
Round Eleven
Left (Both Judges – Tie)
こけのむす岩ねに残る八重ぎくはや千代さくとも君ぞみるべき
| koke no musu iwane ni nokoru yaegiku wa yachiyo saku tomo kimi zo mirubeki | Choked with moss are The crags where linger Eightfold chrysanthemums: E’en were they eight thousand ages a’bloom My Lord would have beheld them, no doubt! |
Lady Shinano
45
Right
霜がれに我ひとりとや白菊の色をかへても人にみすらん
| shimogare ni ware hitori to ya shiragiku no iro o kaetemo hito ni misuran | ‘Burned by frost ‘Tis me alone!’ thinks A white chrysanthemum, Changing hue To show to folk, for sure. |
Lord Tokimasa
46
Toshiyori states: I wonder if there is a poem as precedent for chrysanthemums lingering beneath moss-covered crags? If not, it’s a very crude expression. The ending of the poem is antiquated, too. As for the second poem ‘“Tis me alone!” thinks’ does not sound satisfactory. The assembled company settled the matter of the final ‘folk’, so I must make this a tie.
Mototoshi states: whether they are placed by a brushwood fence, or at the base of a crag, chrysanthemums feel like pines. As for the Right, having a chrysanthemum seem to think ‘‘tis me alone’ is speculative—had it been something like ‘this bloom opens’ then it would have been the poet’s thoughts. Neither of these is of quality to win or lose, so I make them a tie.
Round Ten
Left
植ゑしその心も置かぬ白菊はあだなる霜に移ひにけり
| ueshi sono kokoro mo okanu shiragiku wa adanaru shimo ni utsuroinikeri | I planted them, yet Unconcerned are The white chrysanthemums, For with the faithless frost Have they faded. |
Lord Munekuni
43
Right (Both Judges – Win)
菊のはな夜のまに色やかはれると霜を払ひて今朝みつるかな
| kiku no hana yo no ma ni iro ya kawareru to shimo o haraite kesa mitsuru kana | The chrysanthemum blooms Within the space of but one night their hue Will change, I thought, so Brushing away the frost Will I gaze on them this morn! |
Lord Kanemasa
44
Toshiyori states: the first poem uses ‘unconcerned’, doesn’t it. The second poem’s sequencing is undesirable, yet ‘brushing away the frost’ sounds like that really is the case. It seems superior.
Mototoshi states: one has to ask what on earth a chrysanthemum might be concerned about! As for the Right, ‘Within the space of but one night their hue’ is vague, I think, but ‘brushing away the frost and gazing’ is certainly charming—it is still lodged within my aged heart.
Round Nine
Left (M – Tie)
秋くれて千草の花は残らねど独うつろふ白菊のはな
| aki kurete chigusa no hana wa nokoranedo hitori utsurou shiragiku no hana | Autumn sinks to twilight, and Of a thousand blossoms Not one lingers, save Alone and fading A white chrysanthemum bloom. |
Lord Shigemoto
41
Right (T – Win)
かぎりなく君が千代経むしるしにや散残るらん宿のしらぎく
| kagirinaku kimi ga chiyo hemu shirushi ni ya chirinokoruran yado no shiragiku | That endless through A thousand ages will my Lord pass A sign there is: Not scattering and lingering White chrysanthemums at his house! |
Lord Tadataka
42
Toshiyori states: I don’t have much to point out about the poem on ‘autumn sinking to twilight’, except that it could have had ‘indeed, linger’ in place of ‘not one lingers, yet’ to lead to ‘alone and fading’. As for the second poem, there are no other examples of saying ‘chrysanthemums scatter’, yet I do wonder about how this sounds? Nevertheless, it has a conception of Felicitation and this makes it somehow superior.
Mototoshi states: the poems of Left and Right are of the same standard in both conception and diction, so it’s not possible to tell them apart. These, too, are of the same quality.
Round Eight
Left (T – Win; M – Tie)
冬枯にうつろひ残る白菊はうは葉に置ける霜かとぞみる
| fuyugare ni utsuroi nokoru shiragiku wa uwaba ni okeru shimo ka to zo miru | Sere in winter, Faded and lingering A white chrysanthemum as, Fallen upon its upper leaves, Frost does appear, perhaps? |
Lord Morikata
39
Right
露じもの暁置きのあさごとに移ひまさるしらぎくの花
| tsuyujimo no akatsuki oki no asa goto ni utsuroi masaru shiragiku no hana | Frosty dewdrops With the dawn fall—arising Every morning Fading fairer become The white chrysanthemum blooms. |
Lord Michitsune
40
Toshiyori states: I have the feeling that I have never heard the expression ‘sere in winter’, and I certainly have no recollection of it being in the Collection of a Myriad Leaves. The poem of the Right is smooth and extremely charming; I’m very familiar with the expression ‘dew fallen in the morning when I arise’, and here there seems to be some reason for it, doesn’t there! Still, the first poem is better.
Mototoshi states: the expression ‘faded and lingering’ is difficult to distinguish. In addition, saying ‘Fallen upon [the flower’s] upper leaves, / Frost’ is a severe misjudgment. The poem of the Right has the tautology ‘with the dawn fall’ and then ‘every morning’. Clearly neither of these appears to win or lose, so I make this a tie.
Round Six
Left (T- Tie)
かれ行くをなげきやすらん初霜のきくのゆかりに置くと思へば
| kareyuku o nageki ya suran hatsujimo no kiku no yukari ni oku to omoeba | On withering Do they grieve, perhaps? The first frosts upon The chrysanthemums feel they form a bond When falling, so… |
Lady Shōshō
35
Right (M – Win)
わが宿の籬にやどる菊なくはなににつけてか人もとはまし
| wa ga yado no magaki ni yadoru kiku naku wa nani ni tsukete ka hito mo towamashi | If at my home’s Brushwood fence lodging There were no chrysanthemums, Why, indeed, Would any folk come to call? |
Lord Nobutada
36
Toshiyori states: the first poem is redolent of prior compositions and so does not appear to have anything novel about it; nor does the situation it refers to arise. The second poem, too, is hackney and lacking in interest, and the central phrase ‘there were no chrysanthemums’ is prosaic. I say these, too, should tie.
Mototoshi states: as frost is not sentient, it is not the case that it could grieve and feel regret in connection to chrysanthemums. The poem of the Right has as final section resembling that of the poem sent by the Later Prince of the Central Secretariat to the Shijō Major Counsellor:
花もみな散りなん後はわが宿のなににつけてか人をまつべき
| hana mo mina chirinan nochi wa wa ga yado no nani ni tsukete ka hito o matsubeki | After the blossoms, every one, Have scattered, then At my house Why, indeed, Should I folk await?[1] |
This makes it slightly more poetic, so I would say the Right is superior.
[1] When Major Counsellor Kintō said, ‘You should come to see the profusion of blossoms,’ and he was unable to visit. (GSIS I: 127)
Round Five
Left (T – Tie; M – Win)
秋はてて霜枯れぬれどきくの花残れる色は深くみえけり
| aki hatete shimogarenuredo kiku no hana nokoreru iro wa fukaku miekeri | With the end of autumn Burned by frost they are, yet The chrysanthemum blooms’ Lingering hues Appear all the deeper. |
Lady Shinano
33
Right
白ぎくも移ひにけりうき人のこころばかりとなにおもひけむ
| shiragiku mo utsuroinikeri ukibito no kokoro bakari to nani omoikemu | This white chrysanthemum, too Has faded; ‘tis simply as My cruel lady’s Heart— I wonder why would I think so? |
A Court Lady
34
Toshiyori states: the first poem has ‘With the end of autumn / Burned by frost they are’ and this gives the impression that there is nothing remaining. But saying that autumn has ended, yet one can still see the chrysanthemums, so, in the end, ‘hues appear all the deeper’ means there is a mismatch between the beginning and end of the poem. As for the second poem, it’s a commonplace style of composition to say that you despise someone who has forgotten you, but this is certainly a love poem, and it does not resemble a chrysanthemum one. Nevertheless, there’s nothing particular to point out in this poem and it has some vague parts, so I say this is a tie.
Mototoshi states: the phrase ‘Lingering hues / Appears all the deeper’ doesn’t say what these look like or how they appear. In addition, the poem’s style is not that superlative, and its diction seems halting. With that being said, however, the poem of the Right does not resemble one regretting the chrysanthemums in the slightest. It expresses the feelings of despite between a man and woman who have parted and become distant from each other using the metaphor of the chrysanthemum, and thus the conception of the topic lacks depth, so again the Left has to win.
Round Four
Left (M – Tie)
白砂の霜よに置きてみつれども移ふ菊はまがはざりけり
| shirotae no shimo yo ni okite mitsuredomo utsurou kiku wa magawazarikeri | White as mulberry cloth. Frost has fallen tonight I see, and yet The faded chrysanthemums I can clearly tell apart. |
Lord Masakane
31
Right (T – Win)
八重菊の花の袂をあかずとや霜のうはぎを猶かさぬらん
| yaegiku no hana no tamoto o akazu to ya shimo no uwagi o nao kasanuran | Of eightfold chrysanthemum Bloomed sleeves I cannot get my fill, but Is a frosty jacket Yet laid upon them? |
Lord Tadafusa
32
Toshiyori states: the assemble company have stated about the first poem that in the absence of the moon or the stars it would difficult to distinguish chrysanthemums from the frost, and it certainly sounds like this would be the case. In the latter poem, we need to think of who it is that is feeling that they cannot get their fill of bloomed sleeves—the person wearing them should be included, or if the chrysanthemums are, perhaps, the subject, then ‘eightfold chrysanthemum’ is an error. Even so, the style of the poem seems elevated.
Mototoshi states: the poem stating ‘White as mulberry cloth. / Frost has fallen tonight’ is a bit hackneyed, and it then continues ‘The faded chrysanthemums / I can clearly tell apart’—I question whether one would really mistake faded chrysanthemums and frost. As for the Right’s poem, which says ‘Bloomed sleeves / I cannot get my fill’, well, this really is difficult to grasp. I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth agonizing over whether these were a person’s sleeves or those of the chrysanthemum! I feel that the diction in both poems is skillful, but there’s a lack of necessary information, so it’s impossible to decide a winner or loser here.
Round Three
Left
万代の秋のかたみになす物はきみがよはひをのぶるしらぎく
| yorozuyo no aki no katami ni nasu mono wa kimi ga yowai o noburu shiragiku | Of ten thousand ages’ Autumns a keepsake I will make: My Lord’s age Extended by a white chrysanthemum! |
Lord Akinaka
29
Right
今朝みればさながら霜をいただきて翁さびゆくしら菊の花
| kesa mireba sanagara shimo o itadakite okina sabiyuku shiragiku no hana | When this morn I look That’s how it is: with frost Bestowed A lonesome ancient seems This white chrysanthemum bloom! |
Lord Mototoshi
30
Toshiyori states: this first poem is strongly characterized by felicitation, and that’s about all the fault I can mention. As for the second poem, ‘a lonesome ancient seems’ is certainly an expression I don’t know. Still, if I think of examples from prior poems, ‘lone ancient’ could be interpreted as deriving from ‘dotaged ancient’, but then the conception seems different here, so this is most likely wrong. I can only give a decision once I am certain.
Mototoshi states: ‘Of ten thousand ages’ / Autumns a keepsake / Will make’ resembles Kanemori’s famous work,[1] which has often been alluded to in composition, I think. This poem is charming. ‘Will make’ is an extremely abbreviated expression, and so the final ‘age / Extended by a white chrysanthemum’ appears to have little connection to it. There is Tomonori’ s ‘Dew-dappled / Let us pluck and wear’[2], and also responses sent on the 9th day of the Ninth Month to the residences of Tadamine and Tsurayuki like ‘Bearing droplets / Age is extended by / Chrysanthemums’, aren’t there. Given that’s the case there would be many such keepsakes of extended age. As for the Right’s ‘That’s how it is: with frost / Bestowed / A lonesome ancient seems, well, it seems that just how I composed a poem about lingering chrysanthemums—have I done something wrong?
