Cicadas (蟬)
東路や今朝たちくればせみの声たかしの山にいまぞ鳴くなる
| azumaji ya kesa tachikureba semi no koe takashino yama ni ima zo nakunaru | Upon the Eastern roads This morning I do set my foot, so Cicadas’ songs Around Takashino Mountain Now are sung! |
Nakazane
Tag Archives: cicadas
Eikyū hyakushu 197
GSS IV: 193
SKS II: 80
Wakan rōeishū I: 197
MYS XV: 3617
[One of] five poems composed when dropping anchor at Nagadojima in Aki province.
石走る瀧もとどろに鳴く蝉の声をし聞けば都し思ほゆ
| ipabasiru taki mo todoro ni naku semi no kowe o si kikeba miyako si omopoyu |
Running o’er the rocks Cataracts resound – When the singing cicadas Song I hear The capital comes to my thoughts. |
Ōishi no Minomaro
大石蓑麻呂
Eikyū hyakushu 201
San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 8
Cicadas singing between the trees (林間蝉声)
Round Eight
Left
ゆくかげの雲の林になく蝉はこゑも友にぞたかくきこゆる
| yuku kage no kumo no Fayashi ni naku semi Fa kowe mo tomo ni zo takaku kikoyuru | The light moves with The clouds and from amongst the trunks Singing cicadas’ Songs all Sound louder. |
僧俊賀
15
夏木立繁き梢に鳴く蝉の声きくからにあつくもあるかな
| natu kodati sigeki kozuwe ni naku semi no kowe kiku kara ni atuku mo aru kana | In clustered summer trees Verdant tops The cicadas sing; Is it from listening That I feel the heat… |
僧俊義
16
Rin’yōshū 330
Autumn II: 6
Left (Tie).
小雨降る葛飾早稲を刈るまゝに民の袖さへうるほひにけり
| kosame furu katsushika wase o karu mama ni tami no sode sae uruoinikeri |
Showers fall in Katsushika; early ripened rice Reaping, Even the peasants’ sleeves Are damp. |
371
Right (Tie).
小萩咲く片山陰に日晩の鳴すさびたる村雨のそら
| kohagi saku katayamakage ni higurashi no nakisu sabitaru murasame no sora |
Bush clover blooming In the mountain’s shade; The sundown cicadas Sing intermittently To the showery skies. |
372
Neither team has any criticisms to make.
Shunzei say, ‘The style and construction of both poems is superb, though the Left’s is particularly archaic in tone, and thus using mama ni in the central section is somewhat weak, is it not? Surely, “Whilst reaping” (karu nae ni) would have been a better fit! The Right’s simple conclusion of “showery skies” (murasame no sora) is particularly effective. However, the Left, too, with “even the peasants’ sleeves” (tami no sode sae) shows a fine spirit. The two poems are a match and tie.’