Tag Archives: cogon grass

Autumn I: 18

Left (Left).

風渡る淺茅が上の露にだに宿りも果てぬ宵の稲妻

kaze wataru
asaji ga ue no
tsuyu ni dani
yadori mo hatenu
yoi no inazuma
Brushed by the breeze,
Atop the cogon grass
The dewdrops but
Briefly rest:
Lightning at dusk.

Lord Ari’ie.

335

Right.

眺むれば風吹く野邊の露にだに宿りも果てぬ稲妻の影

nagamureba
kaze fuku nobe no
tsuyu ni dani
yadori mo hatenu
inazuma no kage
Idly gazing
Across the windblown meadow;
The dewdrops but
Briefly rest:
Lightning’s light.

Ietaka.

336

The Right simply say, ‘The Left’s poem is fine, is it not!’ The Left, however, grumble, ‘We cannot see how the final phrase relates to what has come before.’

Shunzei states, ‘Both poems are remarkably similar in spirit and diction, with the Left concluding “lightning at dusk” (yoi no inazuma) and the Right with “lightning’s light” (inazuma no kage) – is there really much to choose between them? The Left wins.’

Spring II: 16

Left (Win).

片岡の霞も深き木隱れに朝日待つまの雲雀鳴くなり

kataoka no
kasumi mo fukaki
kogakure ni
asahi matsu ma no
hibari nakunari
At Kataoka
The haze is deep upon
The shade of the concealing trees;
Awaiting dawn’s first light,
A skylark sings.

A Servant Girl.

91

Right.

野邊見ればあがる雲雀も今はとて淺茅に落つる夕暮の空

nobe mireba
agaru hibari mo
ima wa tote
asaji ni otsuru
yūgure no sora
Looking out across the plain,
A soaring skylark
Seizes the second
To plunge among the cogon-grass
From the evening sky.

Ietaka.

92

Neither team has any criticisms to make of the other’s poem.

Shunzei states that, ‘Left and Right deal with the skylark at morning and evening respectively. Both poems are alike in content, yet the Right’s poem conveys a particularly desolate feeling. Why should this be? Once more, the Left is the victor.’ Commentators are divided as to whether in this judgement he is suggesting that loneliness is an inappropriate emotion to convey in a skylark-themed poem, or whether, knowing that the Left’s poem was composed by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, the host of the competition and the highest-ranking person present, he is simply flattering a powerful man’s work.

Autumn 29

Left.

高砂の尾上の鹿の聲たてし風よりかはる月の影かな

takasago no
onoe no shika
no
koe tateshi
kaze yori kawaru
tsuki no kage kana
In Takasago
The stags
Have raised their call;
The wind bringing brighter
Moonlight.

57

Right (Win).

露さえて寢ぬ夜の月やつもる覧あらぬ淺茅の今朝の色哉

tsuyu saete
nenu yo no tsuki ya
tsumoruran
aranu asaji no
kesa no iro kana
So clear the dewfall
Did the moonlight this restless night
Drift upon it?
Lacking is the cogon grass
Its hue this morning…

58

Autumn 23

Left (Tie).

なをざりの小野の淺茅に置露も草葉にあまる秋の夕暮

naozari no
ono no asaji ni
oku tsuyu mo
kusaba ni amaru
aki no yûgure
Brief, indeed,
Upon the sharp-leaved cogon grass in Ono,
Is the dewfall
Now mounting upon the blades
In the autumn evening.

45

Right

淺茅生の小野の篠原うちなびき遠方人に秋風ぞ吹く

asajiu no
ono no shinohara
uchinabiki
ochikatabito ni
aki kaze zo fuku
The sharp-leaved cogon grass
In the arrow-bamboo of Ono,
Rustled by
A traveller to a distant land:
The autumn wind a’blowing.

46

Spring 10

Left (Tie).

櫻花うつろふ春をあまたへて身さへふりぬる淺茅生の宿

sakurabana
utsurou haru o
amata hete
mi sae furinuru
asajiu no yado
Cherry blossoming and
Fading springs
So many have I spent, that
Even I have fallen into dotage,
At my dwelling, all overgrown with spiky cogon grass.

19

Right

櫻花うつりにけりなと計をなげきもあへずつもる春かな

sakurabana
utsurinikeri na
to bakari o
nageki mo aezu
tsumoru haru kana
‘The cherry blossoms
Have already faded away,’
Simply that
Cannot contain my grief,
As one spring piles upon another.

20