Left (Win)
むさしのにいろやかよへるふぢのはなわかむらさきにそめてみゆらむ
| musashino ni iro ya kayoeru fuji no hana wakamurasaki ni somete miyuramu | On Musashi Plain Are their colours blending? The wisteria blossom has The gromwell with violet Dyed, it seems… |
29
Right
あかずしてすぎゆくはるをよぶこどりよびかへしつときてもつげなむ
| akazushite sugiyuku haru o yobukodori yobikaeshitsu to kite mo tsugenamu | Unsated by The passage of spring, The songbird Has called it back—that Is what I would have him announce! |
Okikaze 30
Left
唐ころもほせど袂の露けきは我が身の秋になればなりけり
| karakoromo hosedo tamoto no tsuyukeki wa wa ga mi no aki ni nareba narikeri | My Cathay robe I dry, and yet the sleeves Dew dampness is because For me autumn Has come. |
108[1]
Right
秋の露色のことごとおけばこそ山も紅葉も千くさなるらめ
| aki no tsuyu iro no kotogoto okeba koso yama mo momiji mo chigusa narurame | The autumn dewdrops In a medley of colours Do truly fall, so The mountains and the autumn leaves, too, Turn a multitude of hues. |
109
[1] Shinchokusenshū V: 298
Left
人待ちし庭の淺茅生茂りあひて心にならす道芝の露
| hito machishi niwa no asajū shigeriaite kokoro ni narasu michishiba no tsuyu |
Awaiting him, The cogon-grass in my garden Has grown lush, indeed; And I have taken to my heart The dew that falls upon my lawn! |
A Servant Girl
1029
Right (Win)
秋風になびく淺茅の色よりもかはるは人の心なりけり
| akikaze ni nabiku asaji no iro yori mo kawaru wa hito no kokoro narikeri |
With the autumn wind Waves the cogon grass, Colours Changing less than her Heart’s passions… |
Ietaka
1030
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the intial part of the Right’s poem is derived from an old poem, and so does the end!
In judgement: I wonder whether the cogon-grass (asajū), mentioned initially, is as clearly conceived as the ‘lawn’ (michishiba) mentioned at the end? The Right’s poem refers to ‘So full are my thoughts, what am I to do? With the autumn wind’, but reverses the beginning and end of that poem; it is extremely old-fashioned in style, but pleasant as it is plainly intended to be understood as a variant of its model. Thus, the Right wins over the combination of ‘cogon-grass’ and ‘lawn’.
Composed for a folding screen in the residence of Nishinomiya Minister of the Left [Minamoto no Taka’akira (914-983)], to accompany an image of a group of women in travelling clothes among the autumn leaves on the path across the Shiga Mountains.
名を聞けば昔ながらの山なれどしぐるる秋は色まさりけり
| na wo kikeba mukasi nagara no yama naredo sigururu aki Fa iro masarikeri |
When I hear its name, Long ago as now This mountain is, yet In the autumn drizzle Are its colours supreme! |
Minamoto no Shitagō (911-983)
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