Composed when I heard that someone had died with the dawn, even though I had not heard they had been ill for several days.
聞きてしもおどろくべきにあらねどもはかなき夢の世にこそ有りけれ
| kikiteshi mo odorokubeki ni aranedomo hakanaki yume no yo ni koso arikere | When I heard the news Especially startled I was not, yet A fleeting dream This world truly is! |
716
うつつともゆめともしらぬ世にしあればありとてありとたのむべき身か
| utsutsu tomo yume tomo shiranu yo ni shi areba ari tote ari to tanomubeki mi ka | Whether ‘tis reality Or dream, I know not of This world, so Do I live? Is that something Upon which to rely?[i] |
712
[i] See: Topic unknown. 世の中は夢か現か現とも夢とも知らずありてなければ yo no naka wa / yume ka utsutsu ka / utsutsu tomo / yume tomo shirazu / arite nakereba ‘Is this world of ours / A dream? Or is it real? / If it be real, / Or dream, I know not; / Here, and yet not, so…’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 942)
Cherry.
うつ蝉の世はゆめなれやさくらばなさきてはちりぬあはれいつまで
| utsusemi no yo wa yume nare ya sakurabana sakite wa chirinu aware itsu made | Were this cicada shell World a dream to be, then Would the cherry blossom, Bloom and then scatter? How long will such sorrow last?[i] |
[i] See: Topic unknown. うつせみの世にも似たるか花ざくらさくと見しまにかつちりにけり utsusemi no / yo ni mo nitaru ka / hanazakura / saku to mishi ma ni / katsu chirinikeri ‘This cicada-shell / World do you resemble, / O, cherry blossom? / The moment that I see you bloom / Have you already scattered.’ Anonymous (Kokinshū II: 73)
A summer poem, when she presented a hundred poem sequence.
かへりこぬむかしをいまとおもひねの夢の枕ににほふ橘
| kaerikonu mukashi o ima to omoine no yume no makura ni niou tachibana | Never to return is The past, but in the present It fills my sleepy thoughts A’dreaming on my pillow With the scent of orange blossom.[1] |
Princess Shokushi
[1] An allusive variation on: Sent to a lady with whom he had once been intimate, after some years had passed. いにしへのしづのをだまき繰りかへし昔を今になすよしもがな inishie no / shizu no odamaki / kurikaeshi / mukashi o ima ni / nasu yoshi mogana ‘In times long gone / Thread upon a bobbin was / Wound back— / Just so, the present into the past / I wish we could make!’ It seems, though, that the lady thought nothing of it. (Ise monogatari 65)
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
草枕たびにしあればいもにこひさむるまをなみ夢さへみえず
| kusamakura tabi ni shi areba imo ni koi samuru ma o nami yume sae miezu | A pillow of grass I have on my travels, so Yearning for my darling I lie awake, not even Glimpsing her within a dream.[i] |
565
[i] See: 家有者 笥尓盛飯乎 草枕 旅尓之有者 椎之葉尓盛 ie ni areba/ ke ni moru ii o / kusamakura / tabi ni shi areba / shii no ha ni moru ‘When I am at home / The pots are full of rice, but / Pillowed on the grass / On this journey now / Only the chinquapin leaves are plentiful…’ Prince Arima (Man’yōshū II: 142)
Round Eleven
Left
ねざめしてうきよをおもひあはすればまどろむゆめにかはらざりけり
| nezameshite uki yo o omoi awasureba madoromu yume ni kawarazarikeri | When I awake, with This cruel world my thoughts Occupying, The dream that filled my doze Differed not at all… |
Hyōenokami
121
Right (Win)
すみのえのうきにおひたるしをれあしをなみひきたてよかみのめぐみに
| suminoe no uki ni oitaru shiore’ashi o nami hikitateyo kami no megumi ni | In Suminoe’s Muddy waters grows, Languishing, a reed: O, waves, lift it upright! To receive the deity’s blessing… |
Lord Michichika
122
The poem of the Left appears to have an elegant sequence, saying, ‘This cruel world my thoughts / Occupying’, but the speaker does not appear to be particularly thinking of themselves—they are simply reflecting on the transience of this world and that’s how it is. The poem of the Right begins with ‘In Suminoe’ and then has ‘Muddy waters grows’, linking the particular shore with the content. The Right should win.
Round Six
Left
なにごとをあけぬくれぬといそぐらむはかなきゆめのよとはしるしる
| nanigoto o akenu kurenu to isoguramu hakanaki yume no yo to wa shirushiru | What is it that makes Dawn and dusk Come so fast? A fleeting dream is This world—that I know so well. |
Lord Shigenori
111
Right (Win)
かずならぬみをうきくさとおもへどもなぞよとともにしづむなるらむ
| kazu naranu mi o ukikusa to omoedomo nazo yo to tomo ni shizumu naruramu | Not even numbered among folk, so Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed Am I, I feel yet, Why, over such a time Should I sink into the depths? |
Lord Morikata
112
The Left’s poem expresses grief over the nature of the mundane world and finds a reason for this in the realisation that all is lost within a fleeting dream. The configuration of the Right poem’s ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is not particularly elegant, yet placing ‘Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed’ first and then following this with ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is charming, I have to say. The Right should win.
When the Minamoto Minister had visited her, but then lately had not come to call, she caught a faint glimpse of him through a hole in the wall of her chamber, and sent him this.
まどろまぬかべにも人を見つるかなまさしからなん春の夜の夢
| madoromanu kabe ni mo Fito wo mituru kana masasikaranan Faru no yo no yume | Unable to sleep, Through my wall him I did glimpse! O, how I wish were true My dream this brief spring night… |
Suruga
