Tag Archives: droplets

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 43

Round Eighteen

Left (Tie)

なにはがたあしのまろやのたびねにはしぐれはのきのしづくにぞしる

naniwagata
ashi no maroya no
tabine ni wa
shigure wa noki no
shizuku ni zo shiru
In Naniwa’s tidelands,
In a reed-roofed hut,
Dozing on my travels—
A shower by the eaves
Dripping droplets is revealed!

Lord Tsunemori
85

Right

つのくにのこやのたびねにしぐれしてなにかはもらむあしのやへぶき

tsu no kuni no
koya no tabine ni
shigureshite
nani ka wa moramu
ashi no yaebuki
In the land of Tsu
In Koya, in a hut dozing on my travels
During a shower—
Will anything drip through
My roof’s eightfold thatch?

Lord Yorisuke
86

Both Left and Right are set in a traveller’s lodge in Sesshū province, but the Left appears to lack configuration and conception, it has long been said that using four of the character in a poem in a poetry match is a fault, but it does not sound to me as if the four uses of no here are a particular problem. With that being said, starting with ‘dozing on my travels’ [tabine ni wa]and then having ‘a shower by the eaves’ [shigure ni wa] uses wa twice and this seems to sound a bit discordant. The Right, while it refers to the same sort of shower from a cloudless sky, starts with ‘during a shower’ and follows this with ‘will anything drip through?’, which seems to sound a bit contradictory. I can’t help but feel it would have been better had it been ‘even though it showers’ and then had ‘will anything’. However, both poems are about reed roofed huts during a shower and it really is difficult to distinguish between them. Thus, I make this a tie.

SKKS X: 924

For the Hundred Poem Sequences Commemorating the Reign of Former Emperor Horikawa.

やまぢにてそほちにけりな白露のあかつきおきの木木のしづくに

yamaji nite
sōchinikeri na
shiratsuyu no
akatsuki oki no
kigi no shizuku ni
On a mountain path
How damp have I become!
Silver dewdrops
Fall with the dawn
In droplets from the trees…

Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Kunizane

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

MYS II: 107

A poem presented by Prince Ōtsu to the Elder Maiden of Ishikawa.

足日木乃 山之四付二 妹待跡 吾立所沾 山之四附二

あしひきの山のしづくに妹待つとわれ立ち濡れぬ山のしづくに

asipiki no
yama no siduku ni
imo matu to
ware tatinurenu
yama no siduku ni
On the leg-wearying
Mountain, among the droplets
I await my darling, so
Standing there, I’ll be drenched
By the mountain droplets!
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

GSS II: 56

When he participated in an archery display, during the reign of the Jōgan emperor [Seiwa].

けふ桜しづくにわが身いざぬれむかごめにさそふ風のこぬまに

keFi sakura
siduku ni wa ga mi
iza nuremu
kagome ni sasoFu
kaze no konu ma ni
Today let cherry blossom
Droplets my body
Drench!
For the scented
Breeze has yet to blow…

The Kawara Minister of the Left
[Minamoto no Tōru 源融 (822-895)]

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Horikawa-in Enjo Awase 13

おもひやれとはで程ふる五月雨に独やどもる袖の雫を

omoiyare
towade hodo furu
samidare ni
hitori yado moru
sode no shizuku o
Lost in thoughts of you,
Time without a visit passes by
As a summer shower
In my lonely home leaks
Droplets on my sleeves…

Lady Higo
25

In reply

世とともにさてのみこそはすぐししか思ひしりぬや袖の雫を

yo to tomo ni
sate nomi koso wa
sugushishika
omoishirinu ya
sode no shizuku o
Together with the world
All stayed the same
As it passed by;
Could I be ignorant of
The droplets on your sleeves?

The Middle Counsellor
26