Tag Archives: dusk

Teiji-in uta’awase 07

Left (Win)

さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける

sakura chiru
ko no shitakaze wa
samukarade
sora ni shirarenu
yuki zo furikeru
The cherry scattering
Breeze beneath the trees
Lacks chill—
Unaware from within the skies
The snow is falling.

Tsurayuki

13[i]

Right

わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ

wa ga kokoro
haru no yamabe ni
akugarete
naganagashi hi o
kyō mo kurashitsu
My heart to
The mountainside in springtime
Is drawn—
The long, long day
Today, too, has reached its dusk.

Mitsune

14[ii]

The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.


[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

Love VI: 13

Left.
ひとり寢の憂き身になるゝ秋風をつれなき人の心ともがな

hitorine no
ukimi ni naruru
akikaze o
tsurenaki hito no
kokoro tomo gana
To sleeping alone
In desolation am I accustomed;
O, that the autumn wind were
My cruel love’s
Heart…

Lord Suetsune.
925

Right (Win).
夕まぐれ吹くる秋の初風は戀せぬ人も身にやしむらん

yūmagure
fukikuru aki no
hatsukaze wa
koisenu hito mo
mi ni ya shimuran
In the evening’s dusk
Comes blowing autumn’s
First breeze;
Will one who loves not
Be pierced as am I?

Lord Tsune’ie.
926

Both Left and Right together state: we have nothing we feel we should say.

In judgement: the final section of the Left’s poem is clichéd. I also wonder about the sound of ‘in desolation am I’ (ukimi). The Right’s poem has nothing particularly remarkable about it, but it should win

Love IV: 20

Left (Win).
玉ほこの道行き人も心ありて來んと頼めよこの夕卜には

tamahoko no
michi yukibito mo
kokoro arite
kon to tanomeyo
kono yūke ni wa
Jewelled spear straight
The road for this traveller:
If he longs for me,
Let it say, ‘Come with me!’,
This evening’s fortune!

Lord Kanemune.
819

Right.
逢ことを頼むる暮と思せば入相の鐘も嬉しからまし

au koto o
tanomuru kure to
omoiseba
iriai no kane mo
ureshikaramashi
‘We will meet,
On that you can rely, at dusk,’
He made me think, so
The sunset bell, too,
Does seem full of joy!

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
820

The Right state: evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are different things. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.

In judgement: both evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are conducted in the evening, and with either one could wish ‘Let it say, “Come with me!”’ (kon to tanomeyo), so this does not seem to be a mistake does it? The Right has the fault of having both ‘We will meet’ (au koto o) and ‘sunset bell, too’ (iriai no kane mo). The Left should win.