Tag Archives: dwelling

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 19

Round Nineteen

Left (Win)

うちはらふ枕のちりもかくれなくあれたる宿をてらす月影

uchiharau
makura no chiri mo
kakurenaku
aretaru yado o
terasu tsukikage
Needing to be swept away,
The dust upon my pillow
Cannot be concealed
In my dilapidated dwelling, when
The moonlight shines within…

Taifu
37

Right

秋の夜の月みる袖におく露やひるにかはれるしるしなるらん

aki no yo no
tsuki miru sode ni
oku tsuyu ya
hiru ni kawareru
shirushi naruran
On an autumn night
Upon my sleeves, when gazing at the moon,
Fall dewdrops—
That all is changed from daytime
Might they be a sign?

Yorisuke
38

In both the moon is bright, and I feel they reflect the essential meaning of the topic, but as its diction is currently slightly more familiar, I make the Left the winner. It would be possible to call this a tie, too, though.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 04

Round Four

Left (Win)

春の夜はいこそねられねねやちかき梅のにほひにおどろかれつつ

haru no yo wa
i koso nerarene
neya chikaki
ume no nioi ni
odorokaretsutsu
On a night in springtime
I cannot sleep at all, for
Close by my bedchamber
The scent of plum
Ever wakes me from my slumber…

Norimori
7

Right

さ夜ふかみ旅ねの床にかをらずは梅さく宿といかでしらまし

sayo fukami
tabine no toko ni
ka orazu wa
ume saku yado to
ikade shiramashi
Deep within brief night
In a traveller’s bed
No scent reaches me, yet
That plum blooms at this dwelling—
How is it I might know?

Kenshō
8

The Left is particularly evocative. The Right is from an old poetry match.

MYS X: 2182

比日之 暁露丹 吾屋前之 芽子乃下葉者 色付尓家里

このころのあかときつゆにわがやどのはぎのしたばはいろづきにけり

kono koro no
akatoki tuyu ni
wa ga yado no
pagi no sitaba pa
irodukinikeri
Around thus time near
Dawn, the dewfall on
My dwelling’s
Bush clover underleaves
Has changed their hue!

Anonymous

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

GSS XV: 1109

In the spring of the year following that in which the Sanjō Minister of the Right had passed away, on hearing that the Minister had summoned her, she sent this to the Prince who was father to the Ise Virgin.

いかでかの年ぎりもせぬたねもがなあれたるやどにうゑて見るべく

ikade ka no
tosigiri mo senu
tane mogana
aretaru yado ni
uwete mirubeku
Why is it that
Absent this year are not
These seeds!
At a ruined dwelling
Planted, could they be seen…

His Daughter, the Junior Consort

SSIS X: 725

Composed at the Kameyama Palace in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the shape of a pine tree floating in a pond’.

万代とかめのを山の松かげをうつしてすめるやどの池水

yorozuyo to
kame no oyama no
matsukage o
utsushite sumeru
yado no ikemizu
For ten thousand generations
On the mount of Kame
Is the pine tree’s shape,
Reflected, so clear in
This dwelling’s pond waters.

The Retired Emperor [Kameyama]

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 25

Left

古郷をおもひやれども郭公こぞのごとくになれぞなくなる[1]

furusato o
omoiyaredomo
hototogisu
kozo no gotoku ni
nare zo nakunaru
My ancient home
Lingers fondly in my thoughts, yet
The cuckoo
Just as last year
Sings as he was accustomed to do!

49

Right

夏の夜の霜やおけるとみるまでに荒れたる宿を照す月かげ

natsu no yo no
shimo ya okeru to
miru made ni
aretaru yado o
terasu tsukikage
Upon a summer night
That frost has fallen
It does appear at
A ruined dwelling where
The moonlight shines.

50[2]


[1] The concluding two lines of this poem are missing from the contest’s text, but have been supplied by later scholarship.

[2] Kokin rokujō I: 286/A minor variant of this poem is included in Mandaishū (III: 730), with the headnote ‘A poem from the Poetry Contest in One Hundred Rounds held by the Tōin Empress’ なつのよもしもやおけると見るまでにあれたるやどをてらすつきかな natsu no yo no / shimo ya okeru to / miru made ni / aretaru yado o / terasu tsuki kana ‘Upon a summer night / That frost has fallen / It does appear at / A ruined dwelling where / The moon does shine!’