A party of ladies on their way home from Shiga came into the precincts of the Kazan temple and stood for a while beneath the wisteria; when they had gone, he composed this and sent it to them.
よそに見てかへらん人にふぢの花はひまつはれよ枝はおるとも
| yoso ni mite kaFeran Fito ni Fudi no Fana FaFimatuFare yo eda Fa oru tomo | A casual glance, and Then those girls are gone; O, wisteria blooms, Twine around and hold them here, Though your branches break… |
Archbishop Henjō
Composed on seeing cherry blossom flowing along the stream in the grounds of the Palace of the Crown Prince.
枝よりもあだにちりにし花なればおちても水の泡とこそなれ
| eda yori mo ada ni tirinisi Fana nareba otitemo midu no awa to koso nare | From the branch Have simply scattered These blossoms, so they are Fallen, yet the waters’ Foam have they become. |
Sugano no Takayo
Ivy
そなれ松枝に錦のかかれるは木づたふ蔦の紅葉なりけり
| sonarematsu eda ni nishiki no kakareru wa kozudau tsuta no momiji narikeri | Twisted pines upon the shore Have branches with brocade All draped Trailing from tree to tree, the ivy Has turned scarlet. |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
On blossom.
春日野に咲きたる萩は片枝はいまだふふめり言な絶えそね
| kasugano ni sakitaru pagi pa kataeda pa imada pupumeri koto na tae so ne |
On Kasuga Plain Blooms bush clover; One branch is Yet in bud, it seems; Let its words cease not! |
Anonymous
Left (Win)
うかりける我み山木の契かな連なる枝もありとこそ聞け
| ukarikeru wa ga mi yamagi no chigiri kana tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike |
In despair Am I: hidden among the mountain trees Is my love; Though once branches lay atop each other I did hear… |
Lord Suetsune
1039
Right
涙には憂き深山木も朽ちぬべし沖つ小嶋のひさきならねど
| namida ni wa uki fukayamagi mo kuchinubeshi oki tsu kojima no hisaki naranedo |
Among my tears, Drift, despairing, trees from the mountain deeps, Rotting all away, though On islets in the offing On bush-covered beaches, they are not… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1040
Both Left and Right state: we find no faults.
In judgement: both Left and Right use the image of ‘trees from the mountain deeps’ (fukayamagi), and neither is superior, or inferior, to the other in this, but I would have to say that the Left’s ‘though once branches lay atop each other I did hear…’ (tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike) is somewhat better than the Right’s ‘on bush-covered beaches, they are not…’ (hisaki naranedo).
Left
相思ふ中には枝も交しけり君が梢はいやおちにして
| ai’omou naka ni wa eda mo kawashikeri kimi ga kozue wa iya’ochi ni shite |
Joined in love Branches meet and Twine together, they say, yet As the treetops, you fail to come Again, and yet again. |
Kenshō
1033
Right (Win)
人しれぬ心に君を楢柴のしばしもよそに思はずもがな
| hito shirenu kokoro ni kimi o narashiba no shibashi mo yoso ni omowasu mogana |
Unknown to all My heart to you Inclines among the oaks; For just a while, as a stranger I would you not think of me… |
Lord Takanobu
1034
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘again, and yet again’ (iya’ochi) does not sound pleasant. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem, having the conception of intertwined branches is pleasant, but ‘treetops at my house’ (yado no kozue) would be normal, so I wonder about ‘as the treetops, you fail to come’ (kimi ga kozue)? In the Right’s poem, although ‘among the oaks; for just a while’ (narashiba no shibashi) is commonplace, it is still more elegant than ‘again and yet again’.
鴬のこつたふ枝の移り香は桜の花のときの待つ衣
| ugupisu no ko tutapu eda no uturika pa sakura no pana no toki no matu kinu |
The bush warbler Tells me of the branches’ Fragrance: For cherry blossom Season does my robe await. |
Yamabe no Akahito
山辺赤人
Brushwood
時雨つつふく山かぜに椎しばの枝はなびけど色はかはらず
| shiguretsutsu fuku yama kaze ni shiishiba no eda wa nabikedo iro wa kawarazu | Showers mixed with Gusting mountain winds The brushwood Branches bend down yet They show no change of hue. |
Minamoto no Kanemasa
源兼昌
Topic unknown.
あしひきの山地も知らず白樫の枝にも葉にも雪の降れれば
| asiFiki no yamadi mo sirazu sirakasi no eda ni mo Fa ni mo yuki no Furereba |
The leg-wearying Mountain paths I cannot tell: For on the white oak Branches, and on the leaves Snow has fallen… |
Hitomaro
桜にも枝さしかはす桃なれば空さへ今朝はさかやもひせり
| sakura ni mo eda sashikawasu momo nareba sora sae kesa wa saka yamo hiseri |
When even the cherry Branches exchanges With the peach The very skies this morning Have reproached them for it! |
Minamoto no Shunrai