Tag Archives: fumi

Kin'yōshū nidobon

KYS IX: 550

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During the period when Izumi Shiku had accompanied Yasumasa to Tango, when there was a poetry match in the capital and Handmaid Koshikibu was selected as one of the poets, Lord Sadayori came to her chamber at the palace and went on at her, asking, ‘How are your poems coming along? Will you be sending them to your mother in Tango? Has your messenger not returned yet?’ and really seemed very unsettled about everything, so she composed this as a playful way of preventing him from going himself.

おほえ山いくのの道のとほければまだふみもみずあまのはしだて

oFoeyama
ikuno no miti no
toFokereba
mada Fumi mo miezu
ama no Fasidate		In Ōeyama
The path to Ikuno
Lies far away, so
I’ve not set foot upon it, or had a letter from
Ama-no-Hashidate!

Handmaid Koshikibu

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

Eikyū hyakushu 461

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Lacking a Glimpse of Love Letters 不見書恋

わぎもこがあふみなりせばさりと我ふみもみてましとどろきのはし

wagimoko ga
au mi nariseba
sari to ware
fumi mo mitemashi
todoroki no hashi		If my darling
Were convinced to meet,
Then, I
Would wish to see her letters, too,
Here upon the bridge at Todoroki.

Kanemasa

Eikyū hyakushu

Eikyū hyakushu 458

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Lacking a Glimpse of Love Letters 不見書恋

かづらきやくめの岩ばしふみみねどわたりがたしと空にしりつつ

kazuragi ya
kume no iwabashi
fumi minedo
watarigatashi to
sora shiritsutsu		At Kazuragi stands
Kume’s broken stony bridge:
No sight of letters from you, yet
How hard it is to cross – that
The skies do ever know…

Nakazane

Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds

Love VII: 2

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Left.
我戀に深さくらへば外山哉吉野の奧の岩のかけ道

wa ga koi ni
fukasa kuraeba
toyama kana
yoshino no oku no
iwa no kakemichi		 My love’s
Depth were you to measure,
Distant mountains, perhaps?
As in the heart of Yoshino, where
The craggy paths are overgrown!

Lord Ari’ie.
963

Right (Win).
ふみ見ても馴れぬけしきのつれなさや吉野の奧の岩のかけ道

fumi mitemo
narenu keshiki no
tsurenasa ya
yoshino no oku no
iwa no kakemichi		 She read my letter – I treading on paths unknown –
And cared not – an unfamiliar scene –
Is her cruelty
As in the heart of Yoshino, where
The craggy paths are overgrown?

Ietaka.
964

The Right state: in the Left’s poem, the expression ‘distant mountains, perhaps’ (toyama kana) sounds poor. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.

In judgement: both Left and Right have precisely identical sections: ‘as in the heart of Yoshino’ (yoshino no oku) and ‘craggy paths are overgrown’ (iwa no kakemichi), but considering the initial sections, it has already been stated that the Left’s sounds poor, while the Right lacks faults. Thus, in accordance with the remarks by the Gentlemen of both teams, the Right is the winner.