Here’s the second video on the topics and images used in waka on the season of winter. This one covers: Topography (winter mountains, ice and icicles); Life(style) (being sealed in winter, blankets and bedding); and Events (the ceremony for the Recitation of the Buddhas’ Names (butsumyōe 仏名会)).
Tag Archives: fusuma
Eikyū hyakushu 392
Eikyū hyakushu 391
Eikyū hyakushu 390
Eikyū hyakushu 386
Winter II: 24
Left.
引きかくる閨の衾の隔てにも響きは變る鐘の音かな
| hikikakuru neya no fusuma no hedate ni mo hibiki wa kawaru kane no oto kana |
Drawn up beneath The covers in my bedchamber, and With them between The echo is somehow different When the bells chime… |
587
Right (Win).
雪の夜の思ふばかりも冴えぬこそ閨の衾のしるしなりけれ
| yuki no yo no omou bakari mo saenu koso neya no fusuma no shirushi narikere |
It is a snowy night I know, yet There is no chill: The covers in my bedchamber Have that effect! |
588
The Gentlemen of the Right state: why have the ‘bell’ (kane) here? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s poem, having the poet buried beneath his bedclothes, which alter the sound of the bell recollects a composition on the ‘bell at the Temple of Bequeathed Love’. Nevertheless, the Gentlemen of the Right have asked, ‘Why have the bell here?’, and they are right to do so. The Right’s poem, on how the feeling of cold on a chill, snowy night vanishes briefly, exactly conveys the ‘bedding’s effect’ (fusuma no shirushi). Thus, it is without fault. I must make the Right the winner.
Winter II: 23
Left (Win).
埋火のあたりの円居飽かぬ間は夜床の衾よそにこそ見れ
| uzumibi no atari no matoi akanu ma wa yodoko no fusuma yoso ni koso mire |
A charcoal fire-pit, And friendly folk gathered around: While I would not have it end My night time bedding Seems of little point! |
585
Right.
片敷きの袖冴え渡る冬の夜は床に衾の甲斐も無きかな
| katashiki no sode saewataru fuyu no yo wa toko ni fusuma no kai mo naki kana |
Just my single Sleeve is so chill On this winter’s night, The blankets on my bed Seem to do no good at all… |
586
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we wonder about the use of ‘bedding of little point’ (fusuma yoso ni)? The Gentlemen of the Left state: we find no faults in the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement: Both poems are on ‘bedding’ (fusuma), with the Left saying that it seems of little purpose at a gathering around a charcoal fire-pit, and the Right, that it seems to be thin when the cold comes. So, we go from it doing no good, even if you do have it on, to it being pointless when you are happy and warm. What point are these poems trying to make, I wonder? The Left should win.
Winter II: 22
Left.
伎倍人のまだら衾は板間より霜置く夜半の名にこそ有けれ
| kiehito no madarabusuma wa itama yori shimo oku yowa no na ni koso arikere |
The Kie folk’s Motley-coloured coverlet: From between the boards The falling midnight frost has Given that name to mine! |
583
Right.
冴ゆる夜は天つ乙女もいかならん風もたまらぬ麻手小衾
| sayuru yo wa ama tsu otome mo ika naran kaze mo tamaranu asade kobususma |
On this chill, clear night The maidens of the Heavens, too, How must they feel? Unable to avoid the wind, With only a meagre hempen blanket! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
584
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we don’t understand the reference to ‘Kie Folk’ (kiehito). In response, the Gentlemen of the Left state: it occurs in the Man’yōshū. We have nothing more to say than that.
Shunzei’s judgement: although various remarks have been made about ‘Kie Folk’, and it has been said that it occurs in the Man’yōshū, it is not acceptable to simply say that and then say nothing more. It does appear to be something which it is acceptable to extract from the Man’yōshū and compose with, though. The Right’s poem, too, with its conception of frost falling on a ‘meagre hempen blanket’ (asade kobususma) is in a Man’yō style [fūtei]. It is also certainly the case that it is not unreasonable for the Left to have used ‘motley-coloured coverlet’ (madarabususma). The Round should tie.
MYS IV: 524
[One of] three poems sent to Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue by Fujiwara no Maro, the Master of the Capital Offices.
蒸し衾なごやが下に伏せれども妹とし寢ねば肌し寒しも
| mushibusuma nagoya ga sita ni puseredomo imo to si ineba pada si samusi mo |
My ramie cloth bedding is Soft, and beneath it I lie, yet My love, I sleep without you, so My skin does feel the chill…. |
Fujiwara no Maro
Winter II: 21
Left.
厚衾和やが下は思やる心のみこそ夜をかさぬらめ
| atsubusuma nagoyaka ga shita wa omoiyaru kokoro nomi koso yo o kasanurame |
My piled bedding is Soft, and beneath it I am lost in thought; Only those feelings Come to me night after night… |
581
Right (Win).
いたづらに明くる夜をのみ重ぬれば獨り衾の床ぞさびしき
| itazura ni akuru yo o nomi kasanureba hitori fusuma no toko zo sabishiki |
Pointless Dawn breaks night Time and again; A single blanket on My bed is sad, indeed… |
582
Neither Left nor Right has anything to say.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘piled bedding’ (atsubusuma) is similar in style to the poems of the previous round. The Right’s ‘single blanket’ (hitori fusuma) is a comparable piece of bedding, but the configuration of ‘pointless dawn breaks night’ (itazura ni akuru yo o nomi) is elegantly beautiful [sugata yūbi ni kikoyu]. Thus I make the Right the winner.