Tag Archives: girl

Nishinomiya uta’awase 13

Silver Grass and the Same

Round Thirteen

Left

ほに出てもなどかひもなき花薄思ひこめてぞ有るべかりける

ho ni idetemo
nadoka kai mo naki
hanasusuki
omoikomete zo
arubekarikeru
My feelings burst from bud, but
Somehow, to no avail at all,
O, blossoming silver grass!
Keeping them closed up—
That’s what I should have done!

Major Archbishop
25

Right

うしとのみ人の心はいはれ野にまねくすすきを何か頼まん

ushi to nomi
hito no kokoro wa
iwareno ni
maneku susuki o
nanika tanoman
Simply cruel is
That girl’s heart—
Upon Iware Plain
In the beckoning silver grass
How can I place my trust?

Head
26

Left and Right appear to be of about the same standard.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 29

Round Twenty-Nine

Left (Win)

君やあらぬ我が身やあらぬおぼつかなたのめしことのみなかはりぬる

kimi ya aranu
wa ga mi ya aranu
obotsukana
tanomeshi koto no
mina kawarinuru
Aren’t you who you once were?
Aren’t I who I was then?
How strange that
All we trusted in
Has changed.

Shun’e
57

Right

恋ひしなん命ぞをしきつれもなき人にしも身をかへんねたさに

koishinan
inochi zo oshiki
tsure mo naki
hito ni shimo mi o
kaen netasa ni
That I would die of love
Makes me regret my life!
But for that cruel
Girl should I
Exchange myself—exasperating!

Yorisuke

58

I feel the left is old-fashioned, isn’t it? And yet, it is not without feeling. The Right does not have a poor conception, but its diction is insufficient.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 26

Round Twenty-Six

Left

恋ひしなんいのちを誰にゆづりおきてつれなき人のはてをみせまし

koishinan
inochi o tare ni
yuzuri’okite
tsurenaki hito no
hate o misemashi
Likely dying of love,
My life, to whom should I
Consign?
That cruel girl’s
Ending—would that show it to her?

Shun’e

51

Right (Win)

つれもなき人はおもひもすてられでうき身のみこそなげまほしけれ

tsure mo naki
hito wa omoi mo
suterarede
ukimi no mi koso
nagemahoshikere
So cruel is
That girl, but my passion for her
I cannot abandon;
It is my pitiful self that
I would wish to throw away!

Kenshō

52

The Left isn’t bad, but it’s a bit cliched. As for the Right, having both ‘abandon’ and ‘throw away’ could be a fault and yet the conception of one ‘abandoning passion’ is different. Whichever way you look at it, it wins.

Nihon shoki 67

A poem composed by Emperor Ingyō after spending the night with Princess Sotōri.

波那具波辞 佐区羅能梅涅 許等梅涅麼 波椰区波梅涅孺 和我梅豆留古羅

hana guwashi
sakura no mede
koto medeba
hayaku wa medezu
wa ga mezuru kora
So fair the bloom,
I love the cherry blossom, and
Just the same do I love her—sad—that
Earlier I did not love her
That girl I love now.

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 85

Left

つれもなき人をこふとて山びこのこたふるまでもなげきつるかな

tsure mo naki
hito o kou tote
yamabiko no
kotauru made mo
nagekitsuru kana
A heartless
Girl he loves, says he,
The mountain man,
Until she gives him her reply,
Is full of grief!

164

Right

我が恋は深山がくれの草なれやしげさまされど知る人のなき

wa ga koi wa
miyamagakure no
kusa nare ya
shigesa masaredo
shiru hito no naki
My love:
Hidden in the mountains’ heart are
Grasses-is that it?
Most lush, but
Unknown to all.

Ono no Yoshiki

165[1]


[1] Kokinshū XII: 560/Shinsen man’yōshū 462

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 32

Left

This poem is missing from extant copies of the text of the contest.

Right

夏虫にあらぬ我が身のつれもなき人をおもひにもゆる比かな

natsumushi ni
aranu wa ga mi no
tsure mo naki
hito o omoi ni
moyuru koro kana
A summer insect
I am not, but
That heartless
Girl, with passion
Has these days set me burning!

63[1]


[1] Shinchokusenshū XII: 708