A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.
水の面にあやをりみだる春雨や山のみどりをなべて染むらん
| mizu no omo ni ayaori midaru harusame ya yama no midori o nabete somuran | Upon the water’s surface A confusing pattern paints The rain of spring— Will it now the mountains All dye with green, I wonder? |
Ōchikōchi no Mitsune
On rain.
梅の花散らす春雨いたく降る旅にや君が廬りせるらむ
| ume no pana tirasu parusame itaku puru tabi ni ya kimi ga iporiseruramu |
The plum blossom Are scattered by spring showers Savage fall; On your travels, my love What hut provides your shelter? |
Anonymous
On rain.
春雨に衣はいたく通らめや七日し降らば七日来じとや
| parusame ni koromo pa itaku toporame ya nanuka si puraba nanuka kozi to ya |
By spring showers Are your robes So soaked, that Seven days of rain Means seven days without a visit? |
Anonymous
On rain.
今さらに君はい行かじ春雨の心を人の知らずあらなくに
| ima sara ni kimi pa i yukazi parusame no kokoro wo pito no sirazu aranaku ni |
Now will You not go, I think; Spring showers’ Soul, are they Unknown – no, surely not. |
Anonymous
Left.
誰も見よこれはみぞれの空ならん散來る花は雨や交りし
| tare mo miyo kore wa mizore no sora naran chirikuru hana wa ame ya majirishi |
Behold, one and all! This is a sleet-filled Sky, indeed! Flowers falling, Mixed with rain? |
519
Right (Win).
風渡る花のあたりの春雨は冬の空にもありける物を
| kaze wataru hana no atari no harusame wa fuyu no sora ni mo arikeru mono o |
The breeze blows Around the blossom In spring showers; The winter skies, too, Have such things… |
520
The Right wonder about the appropriateness of ‘mixed’ (majirishi). The Left complain that the Right’s poem ‘does not contain an expression from the topic [dai no ji]’ and wonder about the appropriateness of this in a poetry competition.
Shunzei’s judgement: ‘This is a sleet-filled sky, indeed!’ (kore wa mizore no sora naran) is charming, but the latter section of the poem, saying that blossoms fall during a shower is quite pedestrian [tsune no koto ni aran]. I also wonder about the appropriateness of ‘mixed with rain?’ (ame ya majirishi) as a choice of poetic diction [uta kotoba]. Having ‘Around the blossom in spring showers’ (hana no atari no harusame wa), and then ‘The winter skies, too, have such things…’ (fuyu no sora ni mo arikeru mono o) is extremely charming. Even without the explicit reference to the topic, one can certainly glimpse the sleet. The Right should win.
eft (Tie).
雪消ゆる枯野の下の淺緑去年の草葉や根にかへるらん
| yuki kiyuru kareno no shita no asamidori kozo no kusaba ya ne ni kaeruran |
The snows are gone from off The sere fields, and beneath, Pale green: Last year’s growth seems To have returned to its roots… |
47
Right (Tie).
春雨は去年見し野邊のしるべかは緑にかへる荻の燒原
| harusame wa kozo mishi nobe no shirube ka wa midori ni kaeru ogi no yakehara |
The gentle rains of spring: To the fields I gazed upon last year Do they show the way? For greeness has returned, To the burnt miscanthus grass… |
48
Both teams state that the other’s poem was ‘in the same vein’.
Shunzei judges that the Left’s ‘Last year’s growth seems/To have returned to its roots’ and the Right’s ‘For greeness has returned,/To the burnt miscanthus grass’ are ‘pleasantly charming’, so neither poem can be adjudged the winner.