稲妻は陽炎ばかりありしとき秋の田のみは人知りにけり
| inaduma Fa kageroFu bakari arisi toki aki no ta nomi Fa Fito sirinikeri |
When lightning Simply with the haze Did join, The autumn fields alone Were in his thoughts… |
Tag Archives: haze
GSIS X: 541
A poem composed after the cremation of Cloistered Retired Emperor En’yū at Murasakino, when recalling how His Majesty had travelled there for the Day of the Rat the year before.
紫野雲のかけても思ひきや春の霞になして見むとは
| murasaki no kumo no kaketemo omoFiki ya Faru no kasumi ni nasite mimu to Fa |
At Murasakino Clouds covering all Did I recall? The haze of spring Have they become when I see them now… |
Major Captain of the Left [Fujiwara no] Asamitsu
左大将[藤原]朝光
MYS XVIII: 4079
KKS II: 108
Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber in the Ninna period.[1]
花のちることやわびしき春霞たつたの山のうぐひすのこゑ
| Fana no tiru koto ya wabisiki Farugasumi tatuta no yama no uguFisu no kowe | The falling of the flowers Is sad, indeed; In the spring haze On Tatsuta Mountain A warbler cries… |
Fujiwara no Chikage
[1] It was taboo to record the personal names of noble women of high rank unless they were made empress. The Ninna 仁和 period began on the 11th day of the Third Month, 885, and lasted until the 30th day of the Fifth Month, 889. ‘Lady of the Bedchamber’ (miyasudokoro 御息所) was a title given to imperial consorts who had given birth to a prince, while ‘Middle Captain’ (chūjō 中将) was a military position in the palace guards. Contemporary readers would have been able to identify who the ‘Lady who had given birth to an imperial prince and whose father held the position of Middle Captain during the Ninna period’ was, but modern scholarship has not done so; nor have full records of this poetry competition survived.
Fubokusho V: 1792
Eikyū hyakushu 63
Fubokushō V: 1689
Fubokushō II: 519
Minishū 2063
Autumn III: 17
Left.
春秋に富める宿には白菊を霞の色に浮べてぞ見る
| haru aki ni tomeru yado ni wa shiragiku o kasumi no iro ni ukabete zo miru |
Long life’s Blessings to this house: White chrysanthemums In pale blue haze Adrift, I see… |
453
Right.
君を思ふ祝に菊を摘み初めて秋も限らぬ花とこそ見れ
| kimi o omou iwai ni kiku o tumisomete aki mo kagiranu hana to koso mire |
Wishing for my Lord’s Long life, chrysanthemums I have first plucked; Not of autumn alone Do these flowers seem! |
454
The Right have no criticisms to make of the Left’s poem. The Left say that they do not feel the Right’s poem quite expresses all that it attempts to do.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘Long life’s blessings to this house’ (haru aki ni tomeru yado ni wa) must be a reference to the Hall of Longevity. What does ‘in pale blue haze adrift’ (kasumi no iro ni ukabu) mean, though? Even though sake is referred to as ‘flowing haze’, to simply say ‘in pale blue haze’ suggests that one is really referring to haze, itself. Left and Right have strengths and weaknesses and there is no clear difference between them.