Tag Archives: hidden love

Love I: 12

Left (Win).

忍つゝこの世盡きなば思ふこと苔の下にや共に朽なん

shinobitsutsu
kono yo tsukinaba
omou koto
koke no shita ni ya
tomo ni kuchinan
Continually concealing:
Should this world end, then
My love for you
Beneath the moss,
With me, would rot away…

Lord Ari’ie.

623

Right.

あくがるゝ心の誰が床に行てあやむばかりの夢に見ゆらん

akugaruru
kokoro no tare ga
toko ni yukite
ayamu bakari no
yume ni miyuran
Summoned
My heart to someone’s
Bed does go;
Simply a strange
Dream, would she see?

Lord Takanobu.

624

The Gentlemen of both Left and Right state: the final section of the other team’s poem is not bad.

Shunzei’s judgement: while I feel that the conception and diction of both poems seems fine [sugata kotoba yoroshiku miehaberu], the Right’s heart, flitting off to someone quite plainly, seems rather frivolous. The Left’s ‘beneath the moss’ (koke no shita ni ya) closely resembles the conception of the topic. It should win.

Love I: 11

Left.

氷ゐるみるめなぎさのたぐひかな上堰く袖の下のさゞ浪

kōri iru
mirume nagisa no
tagui kana
ue seku sode no
shita no sazanami
As ice-bound
Algae on the beach
Am I:
The surface stopped up, but my sleeves
Conceal a confusion of waves…

Lord Sada’ie.

621

Right.

我とはと思ふにかゝる涙こそ抑ふる袖の下になりぬれ

ware to wa to
omou ni kakaru
namida koso
osauru sode no
shita ni narinure
I should say nothing,
I feel, and yet
My tears,
Held down by my sleeves,
Do flow beneath them…

Nobusada.

622

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left do not seem to be expressing enough. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial line of the Right’s poem is difficult to pronounce. In addition, it is difficult to understand.

Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s ‘the surface stopped up, but my sleeves’ (ue seku sode no) and the Right’s ‘held down by my sleeves’ (osauru sode no) are both elegant in form [yū naru sama], but no matter how much I ponder them I find them difficult to comprehend, so again, there is no clear winner or loser this round.

Love I: 10

Left.

今ぞ知るあまたありける心とは忍ぶものから人の變しき

ima zo shiru
amata arikeru
kokoro to wa
shinobu mono kara
hito no koishiki
Now, I understand!
How manifold is
The heart, for
One part waits, while
Another longs for you…

Lord Suetsune.

619

Right.

思堰く心の底の夢ならば覺めての後も人に語らじ

omoiseku
kokoro no soko no
yume naraba
samete no nochi mo
hito ni kataraji
Feelings dammed
Within the bottom of my heart:
I may dream them, but
On waking
There is no one I will tell….

Jakuren.

620

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem does not sound as if the heart is especially manifold. The love is, indeed, kept secret. The Gentlemen of the Left state: while by mentioning ‘Feelings dammed within the bottom’ (omoiseku kokoro no soko), the Left reminds one of water, there is nothing in the poem to recollect a ‘dream’.

Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s form [utazama] does not seem to suggest a manifold heart, and the Right, too, does not sound like the heart’s depths, so the round should tie.

Love I: 9

Left (Win).

憂き身とてさのみはいかゞ包むべきいはで悔しきこともこそあれ

ukimi tote
sa nomi wa ikaga
tsutsumubeki
iwade kuyashiki
koto mo koso are
How pitiful am I!
How can I simply
Conceal my feelings
And say nothing? But painful
Events might unfold…

Kenshō.

617

Right.

色に出でいはぬ思ひの慰めは人のつらさを知らぬばかりぞ

iro ni ide
iwanu omoi no
nagusame ha
hito no tsurasa o
shiranubakari zo
Rather than burst out with words of love,
Leaving them unspoken, my feelings does
Console; then
Her coldness
Remains unknown…

Ietaka.

618

The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem, nor do the Left with the Right.

Shunzei’s judgement: ‘Once more neither poem loses or gains to the other in terms of form [utazama wa itaku shōretsu naku haberedo], but the Right has the poet being consoled by his silence, while the Left regrets what may happen. This emotional overtone is slight more refined [isasaka kokoro kashikoki] and so the Left should win.’

Love I: 8

Left (Win).

人知れぬ思は深く染むれども色に出でぬは甲斐なかりけり

hito shirenu
omoi wa fukaku
somuredomo
iro ni idenu wa
kai nakarikeri
Unknown to all
My feelings deeply
Dyed my heart, yet
No hues on the surface showed for
Pointless it was…

Lord Kanemune.

615

Right.

變しさをいかにしてかは慰めむ我より外に知る人はなし

koishisa o
ika ni shite ka wa
nagusamemu
ware yori hoka ni
shiru hito wa nashi
My longing:
Is there any way
To soothe it?
For other than me
There is not one person knows it…

Lord Tsune’ie.

616

The Gentlemen of the Right: the Left’s poem lacks thought; the Gentlemen of the Left: the Right’s poem is mundane.

Shunzei’s judgement: Both Left and Right seem smooth. I wonder what you mean by saying the Right’s poem is ‘mundane’? Still, the Left’s ‘Dyed my heart, yet no hues on the surface showed’ (somuredomo iro ni idenu wa) is elegant, indeed! It should win.

Love I: 7

Left (Win).

洩らすなよ雲ゐる嶺の初時雨木の葉は下に色變るとも

morasunayo
kumoiru mine no
hatsu shigure
ko no ha wa shita ni
iro kawarutomo
O, let it not leak out!
Though the cloud-capped peaks’
First shower of rain,
On the leaves’ underside
Has left a change of hue

A Servant Girl.

613

Right.

閨のうちは涙の雨に朽ち果てゝしのぶは茂る妻にぞ有ける

neya no uchi wa
namida no ame ni
kuchihatete
shinobu wa shigeru
tsuma ni zo arikeru
Within my bedchamber
A rain of tears
Has rotted all, so
The weeping ferns secretly grow thick
Around the edges…

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

614

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no defects worth criticising. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial and final sections of the Right’s poem lack connection with each other. Does the poem have a conception of hiddenness?

Shunzei’s judgement: The conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘cloud-capped peaks’ first shower of rain’ (kumoiru mine no hatsu shigure) seems charming [kokoro sugata okashiku mie]. On that basis, it should win.

SZS XI: 693

Composed as a poem in the conception of hidden Love for a hundred poem sequence when the Regent [Fujiwara no Kanezane] was Minister of the Right.

あさましや抑ふる袖の下潛る涙の末を人や見つらん

asamasi ya
wosaFuru sode no
sita kuguru
namida no suwe wo
Fito ya mituran
How pitiless!
From my restraining sleeves,
Beneath and through, slip
Tears-whither bound,
I wonder if she knows?

Former Provisional Master of the Right Capital Office [Minamoto no] Yorimasa