Tag Archives: house

MYS VI: 1011

[One of] Two poems composed during a banquet held at the residence of Fujii no muraji Hironari, when sundry princes and gentlemen of the Poetry and Dance Office gathered there in winter, on the 12th day of the Twelfth Month.

In recent times, dances from bygone days have been increasing in popularity, even as those times gradually come to an end. It is only natural that people should sing the songs of yesteryear, pouring out all of the feelings that they had then. Thus, inspired by this atmosphere, two verses of old song were offered up. If there be among those of us who have occasionally gathered together, men of spirit, well-versed in style, let them compete to express their feelings, and match the forms of those refrains of old!

我屋戸之 梅咲有跡 告遣者 来云似有 散去十方吉

わがやどの うめさきたりと つげやらば こといふににたり ちりぬともよし

wa ga yado no
ume sakitari to
tugeyaraba
ko to ipu ni nitari
tirinu to mo yosi
Should, ‘At my house
The plum has bloomed!’
I announce, then
‘Tis the same as, ‘Come!’ for
It will all be scattered soon…

Anonymous

Nishinomiya uta’awase 18

Round Eighteen

Left

蘭きてみる人もなき宿に恋すてふ名のいかで立ちけん

fujibakama
kitemiru hito mo
naki yado ni
koisu chō na no
ikade tachiken
My violet asters
To come to see no one is
There at my house, so
Why has a rumour of love
Arisen here?

Chikafusa
35

Right

わが恋ふる人もきてみぬ蘭何とてつゆの染めておくらん

wa ga kouru
hito mo kiteminu
fujibakama
nani tote tsuyu no
somete’okuran
I love him, yet
That man has not come to see you
O, asters, so
Why does the dewfall
Dye you in its falling?

The Head’s Daughter
36

The Left’s overall impression is not bad, but I am curious about why a rumour of love should darken the door of a house, if it’s one where ‘no one comes to see’. Then, the Right uses ‘Why does the dewfall / Dye you in its falling?’—this seems like an excessive use of diction and the sequencing doesn’t sound smooth, so these seem of about the same standard.