ware koso wa nobe oba yado ni utsushitsure ta ga sasoikoshi mushi no nezoko wa
‘Twas I, indeed, who The meadow to my dwelling Shifted, but Who is it has been invited here By the insects’ songs?
Shun’e Tayū no kimi 21
Right
秋の野の千くさの花の色色を心ひとつにそめてこそみれ
aki no no no chikusa no hana no iroiro o kokoro hitotsu ni somete koso mire
The autumn meadows Thousand grasses’ blooms Have hues a’plenty, but My heart, but one, Has been dyed, you see!
Mikawa, Court Lady to His Excellency 22
The Left sounds as if the poet is being comforted by the insects which is at some variance from the essential meaning of the topic, and yet when I listen to it, it has an abundance of charm. The Right doesn’t differ, does it, from Kanemasa’s poem in the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Minister of the Centre in Gen’ei 2 [1119]:
秋くれば千くさに匂ふ花の色の心ひとつにいかでしむらん
aki kureba chikusa ni niou hana no iro no kokoro hitotsu ni ikade shimuran
When the autumn comes The thousand grasses glow With flowers’ hues, but Why, then, does my heart with but one Seem to be stained?
hagi ga hana wakeyuku hodo wa furusato e kaeranu hito mo nishiki o zo kiru
When through the bush-clover blooms He forges his way, To his ancient home Never to return—that man, too, Wears a fine brocade!
Minamoto no Arifusa, Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division
13
Right
声たてて鳴くむしよりも女郎花いはぬ色こそ身にはしみけれ
koe tatete naku mushi yori mo ominaeshi iwanu iro koso mi ni wa shimikere
They lift their songs in Plaintive cries, but far more than the insects ‘Tis the maidenflower’s Wordless hue that truly Pierce my soul!
Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs Sadanaga 14
The Left is well-composed, but what is the Right’s ‘wordless hue’? Are we supposed to imagine that the expression means ‘silent yellow’? This is difficult to grasp, isn’t it. Whatever way you look at it, the Left seems to win.
haka mo naki natsu no kusaba ni oku tsuyu o inochi to tanomu mushi no hakanasa
Fleetingly Upon the blades of summer grass Falls the dew— A lifetime, I expect, for The short-lived insects.
48
[1] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, occurs in Shokugosenshū (XVI: 1058): かりそめの世やたのまれぬ夏の日をなどうつせみのなきくらしつる karisome no / yo ya tanomarenu / natsu no hi o / nado utsusemi no / nakikurashitsuru ‘Is this transient / World untrustworthy? / On a summer day / Why does the cicada, an empty shell, / Cry the day away?’
