Composed on a large number of travellers being at mountain retreat surrounded by pine trees.
まれにきて聞くだにかなし山がつの苔のいほりの庭の松風
| mare ni kite kiku dani kanashi yamagatsu no koke no iori no niwa no matsukaze | Rarely do I come, but Even hearing it is so sad— In a woodcutter’s Mossy hut, The pinewinds through the garden.[i] |
589
[i] See: After the death of Sada’ie’s mother, around autumn time he was staying at a temple near her grave and composed this. まれにくる夜はもかなしき松風をたえずやこけのしたにきくらん mare ni kuru / yo wa mo kanashiki / matsu kaze o / taezu ya koke no / shita ni kikuran ‘Rarely did I come / At nights now I sorrowfully / Pine trees in the wind / Unceasingly beneath the moss / I wonder will you hear it?’ Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari (Shinkokinshū VIII: 796)
Round Nineteen
Left (Win)
くさまくらおなじたびねのそでにまたよはのしぐれもやどはかりけり
| kusamakura onaji tabine no sode ni mata yowa no shigure mo yado wa karikeri | Needing a grassy pillow When travelling just the same as I, dozing I find my sleeves drenched even more, For the midnight shower, too, Has found lodging. |
Kojijū
87
Right
いほりさすやまぢはすぎぬはつしぐれふるさとまでやめぐりゆくらむ
| iori sasu yamaji wa suginu hatsushigure furusato made ya meguriyukuramu | I put up my hut Upon the mountain path that you passed by, O, first shower! As far as my ancient home I wonder, will you make your way? |
Lord Sanemori
88
The poem of the Left, saying ‘When travelling just the same as I dozing, / I find my sleeves drenched even more’ and then following this with ‘For the midnight shower, too, / Has found lodging’, has an extremely charming conception and configuration. In addition to the poem of the Right also having a charming conception, it begins with ‘O, first shower!’ and then continues, ‘As far as my ancient home’, which is an effective use of diction. Nevertheless, the conception of the Left’s poem is even better and it wins.
Round Twelve
Left
しぐれにはいほりもささじくさまくらおときくとてもぬれぬそでかは
| shigure ni wa iori mo sasaji kusamakura oto kiku tote mo nurenu sode ka wa | Caught in a shower, I’d not erect my hut, for Upon a grassy pillow Listening to the sound, still Would my sleeves be soaked! |
Tsunemasa
73
Right (Win)
たまもふくいそやがしたにもるしぐれたびねのそでもしほたれよとや
| tamamo fuku isoya ga shita ni moru shigure tabine no sode mo shiotareyo to ya | Thatched with gemweed is My roof upon the rocky shore, beneath it Drips a shower, so My sleeves, as I doze upon my travels, Wet with the salty tides – should I say that? |
Nakatsuna
74
The Left wonders whether his sleeves would be soaked, listening to the sound of a shower after abandoning all thought of a hut and grassy pillow—this seems extremely charming, but the configuration and sequencing of the Right, beginning with ‘thatched with gemweed’ and continuing with ‘my sleeves, as I doze upon my travels, / Wet with salty tides’, is extremely moving, isn’t it! Thus I have to award a win, once more, to the poem of the Right.
Round Two
Left (Win)
ならしばのたびのいほりにおとづれてしぐれもいまぞやまめぐりする
| narashiba no tabi no iori ni otozurete shigure mo ima zo yama megurisuru | Oak boughs make My traveller’s hut, where I am visited by the sound of Showers—they, too, now Are on pilgrimage through the mountains.[1] |
Shōkaku
53
Right
たびごろもうらがなしかるあさぢふによはのしぐれよいかにせよとぞ
| tabigoromo uraganashikaru asajū ni yowa no shigure yo ika ni seyo to zo | In my traveller’s garb and Sad at heart among The clumps of cogon grass, O, midnight shower, Tell me, what I am I to do?[2] |
Jakuchō
54
While both Left and Right sound pleasant, I make the Left the winner, because it sounds slightly more moving at present, with a traveller’s hut being visited by showers.
[1]Alluding to: Composed when caught in a shower, while making a pilgrimage to one hundred temples in Higashiyama. もろともに山めぐりするしぐれかなふるにかひなき身とはしらずや morotomo ni / yamamegurisuru / shigure kana / furu ni kainaki / mi to wa shirazu ya ‘Together with me / On my mountain pilgrimage are / The showers! / ‘Tis pointless to fall / On my sorry self, don’t you know!’ Master of the Left Capital Office Michimasa (SKS IV: 149)
[2] Alluding to: 旅ごろもうらがなしさにあかしかね草の枕は夢もむすばず tabigoromo / uraganashisa ni / akashikane / kusa no makura wa / yume mo musubazu ‘In my traveller’s garb / My heart-sickness / I cannot lift, for / My grassy pillow / Brings no dreams, at all…’ Hikaru Genji (Genji monogatari 223)
Composed as a travel poem, when the Regent and Former Minister of the Right had a hundred poem sequence composed at his residence.
あはれなる野しまかさきのいほりかな露おく袖に浪もかけけり
| awarenaru nojima ga saki no iori kana tsuyu oku sode ni nami mo kakekeri |
Mournful Nojima Point is where My hut lies; Upon my dew-dropped sleeves Have rushed the waves… |
Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office, Toshinari
皇太后宮大夫俊成
