Tag Archives: iro

Love VI: 15

Left.
心あひの風いづかたへ吹かぬらん我には散らす言の葉もなし

kokoro ai no
kaze izukata e
fukanuran
ware ni wa chirasu
koto no ha mo nashi
This pleasant
Breeze: whither
Does it blow?
To me not one scattered
Leaf or word has it delivered.

Kenshō.
929

Right (Win).
色に出し言の葉もみなかれはてゝ涙を散らす風の音哉

iro ni idashi
koto no ha mo mina
karehatete
namida o chirasu
kaze no oto kana
The bright hues of passion
In these leaves and your words
Have all withered away;
Tears scattering with
The sound of the wind…

Lord Takanobu.
930

The Right state: ‘Breeze: whither’ (kaze izukata e) seems lacking. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to indicate.

In judgement: in the Left’s poem, I wonder whether ‘breeze: wither’ really is lacking. ‘This pleasant’ (kokoro no ai) would seem to be an expression deriving from ‘At the head of the road’. I seem to recall it coming after ‘In Kofu in Takefu / Will I be’, but that is not a suitable source. The Right’s poem, as the Gentlemen of the Left have said, appears to have no faults. It should win.

GSIS XVII: 991

When the same former Emperor [Koichijō] had gone to reside with the Takamatsu Consort, and his visits to her had become intermittent, she composed this on hearing the wind blowing strongly through the pines.

松風は色や緑にふきつらむ物おもふ人の身にぞ志みぬる

matukaze Fa
iro ya midori ni
Fukituramu
mono’omoFu Fito no
mi ni zo siminuru
Does the wind through the pines
Take on a hue of green
As it blows?
That one so sunk in gloomy thought
It so deeply dyes…

The Horikawa Consort 堀川女御
[Fujiwara no Nobuko/Enshi 藤原延子 (985-1019)

GSIS X: 536

During the reign of former Emperor Ichijō, after Her Majesty, the Empress had passed away, when some letters were found tied with the cord that had been used to hold back her curtain of state, these were among three poems written down when His Majesty’s expression indicated he would like to see them.

夜もすがら契りし事を忘れずばこひむ涙のいろぞ床しき

yomosugara
tigirisi koto wo
wasurezuba
koFimu namida no
iro zo yukasiki
All throughout the night
We vowed, and
If I forget it not,
Our tears of love’s
Hue is all my longing!

 

Love V: 5

Left (Tie).
言はぬ間は思ふも心九十九髪さは僞りの夢や見てまし

iwanu ma wa
omou mo kokoro
tukumogami
sa wa itsuwari no
yume ya mitemashi
While he’s said not a word,
If love in his heart
Arrived for my white hair,
Then a false dream
Would I see in truth?

Lord Kanemune.
849

Right.
戀初めし心の色に積む年は我黒髪に現れにけり

koi someshi
kokoro no iro ni
tsumu toshi wa
wa ga kurogami ni
arawarenikeri
Since I first awoke to love
The hues of passion in my heart by
The drifting years
Upon my raven tresses
Are made clear.

Nobusada.
850

The Right state: is this a reference to the recent poem ‘seeing a dream with white hair’ (yume o miru to mo tsukumogami)? The Left state: ‘drifting years’ (tsumu toshi) is grating on the ear.

In judgement: both poems refer to hair, and the Gentlemen of the Right have asked whether the Left are referring to a ‘recent poem’, and I wonder when this poem might have been composed? It is impossible to entirely avoid referring to poems which are not included in the anthologies. Needless to say, though, it is normal for one’s poems not to resemble others to a great extent. In addition, I do not feel that ‘drifting years’ is that grating on the ear. However, simply saying ‘Upon my raven tresses are made clear’ (wa ga kurogami ni arawarenikeri) does not convey a strong sense of gray hair, I think. Finally, the configuration of the Left’s ‘then a false dream’ (sa wa itsuwari no) is particularly unacceptable, I think. So, a tie.

 

Love V: 2

Left (Tie).
逢見ても身にやは年の積るべき我老いらくになしと答ふな

aimite mo
mi ni ya wa toshi no
tsumorubeki
wa ga oiraku ni
nashi to kotauna
Even should you meet me
Upon you the years
Would the years pile up?
So to this old man
I would not have you say no…

Lord Ari’ie.
843

Right.
包めども老蘇の森の薄紅葉たへでも色に出でにける哉

tsutsumedomo
oiso no mori no
usumomiji
taedemo iro ni
idenikeru kana
Although they may be hidden in
The sacred grove of Oiso,
The pale scarlet leaves’
Hues may not endure, but
Still have appeared…

The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office.
844

The Right state: the Left’s poem’s conception is vague. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to indicate.

In judgement: the Left is unclear in style, but the configuration of ‘upon you the years’ (mi ni ya wa toshi no) is pleasant. Although one wonders why ‘pale scarlet leaves’ (usumomiji) is used, the following ‘hues may not endure’ (taedemo iro ni) is elegant. The round should tie.

SIS III: 198

Composed for a folding screen in the residence of Nishinomiya Minister of the Left [Minamoto no Taka’akira (914-983)], to accompany an image of a group of women in travelling clothes among the autumn leaves on the path across the Shiga Mountains.

名を聞けば昔ながらの山なれどしぐるる秋は色まさりけり

na wo kikeba
mukasi nagara no
yama naredo
sigururu aki Fa
iro masarikeri
When I hear its name,
Long ago as now
This mountain is, yet
In the autumn drizzle
Are its colours supreme!

Minamoto no Shitagō (911-983)
源順