Tag Archives: Kagami

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 65

Left

ほりておきし池は鏡とこほれども影にもみえぬ年ぞ経にける

horiteokishi
ike wa kagami to
kōredomo
kage ni mo mienu
toshi zo henikeru
All dug out
The pond into a mirror
Has frozen, yet
Reflected, I cannot see
The year gone by!

127

Right

降る雪のつもれる峰は白雲のたちもさわがずをるかとぞみる

furu yuki no
tsumoreru mine wa
shirayuki no
tachi mo sawagazu
oru ka to zo miru
The falling snow
Has drifted upon the peaks
Whiteness
Arrives without a rustle
Making me wonder if it’s there at all…

128

Love VIII: 17

Left
山鳥のはつおの鏡掛けねども見し面影に音は泣かれけり

yamadori no
hatsuo no kagami
kakenedomo
mishi omokage ni
ne wa nakarekeri
A mountain pheasant’s
Tail of hempen cord this mirror
Does not suspend, yet
The face I saw there once
Makes me weep out loud…

Kenshō
1053

Right (Win)
面影をほの三嶋野に尋ぬれば行衛知られぬ鵙の草ぐき

omokage o
hono mishimano ni
tazunureba
yukue shirarenu
mozu no kusaguki
Her face
I did but briefly see at Mishimano
When I visited there;
I know not where has gone
The shrike hiding in the grasses.

Lord Takanobu
1054

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of combining ‘Mishima Plain’ (mishimano) with ‘the shrike hiding in the grasses (mozu no kusaguki). Is there a poem as a precedent for this? If not, is it suitable?

In judgement: both poems have the conception of love: of imagining the pheasant and his mirror, and weeping at the memory of a lover’s face; and thinking of the shrike hiding in the grasses, visiting Mishima Plain, and recalling the past. However, what should we do about the matter of whether there is a precedent poem for ‘the shrike hiding in the grasses’ on Mishima Plain? Surely, it could be any plain, so there is no reason not to use this. The configuration of ‘I know not where has gone’ (yukue shirarenu) sounds better than that of ‘makes me weep out loud’ (ne wa nakarekeri). The Right, again, must win, I think.