kagamiyama haru kuru kage ya mietsuramu tani no uguisu idete naku nari
Upon Mirror Mountain Signs of coming spring Have appeared, it seems, for In the valleys warblers Have emerged to sing.
8
[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 10), attributed to Middle Counsellor [Fujiwara no] Asatada, with the headnote ‘From a palace poetry match on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’ [12.5.956]. It is also included in Shūishō (I: 6) as an anonymous poem in some texts, or attributed to Nakatsukasa in others, with the headnote ‘When a poetry match was held at the palace on the 29th day of the Third Month, Tenryaku 10’.
The only record of this poetry match’s existence is in the headnote to the poems in Motozane-shū (180, 181), which simply reads ‘From a poetry match’. Hagitani (1958, 418) suggests that, as these poems are recorded separately in this work from Motozane’s other poems for poetry matches, they are most likely from a different contest, the details of which have now been lost. Given the topic of ‘Cuckoos’, however, it most likely will have taken place in the late spring or early summer.
うのはなの影にかくれて今日までぞ山時鳥声はをしまむ
unohana no kage ni kakurete kyō made zo yama hototogisu koe wa oshimamu
Within the deutzia’s Shade concealed Until today The mountain cuckoo Seems to regret his song.
1
いまよりは声なをしみそ時鳥五月待つまのほどぞあるらし
ima yori wa koe na oshimi so hototogisu satsuki matsu ma no hodo zo arurashi
From now on Your song do not regret, O, cuckoo, For to await the Fifth Month Some time there still seems to be!
hingashi no kuni ni wa ga oreba asahi sasu hakoya no yama no kage to nariniki
In eastern Lands do I dwell, but when The morning sun shines Upon distant Gushe Mountain[i] Its shadow falls upon me.
681
[i] Mount Gushe 姑射山 (Jp. koya no yama) is a mountain in Shanxi 山西 in northern China, which was said to be the dwelling place of immortals. Here, Sanetomo is using it as a euphemism for the imperial palace in Kyoto and, by association the emperor.
A poem on how Mahāyāna[i] develops the viewpoint of the Middle Way.[ii]
世の中はかがみにうつるかげにあれやあるにもあらずなきにもあらず
yo no naka wa kagami ni utsuru kage ni are ya aru ni mo arazu naki ni mo arazu
Is this mundane world A mirror’s reflected Shape, perhaps? Not existing, and Not not existing…
653
[i] Mahāyāna (the ‘Great Vehicle’) (Jp.: daijō 大乗) is the largest major tradition of Buddhism.
[ii] The ‘Middle Way’ (Madhyamāpratipada) (Jp.: chūdō 中道) refers to a spiritual practice of Buddhism that steers clear of both extreme asceticism and sensual indulgence.
