When I was awake and gazing out at the dawn, the mists arose extremely densely all around, and all I could do was heartfeltly say this, thinking that I should be able to see the sky.
からにしき染むる山には立田姫きりのまくをぞ引きまはしたる
| karanishiki somuru yama ni wa tatsuta-hime kirimaku o zo hikimawashitaru | Cathay brocade Dyed are the mountains where Princess Tatsuta The mists for her curtain Has drawn around. |
Dharma Master Zōki
Original
もみぢばはきりのたつにもちりけるをかぜをかたなとおもひけるかな
| momijiba wa kiri no tatsu ni mo chirikeru o kaze o katana to omoikeru kana | The scarlet leaves with The rising mists Do scatter— The wind a sword Truly does seem! |
30
Left
もみぢばはあきのかぜこそさそひけれきりのなきなをたつぞあやしき
| momijiba wa aki no kaze koso sasoikere kiri no nakina o tatsu zo ayashiki | The scarlet leaves By the winds of autumn, truly, Are invited; That baseless rumours of the mists Arise is strange, indeed! |
31
Right
からにしきかぜのたつらんもみぢばはきりのたつにもおくれざりけり
| karanishiki kaze no tatsuran momijiba wa kiri no tatsu ni mo okurezarikeri | Cathay brocade The rising wind seeming to shear Scarlet leaves, Even the rising of the mists Will not delay it.¯ |
32
For a folding screen in the residence of the Fourth Princess, during the reign of the Engi Emperor.
流れくる紅葉ば見ればからにしき滝の糸してをれるなりけり
| nagarekuru momidiba mireba karanisiki taki no ito site woreru narikeri | Flowing along, When the scarlet leaves I see, Cathay brocade With a waterfall for threads Woven, they are. |
Tsurayuki
Left – Rani
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆる物かな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru mono kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Does all appear! |
15a
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆるのべかな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru nobe kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Do the meadows appear! |
15b
Right
きる人をのべやしるらんふぢばかまいたづらにのみつゆのおきつつ
| kiru hito o nobe ya shiruran fujibakama itazura ni nomi tsuyu no okitsutsu | Folk wearing them Do the meadows know, perhaps? For upon these violet trousers In mischief alone Does the dew keep falling! |
16
Rani is a generic term for ‘orchid’ but in waka it was usually equated with eupatorium (a type of aster), which was also called fujibakama, the literal meaning of which was ‘wisteria [coloured] trousers’.
Round Eleven
Left
しら雲の朝たつ山のからにしき枝に一むら春風ぞ吹く
| shirakumo no asa tatsu yama no karanishiki eda ni hito mura harukaze zo fuku | Clouds of white Arising with the morning on the mountain: Cathay brocade In a single bunch upon the branch Blown by the breeze of spring! [1] |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
21
Right (Win)
かづらきや嶺の桜のさきしより心の空にかかるしら雲
| kazuragi ya mine no sakura no sakishi yori kokoro no sora ni kakaru shirakumo | Upon Kazuragi Peak, the cherries Have bloomed and ever since The heavens of my heart are Draped with clouds of white. |
Lord Nobunari
22
The Left’s poem has ‘Arising with the morning on the mountain: Cathay brocade in a single bunch upon the branch’ and, while it mentions spring breezes in its final section and does not fail to reflect the surface appearance of its source poem, conveys a feeling of scarlet leaves without mentioning blossom or cherry, which I have to say is something of a fault. The Right’s poem does not seem poor and lacks any faults worth mentioning, so it should win.
[1] An allusive variation on SIS IV: 220.
On seeing the remaining scarlet leaves scattering.
| karanisiki eda ni Fitomura nokoreru Fa aki no katami wo tatanu narikeri | Cathay brocade In a single bunch upon the branch Remains: Autumn’s keepsake Is being rent away. |
Archbishop Henjō
あきくればむしとともにぞなかれぬるひとも草ばもかれぬと思へば[1]
| aki kureba mushi to tomo ni zo nakarenuru hito mo kusaba mo karenu to omoeba | When the autumn comes Together with the insects Do I weep, That both folk and grass and leaves Have withered, is in my thoughts… |
33
からにしきみだれるのべとみえつるはあきのこのはのふるにざりける
| karanishiki midareru nobe to mietsuru wa aki no ko no ha no furu ni zarikeru | For Cathay brocade Confused the meadows Do seem, for In autumn, the leaves from the trees Have truly fallen! |
34
[1] This poem also occurs in Fubokushō (5580).
音羽山秋としなれば唐錦かけたることも見ゆる紅葉か
| otowayama aki to shi nareba karanishiki kaketaru koto mo miyuru momiji ka | On Otowa Mountain When autumn comes Cathay brocade Is hung about – Seem so the scarlet leaves? |
5
女郎花何の心になけれども秋はさくべきこともゆゆしく
| ominaeshi nani no kokoro ni nakeredomo aki wa sakubeki koto mo yuyushiku | O, maidenflowers, Something within my heart Is lacking, yet That you must bloom in autumn Is a fine thing, indeed! |
6