Tag Archives: katsura

Summer I: 19

Left (Tie).

おなじ瀬をのぼる鮎子に大井河くだりぞあらぬ篝火の影

onaji se o
noboru ayuko ni
ōigawa
kudari zo aranu
kagaribi no kage
At the same swift waters:
Sweetfish sprats head up
The Ōi River,
Waiting, unmoving are
The lighted fishing-fires.

Lord Suetsune.

217

Right (Tie).

桂川くだりもあらぬ鵜舟かなこの瀬にのみや鮎子さばしる

katsuragawa
kudari mo aranu
ubune kana
kono se ni nomi ya
ayuko sabashiru
Upon Katsura River,
Waiting, unmoving are
The cormorant boats;
Is it only at these swift waters, that
The sweetfish sprats do race?

Lord Tsune’ie.

218

Neither team sees any difficulties with the other’s poems this round.

Shunzei comments tersely, ‘Both poems use “sweetfish sprats”, and this old-fashioned term cannot help but give them a less than pleasant air. Neither is worthy of victory.’

Miscellaneous 100

Left (Tie).

我君の常盤のかげは秋もあらじ月の桂の千世にあふとも

wa ga kimi no
tokiwa no kage wa
aki mo araji
tsuki no katsura no
chiyo ni au tomo
Upon my Lord’s
Evergreen face
Never, shall autumn show,
Though he match the moon’s silver trees’
Thousand Ages.

199

Right (Tie).

散もせじ衣にすれるさゝ竹の大宮人のかざす櫻は

chiri mo seji
koromo ni sureru
sasatake no
ōmiyabito no
kazasu sakura
wa
Not a petal will fall!
In robes printed with
Bamboo,
The palace folk, have
Arranged cherry blossom.

200

Spring 4

Left.

花の香のかすめる月にあくがれて夢もさだかに見えぬ比かな

hana no ka no
kasumeru tsuki ni
akugarete
yume mo sadaka ni
mienu
koro kana
The blossoms’ scent
Befogs the moon;
Thus lost,
Certain it is that dreams
Will not come now, perhaps…

7

Right (Win)

春の夜は月の桂もにほふ覧光に梅の色はまがひぬ

haru no yo wa
tsuki no katsura mo
niouran
hikari ni ume no
iro wa magainu
On a night in springtime
The moon’s silver trees, too,
Must give out their fragrance;
In such light the plums’
Hues can be mistaken.

8

Sanekata Shū 2

In the year in which Lord Tamemasa was Imperial messenger to the festival at Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, on the day after I been a dancer there and was returning home, on wearing blossom in our hair:

桂川かざしの花の影みえしきのふのふちぞ今日は戀しき

katuragaFa
kazasi no Fana no
kage miesi
kinoFu no Futi zo
keFu Fa koFisiki
By the River Katsura
The blossom in your hair
Shining I saw:
The tranquil, violet deeps of yesterday
Are dear, indeed, to me today.