Tag Archives: keburi

Winter II: 13

Left.

山里の寂しさ思ふ煙ゆへ絶え絶え立てる峯の椎柴

yamazato no
sabishisa omou
keburi yue
taedae tateru
mine no shiishiba
That mountain dwelling’s
Loneliness feeling,
The smoke,
Rising in sporadic strands:
The brushwood on the peak…

A Servant Girl.

565

Right (Win).

冬籠る草の戸ざしは霜枯れてま近き山の峯の椎柴

fuyugomoru
kusa no tozashi wa
shimogarete
majikaki yama no
mine no shiishiba
Sealed in winter
The blockading grasses are
Seared by frost, and
How much closer is the mountain
Peak’s brushwood.

Jakuren.

566

Both teams say that the conceptions of the two poems resemble each other closely [kokoro hōfutsu].

Shuzei’s judgement: The Left, by starting, ‘That mountain dwelling’s loneliness feeling, the smoke’ (yamazato no sabishisa omou keburi yue) sounds as if it is the brushwood itself which has some sensitivity to the situation, and are rising up from time to time. I wonder about that. The Right’s evergreen groves ‘nearing the mountain’ (majikaki yama) is what should win.

Spring I: 20

Left (Tie).

立わたる野邊の霞を煙にてもえ出にけるこれや若草

tachiwataru
nobe no kasumi o
keburi nite
moe’idenikeru
kore ya wakakusa
Spreading, everywhere,
Across the plain, the haze
Seems smoke:
Is the burning the buds
Of new-grown grass…

Lord Kanemune

39

Right (Tie).

もえ出づる野邊の春草末わかみ空とゝもにぞ淺緑なる

moeizuru
nobe no haru kusa
sue wakami
sora to tomo ni zo
asamidori naru
Shooting up
Across the plain, the grass’
Tips are so young
That, with the skies,
They celadon seem…

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

40

Both teams say there is ‘nothing remarkable’ about the other’s poem, while Shunzei says simply the purport of both is ‘generally appropriate’ and that it would be ‘difficult to determine’ a winner.