Tag Archives: koe

Eien narabō uta’awase 10

10th February 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Three

Left (Win)

さみだれにぬるともゆかむほととぎすふたこゑきなくさとはありやと

samidare ni
nuru to mo yukamu
hototogisu
futakoe kinaku
sato wa ari ya to

By the summer showers
We will be drenched, yet let’s away!
For the cuckoo
Has come to sing and sing again
At that estate, perchance…

Retired from the world
19

Right

さ月やみくらくはくらくほととぎすこゑはかくれぬ物にぞありける

satsuki yami
kuraku wa kuraku
hototogisu
koe wa kakurenu
mono ni zo arikeru

In the Fifth Month’s gloomy
Darkness deep,
The cuckoo
Is unable to conceal his cry
With anything at all!

Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
20

Both Left and Right are workmanlike poems with little evidence of thought. With that being said, however, the conclusion of the Right’s poem is identical to that of a famous work by the Horikawa Minister. That poem is ‘The River Sao: / Mist rises, and from beyond / Come plover cries, / Their calls uninterrupted / By anything.’[1] And the Right here is, at the very least, extraordinarily redolent of it! Still, I feel the Left does linger in the heart.

The Left’s poem is not particularly remarkable, yet it has no faults worth mentioning. It doesn’t contain any distasteful expressions and resembles familiar compositions. The poem of the Right’s ‘darkness deep’ sounds like something said by a black-hearted scoundrel—I don’t feel it’s poetic diction at all! In addition, on the matter of the concluding ‘unable to conceal his cry’,[i] well, this appears in a range of earlier poems, as does ‘his cry uninterrupted’, so one should be hesitant about using it. I make the faultless Left the winner.

[1] Composed on plovers for a poetry competition in Eishō 4 [1050]. 佐保川の霧のあなたに鳴く千鳥聲は隔てぬ物にぞ有ける saogawa no / kiri no anata ni / naku chidori / koe wa hedatenu / mono ni zo arikeru ‘The River Sao: / Mist rises, and from beyond / Come plover cries, / Their calls uninterrupted / By anything.’ The Horikawa Minister of the Right [Fujiwara no Yorimune] (GSIS VI: 388)

[i] The only surviving example of this usage pre-dating this match is: Written on the edge of a folding screen by a painting of geese flying in the clouds, when His Majesty ordered a celebration for the Junior Principal Handmaid. 白雲の中にまがひてゆく雁もこゑはかくれぬ物にざりける shirakumo no / naka ni magaite / yuku kari mo / koe wa kakurenu / mono ni zarikeru ‘Within the clouds, so white, / Entangled / Goes a goose, / Unable to conceal his cry / With anything at all!’ Fujiwara no Kanesuke (Kanesuke-shū 48). There is also one further example in later poetry: Composed and sent when he heard that Inspector Kinmichi had had a number of people compose poems on the bush warbler at his residence. 春霞たちへだつれど鶯の声はかくれぬものとしらずや harugasumi / tachihedatsuredo / uguisu no / koe wa kakurenu / mono to shirazu ya ‘The haze of spring / Arising, interferes, yet / The warbler / Is unable to conceal his cry— / I wonder if he know it?’ Former Consultant Tsunemori (GYS I: 50)

Eien narabō uta'awase

Eien narabō uta’awase 08

6th February 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Cuckoos

Round One

Left

ほととぎすまきのとばかりまちつれどなかであけぬる夏のしののめ

hototogisu
maki no to bakari
machitsuredo
nakade akenuru
natsu no shinonome

O, cuckoo,
Briefly by my door of cedar wood
Did I await you, yet
No song, at all, brightened
This summer edge of dawn.

Lord Dainagon
15

Right (Win)

ほととぎすなくうれしさをつつめどもそらにはこゑもとまらざりけり

hototogisu
naku ureshisa o
tsutsumedomo
sora ni wa koe mo
tomarazarikeri

At the cuckoo’s
Song, my joy
To hold fast did I try, yet
In the skies, his cry
Lingered not.

Lord Chūnagon
16

The Left’s poem, after careful consideration, has a graceful style. The diction of the Right’s poem is superb, and there is an excess of conception. Reading and reciting these leaves my aged heart at a loss. Thus, they tie.

In the Left’s poem, ‘briefly’ is an expression which means ‘just for a short time’, I think, and thus the sentiments are lacking. Saying ‘brightened…edge of dawn’ sounds as if the poet has only begun waiting at daybreak. One does see, apparently, a number of poems in prior matches where the poet has not heard the cuckoo. Nevertheless, I do wonder about whether this is appropriate, given that poems where the cuckoo has been heard are faultless. The Right’s poem is not that good, but it is poetic. Thus, it has to win.

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 37

2nd February 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Thirty-Seven

Left (Tie)

むば玉のよやふけぬらんさをしかの声すみのぼるをのの草ぶし

mubatama no
yo ya fukenuran
saoshika no
koe suminoboru
ono no kusabushi

Might lily-seed dark
Night have fallen?
The stag’s
Cry clearly climbs
From where he lies among the meadow grasses.

Takasuke
73

Right

秋のよはつまどふ鹿の深山出でていまだ旅なるをのの草ぶし

aki no yo wa
tsumadou shika no
miyama idete
imada tabi naru
ono no kusabushi

On an autumn night,
Seeking his bride, the stag
Emerges from the mountains’ depths,
And now on his travels
Lies among the meadow grasses.

Shimotsuke
74

Left and Right’s ‘lies among the meadow grasses’ have no merits or faults between them. A pleasant tie.

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 34

30th January 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Thirty-Four

Left

もののふもあはれとおもへあづさ弓ひきのの夜半のさをしかの声

mononofu mo
aware to omoe
azusayumi
hikino no yowa no
saoshika no koe

Let even a warrior
Feel pity!
A catalpa bow drawn
On Hiki Plain at a midnight
Stag’s call.

The Former Minister of the Centre
67

Right (Win)

つれもなきつまをやたのむ秋風の身にさむき夜は鹿も鳴くなり

tsure mo naki
tsuma o ya tanomu
akikaze no
mi ni samuki yo wa
shika mo nakunari

Is it his heartless
Bride he seeks?
The autumn wind
Chills the bones at night
As the stag, too, does cry.[1]

Kozaishō
68

The Left’s poem seems to have no faults worth mentioning, but the Right’s poem is composed with the poem ‘The autumn wind / Chills my bones / As cold as / The woman I hope for / In the dark, night after night’ in mind and seems particularly pleasant, so it wins.

[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 秋風の身にさむければつれもなき人をぞたのむくるる夜ごとに aki kaze no / mi ni samukereba / tsuremonaki / hito o zo tanomu / kururu yo goto ni ‘The autumn wind / Chills my bones / As cold as / The woman I hope for / In the dark, night after night.’ Dharma Master Sosei (KKS XII: 555)

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 33

30th January 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Thirty-Three

Stags in the Night[1]

Left

久方のかつらの陰に鳴く鹿は光をかけて声ぞさやけき

hisakata no
katsura no kage ni
naku shika wa
hikari o kakete
koe zo sayakeki

In the eternal
Silver trees’ glow
The belling stag
Is limned with light, and
His voice sounds clear, indeed!

A Court Lady
65

Right (Win)

天川秋の一夜のちぎりだにかた野に鹿の音をや鳴くらん

ama no kawa
aki no hitoyo no
chigiri dani
katano ni shika no
ne o ya nakuran

By the River of Heaven
For a single autumn night’s
Brief bond—
Is that why a stag at Katano
Does cry out so?

Ietaka
66

The Right’s poem, by beginning with ‘By the River of Heaven / For a single autumn night’s / Brief bond’ and then continuing with ‘a stag at Katano’ sounds particularly refined, evoking memories of bygone days when Prince Koretaka sought lodging from the Weaver Maid when hunting at Katano—how charming it is.[2] The Left’s poem overall is not particularly bad and seems to lack any obvious faults, but the Right’s poem surpasses it in every way: it is not one of the normal run of compositions and thus, it must win.

[1] 夜鹿 – there are early examples of poems on related topics in Kin’yōshū and Senzaishū.

[2] Gotoba is referring to a pair of poems in Kokinshū which are contextualized by an account of a hunting expedition by Prince Koretaka 惟喬 (844-897): Once, when he had gone hunting in the company of Prince Koretaka, they dismounted by the banks of a river called Ama no Gawa (River of Heaven), and while they were tippling, the Prince commanded that Narihira offer him a wine cup with a poem expressing the feelings of a hunter arriving at the river of Heaven, so he composed the following: かりくらしたなばたつめにやどからむあまのかはらに我はきにけり kari kurashi / tanabatatsume ni / yado karamu / ama no kawara ni / ware wa kinkeri ‘While hunting night is falling, / So from the Weaver Maid / Let us beg lodging / For to the Riverbank of Heaven / Have we come!’ Ariwara no Narihira (KKS IX: 418); The prince recited the above poem many times, but was unable to think of a reply so, being one of the party, Aritsune composed this: ひととせにひとたびきます君まてばやどかす人もあらじとぞ思ふ hito tose ni / hito tabi kimasu / kimi mateba / yado kasu hito mo / araji to zo omou ‘In a single year / But once comes / The Lord she awaits, so / One who provides lodging / She is not, I’d say!’ Ki no Aritsune (KKS IX: 419). These poems were famously incorporated into chapter 82 of Ise monogatari with four others to provide an expanded context. See Horiuchi and Akiyama (1997, 157-160) for the original text and Mostow and Tyler (2010, 175-179) for an English translation and commentary.

Kin'yōshū hatsudobon

KYS I: 48

29th January 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Composed on returning geese.

きりふかみこしかりがねぞかへるなるかすみのうちにこゑばかりして

kiri Fukami
kosi kari ga ne zo
kaFeru naru
kasumi no uti ni
kowe bakari site

Deep within the mists
Passing, calling, the geese
Are returning;
Within the haze
Their cry is all…

Dharma Master Shin’ei

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 22

28th January 2026 Thomas Leave a comment

Round Twenty-Two

Left (Win)

五月雨にやすらふ暮の時鳥そなたの雲に声なへだてそ

samidare ni
yasurau kure no
hototogisu
sonata no kumo ni
koe na hedate so

In a summer shower,
Hesitating, at twilight,
O, cuckoo,
Let not the intervening clouds
Interrupt your song!

Shō
43

Right

過ぎぬなりさやはちぎりし時鳥なく音ばかりはこぞにかはらで

suginunari
saya wa chigirishi
hototogisu
naku ne bakari wa
kozo ni kawarade

And so you’ve flown by—
Is that what you vowed,
O, cuckoo?
For only the sound of your song
Is unchanged from the year before…

Nagatsuna
44

The Left’s poem doesn’t seem bad. The Right poem’s ‘For only the sound of your song is unchanged from the year before’ is somewhat difficult to grasp—if the cuckoo’s call has not changed, then what has? After all, cuckoos have ‘the voice of yesteryear’[1]—among other references—so it’s obvious that their calls don’t change, so the Left is somewhat better, I think.