Tag Archives: kokoro

Yōzei-in uta’awase (Engi jūni-nen natsu) 01

His Majesty, Former Emperor Yōzei, held a match on the topic of ‘Love and Summer Insects’.

Left (Tie)

いたづらにみはなるてへどなつむしのおもひはえこそはなれざりけれ

itazura ni
mi hanarute hedo
natsumushi no
omoi wa e koso
hanarezarikere
Pointlessly
Did I spend my days apart from you, yet
As the fireflies,
The burning of my passionate thoughts
I could not leave behind!

1

Right

みをすててひとつおもひにこがれたるこころぞなつのむしにまされる

mi o sutete
hitotsu omoi ni
kogaretaru
kokoro zo natsu no
mushi ni masareru
Abandoning all restraint,
But one fiery passion
Chars
My heart—the fire
Flies does it exceed!

2

Teiji-in uta’awase 30

Left (Tie)

あふことのきみにたえにしわがみよりいくらのなみだながれいでぬらむ

au koto no
kimi ni taenishi
wa ga mi yori
ikura no namida
nagare’idenuramu
My meetings with
You, my lord, have ceased, and
From my flesh
What a torrent of tears
Flow out!

Ise

59

Right

きみこひのあまりにしかばしのぶれどひとのしるらんことのわびしさ

kimi koi no
amari nishikaba
shinoburedo
hito no shiruran
koto no wabishiki
Loving you
Beyond all measure,
I kept it secret, yet
That folk seem to know
Is a cause of heartache.

Tsurayuki
60

On hearing His Highness, the Prince of the Right remark in irritation that the Left’s poem had appealed to His Majesty’s heart, His Majesty composed

ゆきかへりちどりなくなるはまゆふのこころへだてておもふものかは

yukikaeri
chidori naku naru
hamayū no
kokoro hedatete
omou mono ka wa
Going back and forth
Plovers cry from
The beach among the spider lilies
Do their hearts distinguish
Do you think?

His Majesty
61

Teiji-in uta’awase 27

Left (Tie)

たれによりおもひくだくるこころぞはしらぬぞひとのつらさなりける

tare ni yori
omoi’kudakuru
kokoro zo wa
shiranu zo hito no
tsurasa narikeru
For who is it that
Love should distraught make
My heart?
That she realises not reveals
Her cruelty!

Mitsune
53

Right

はづかしのもりのはつかにみしものをなどしたくさのしげきこひなる

hazukashi no
mori no hatsuka ni
mishi mono o
nado shitakusa no
shigeki koi naru
Shyly in Hazukashi
Forest, briefly
Did I glimpse her, so
Why as undergrowth
So lush has my love grown?

Mitsune
54

Teiji-in uta’awase 26

Love

Five poems, stopping at five

Left (Win)

なみだがはいかなるみづかながるらんなどわがこひをけすひとのなき

namidagawa
ika naru mizu ka
nagaruran
nado wa ga koi o
kesu hito no naki
In the River of Tears
What sort of water is it
That does flow?
Why is it that my love’s burn
To extinguish is there no one?

Okikaze
51

Right

みをもかへおもふものからこひといへばもゆるなかにもいるこころかな

mi o mo kae
omou mono kara
koi to ieba
moyuru naka ni
iru kokoro kana
Staking my life is
Often in my thoughts, but
Within the fires of love,
Burning,
Does my heart lie!

Okikaze
52

Teiji-in uta’awase 11

Ten Poems on the Third Month

Left (Tie)

みてかへるこころあかねばさくらばなさけるあたりにやどやからまし

mitekaeru
kokoro akaneba
sakurabana
sakeru atari ni
yado ya karamashi
Seeing you and returning home
Leaves my heart unsated,
O, cherry blossom!
In the place where you do bloom is
Where I would borrow lodging…

Okikaze
21

Right

しののめにおきてみつればさくらばなまだよをこめてちりにけるかな

shinonome ni
okite mitsureba
sakurabana
mada yo o komete
chirinikeru kana
At the edge of dawn,
When I arise to gaze upon
The cherry blossoms
Within the night’s span
Have they scattered!

Yorimoto
22

The Right’s poem was just as His Majesty said: ‘It expresses affection for the blossom through gazing and gazing upon them.’ When it was suggested to him that the work produced by Lord Sadakata and Lord Noboru conveyed the same overall impression, he took his time to consider the matter, then said, ‘In that case,’ and made the round a tie.

Teiji-in uta’awase 06

Left (Win)

はるかぜのふかぬよにだにあらませばこころのどかにはなはみてまし

harukaze no
fukanu yo ni dani
aramaseba
kokoro nodoka ni
hana wa mitemashi
The spring breezes
Not blowing of an evening—if only
That were so, then
With peace in my heart
I would view the blossom

His Majesty

11

Right

ちりぬともありとたのまむさくらばなはるはすぎぬとわれにきかすな

chirinu tomo
ari to tanomamu
sakurabana
haru wa suginu to
ware ni kikasu na
You have fallen, yet
That you are here, I will believe,
O, cherry blossom!
That spring is past—
Don’t tell me that!

12

‘The Left’s poem is my own—it really should lose, shouldn’t it?’

Teiji-in uta’awase 05

Left (Win)

はるがすみたちしかくせばやまざくらひとしれずこそちりぬべらなれ

harugasumi
tachishi kakuseba
yamazakura
hito shirezu koso
chirinuberanare
If the spring haze
Has risen to conceal
The mountain cherries,
Then, indeed, will no one know
When they have seemed to scatter!

Tsurayuki
9

Right

たのまれぬはなのこころとおもへばやちらぬさきよりうぐひすのなく

tanomarenu
hana no kokoro to
omoeba ya
chiranu saki yori
uguisu no naku
Untrustworthy are
The blossoms’ hearts
I do think, so
While they are unscattered
Will the warbler sing.

Okikaze
10[i]

Both of these are the same—they tie.[ii]


[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XI: 1549), attributed to Okikaze, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’. It is also included twice in Kokin rokujō (I: 31) and (VI: 4395): in both cases the poem is attributed to Okikaze, but the first instance lacks a headnote, while the second is classified as a ‘Warbler’ poem. Finally, it is also included in Mandaishū (II: 254), again attributed to Okikaze, but this time with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’.

[ii] Given that the Left’s poem here is marked as winning, presumably Uda means that both poems are equally worthy of a win—that is, that this is a yoki ji, a ‘tie of quality’.