Tag Archives: kusa

GSS XVIII: 1281

When he drew the topic of dew, when people were composing poetry on randomly selected topics at the residence of the Minister of the Left.

我ならぬ草葉もものは思ひけり袖より外におけるしらつゆ

aFare naranu
kusaba mo mono Fa
omoFikeri
sode yori Foka ni
okeru siratuyu
Not only I, but
All the grassy leaves
Are sunk in gloomy thought
For in places other than my sleeves
Fall silver dewdrops.

Fujiwara no Tadakuni
藤原忠国

Horikawa hyakushu 167

冬草と見えし春野の小笹原弥生の雨に深緑なる

fuyu kusa to
mieshi haruno no
ozasawara
yayoi no ame ni
fukamidori naru
A winter plant
They did appear in the fields in springtime:
The groves of young broad-leaved bamboo
By the Third Month’s rains
Turned the darkest green.

Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実

SKKS IV: 422

On the moon passing over the plain, when he presented a fifty poem sequence.

行く末は空もひとつの武蔵野に草の原より出づる月影

yukusue wa
sora mo hitotsu no
musashino ni
kusa no hara yori
izuru tsukikage
Its destination:
The skies, one with
Musashi Plain, where
From among the fields of grass
Emerges moonlight.

The Regent and Prime Minister (Fujiwara no Yoshitsune)

MYS XIX: 4172

In Kanpyō-Shōhō 2 [750], on the 24th day of the Third Month, it would be near to the beginning of summer in the Fourth Month, so he composed these two poems when, on the evening of the 23rd day,  he suddenly thought of a cuckoo calling at dawn.

霍公鳥来鳴き響めば草取らむ花橘を宿には植ゑずて

pototogisu
kinaki toyomeba
kusa toramu
panatatibana wo
yado ni wa uwezute
When the cuckoo
Arrives, his resounding song
Sends me gathering grasses,
For orange blossom
Has not been planted in my grounds…

Ōtomo no Yakamochi

Love V: 28

Left (Win).
旅寢する我をば床の主にて枕に宿る小夜の面影

tabinesuru
ware oba toko no
aruji nite
makura ni yadoru
sayo no omokage
When sleeping on my travels
I of my bedding
Am master!
Lodging by my pillow is
A face from a night too brief…

Lord Ari’ie
895

Right.
まどろまぬその夜な夜なを數ふれば夢路も遠き草枕哉

madoromanu
sono yona yona o
kazoureba
yumeji mo tōki
kusamakura kana
Unable to even doze
Night after night
I count them up, and
The path of dreams gets more
Distant from my grassy pillow.

Lord Takanobu
896

The Right state: the Left’s poem seems fine. The Left state: we find no faults to mention.

In judgement: the Right’s ‘the path of dreams gets more distant’ (yumeji mo tōki) sounds elegant, but the Left’s poem has already been assessed as ‘fine’ in the comments by the gentlemen of the Right. This round I will leave the judgement in their hands and make the Left the winner.