けふのまの心にかへておもひやれながめつつのみすぐす心を
kyō no ma no kokoro ni kaete omoiyare nagametsutsu nomi sugusu kokoro o | One day long last Your feelings, but instead Imagine: Ever gazing simply at the falling rain Spending time so—how might one feel? |
Izumi Shikibu
Left
夏夜のまだもねなくにあけぬれば昨日今日ともおもひまどひぬ
natsu no yo no mada mo nenaku ni akenureba kinō kyō tomo omoimadoinu | On a summer night, Still sleep has eluded me, When dawn breaks— Is it yet yesterday, or today, I wonder in confusion. |
74
Right
うのはなのさけるかきねは白雲のおりゐるとこそあやまたれけれ
u no hana no sakeru kakine wa shirakumo no ori’iru to koso ayamatarekere | Deutzia flowers Are blooming by the brushwood fence— Clouds of white Have descended there, I think— How strange… |
75
Left (Tie)
はなみつつをしむかひなくけふくれてほかのはるとやあすはなりなむ
hana mitsutsu oshimu kainaku kyō kurete hoka no haru to ya asu wa narinamu | Ever do I gaze upon the blossom, in Vain regret, for Today will end and A different spring will Greet me on the morrow! |
Mitsune
39
Right
けふのみとはるをおもはぬときだにもたつことやすきはなのかげかは
kyō nomi to haru o omowanu toki dani mo tatsu koto ya suki hana no kage ka wa | “Only today is left Of spring”—I’ll not think that for Even at such a time, Is it easy to part from The blossoms’ shade? |
Mitsune
40[i]
‘Both of these are charming,’—they tied.
[i] This poem is included as the final spring poem in Kokinshū (II: 134), attributed to Mitsune, and with the headnote, ‘A poem on the end of spring from the Poetry Contest held by Former Emperor Uda’.
Left (Win)
さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける
sakura chiru ko no shitakaze wa samukarade sora ni shirarenu yuki zo furikeru | The cherry scattering Breeze beneath the trees Lacks chill— Unaware from within the skies The snow is falling. |
Tsurayuki
13[i]
Right
わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ
wa ga kokoro haru no yamabe ni akugarete naganagashi hi o kyō mo kurashitsu | My heart to The mountainside in springtime Is drawn— The long, long day Today, too, has reached its dusk. |
Mitsune
14[ii]
The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.
[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
A poem composed by Prince Ōtsu, weeping, at Iware Pond, when he was due to die.
百傳 磐余池尓 鳴鴨乎 今日耳見哉 雲隠去牟
百伝ふ磐余の池に鳴く鴨を今日のみ見てや雲隠りなむ
momo tutapu ipare no ike ni naku kamo wo kepu nomi mite ya kumogakurinamu | A hundred tales Told at Iware Pond By the crying ducks Do I see, today, at the last As I vanish beyond the clouds? |
On an old woman wiping her face with chrysanthemum dew on the ninth day of the Ninth Month.
けふまでに我をおもへば菊の上の露は千年の玉にざりける
kyō made ni ware o omoeba kiku no ue no tsuyu wa chitose no tama nizarikeru | Up until this day Have you thought of me, so Upon the chrysanthemums These dewdrops, thousand year Jewels do not seem to be. |
Ki no Tsurayuki