Tag Archives: kyō

Teiji-in uta’awase 37

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

Teiji-in uta’awase 20

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’.

Teiji-in uta’awase 07

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’.

MYS III: 416

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?

Tsurayuki-shū 321

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