Tag Archives: leaves

Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase

Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase 04

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Original

あきやまはからくれなゐになりにけりいくしほしぐれふりてそめけむ

akiyama wa
karakurenai ni
narinikeri
iku shio shigure
furite somekemu		The autumn mountains
To Cathay scarlet
Have turned;
How many dippings with drizzle
Have fallen to dye them so?

9

Left

しぐれつつくれなゐふかくやまのはもあきはてゆけばかひなかりけり

shiguretsutsu
kurenai fukaku
yama no ha mo
aki hateyukeba
kainakarikeri		With every shower
The scarlet deepens
Of the leaves upon the mountain—
With autumn reaching its ending
How pointless that is…

10

Right

いくしほもしぐれはふらじさほひめのふかくそめたるいろとこそみれ

iku shio mo
shigure wa furaji
saohime no
fukaku sometaru
iro to koso mire		No matter how many dippings
With drizzle fall,
Princess Sao’s
Deeply dyed
Hues we see!

11

Nishinomiya uta'awase

Nishinomiya uta’awase 07

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Insect and Evenings

Round Seven

Left

はふりこがしめゆふ野べの鈴虫は夕つけてこそふりたててなけ

hōriko ga
shimeyū nobe no
suzumushi wa
yū tsukete koso
furitatete nake		The priests have
Garlanded the meadows where
The bell crickets
With the fall of evening
Sing out so loud.

Major Archbishop
13

Right

神がきのいはねにさせる榊葉にゆふかけてなく鈴虫のこゑ

kamigaki no
iwane ni saseru
sakakiba ni
yū kakete naku
suzumushi no koe		Within the sacred precincts
At the crags’ foot thrust
Are leaves from the sacred tree
To the garlands clinging, as crying
Come the bell crickets’ songs.

Tadasue, Senior Assistant Minister of the Sovereign’s Household
14

I would say that both of these, Left and Right, are of the same quality in terms of diction and configuration.

Fubokushō, Tsurayuki uta'awase

Fubokushō X: 3910

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From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house in Tengyō 2 – The beginning of autumn.

松もなくしげき木の葉は夏ながらもみぢの色ぞ染めはじめける

matsu mo naku
shigeki no ha wa
natsu nagara
momiji no iro zo
somehajimekeru		Not waiting at all
The leaves upon the trees, so lush
In summer, have
With scarlet hues
Begun to be dyed!

Anonymous

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 38

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Round Thirty-Eight

Left

今更にふしもさだめぬ鹿の音よ木葉の数のつもるよごとに

ima sara ni
fushi mo sadamenu
shika no ne yo
ko no ha no kazu no
tsumoru goto ni		At around this time,
With his bedding undecided,
The stag bells out!
Just as the leaves’ from on the trees numbers
Do mount up…

Shō
75

Right (Win)

木葉ちる夜半の嵐の月影に心すみてや鹿も鳴くらん

ko no ha chiru
yowa no arashi no
tsukikage ni
kokoro sumite ya
shika mo nakuran		Leaves scatter from the trees
In the midnight storm
In the moonlight
From his wild and earthy thoughts
Does the stag, too, cry out?

Nagatsuna
76

The Left’s ‘just as the leaves from on the trees numbers do mount up’ at night and so forth, appears to be a novel style, yet the Right poem sounds more gorgeous, so it wins.

Entō ōn'uta'awase

Entō ōn’uta’awase 26

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Round Twenty-Six

Left

秋萩の露もよすがのさがり葉も風吹きたつる色ぞ身にしむ

akihagi no
tsuyu mo yosuga no
sagariba mo
kaze fukitatsuru
iro zo mi ni shimu		On the autumn bush clover
Dewdrops rest upon
The dangling leaves,
Whipped up by the wind,
Their hues sharply sink into my flesh.

The Former Minister of the Centre
51

Right (Win)

さだめなき風を待つ間もうつろひぬもとあらの萩にむすぶ白露

sadamenaki
kaze o matsu ma mo
utsuroinu
motoara no hagi ni
musubu shiratsuyu		While the unsettled
Breeze they do await,
Faded from
The sparse bush clover have
The clinging dewdrops.[1]

Kozaishō
52

The Left poem’s ‘rest upon the dangling leaves, whipped up by the wind’ seems a novel style, and yet, even though everything about dangling leaves is contained in the Ancient and Modern, it does not sound particularly evocative. The Right lacks even a small fault and appears gorgeous, so it should win.

[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 宮木野のもとあらの小萩つゆをおもみ風をまつごと君をこそまつ miyagino no / motoara no kohagi / tsuyu o omomi / kaze o matsu goto / kimi o koso matsu ‘On Miyagi Plain / The sparse bush clover / Weighed down with dewdrops / Awaits the wind, just as / I do wait for you…’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 694)