leg-wearying | Waka Poetry

Round Seven

Left (Win)

あしひきのやまがくれなるさくらばなちりのこれりと風にしらすな

ashihiki no
yamagakure naru
sakurabana
chirinokoreri to
kaze ni shirasu na

Within the leg-wearing
Mountains concealed,
O, cherry blossom,
That you linger and not scatter,
Do not tell the wind!

Shōni no myōbu
14[1]

Right

としごとにきつつわがみるさくらばなかすみもいまはたちなかくしそ

toshi goto ni
kitsutsu wa ga miru
sakurabana
kasumi mo ima wa
tachi na kakushi so

Every single year
I hear of and gaze upon
Cherry blossom:
The haze, too, now
Arising, don’t hide them!

Nakatsukasa

The Left’s poem is extremely charming – that really is how things are.

The Right’s poem: where is it that you always hear of and then see them? This is a bit rough. There’s also no reason to include the expression ‘now’ here. Thus, the Left wins.

[1] A variant of this poem was later included in Shūishū (I: 66).

When there was a heavy spring shower falling, on the way back after I had made a pilgrimage to the two places.[i]

春雨にうちそほちつつあし曳の山ぢゆくらむ山人やたれ

harusame ni
uchisōchitsutsu
ashihiki no
yamaji yukuramu
yamabito ya tare

By rains in springtime,
I am ever drenched, upon
Leg-wearing
Mountain trails I may have gone, but
Who might the immortal be?[ii]

594

[i] ‘Two places’ (nisho 二所) was an abbreviation for ‘manifested deities of two shrines’ (nisho gongen 二所権現) which, in turn, was a reference to Hakone-gongen 箱根権現 and Izu-gongen 伊豆権現, the kami of Hakone shrine and Izuyama Shrine, manifesting as Buddhist deities. Both of these deities were venerated by Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199), the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, and his wife, Hōjō Masako 北条政子 (1157-1225) and after Yoritomo’s death, shogun’s continued to make an annual pilgrimage to both shrines.

[ii] See: A single poem presented in reply by Prince Toneri. 安之比奇能　山尓由伎家牟　夜麻妣等能　情母之良受　山人夜多礼 ashihiki no / yama ni yukikemu / yamabito no / kokoro mo shirazu / yamabito ya tare ‘To the leg-wearying / Mountains seeming to have gone / An immortal’s / Heart I cannot know, but / Who might that immortal be?’ (Man’yōshū XX: 4294)