Tag Archives: maidenflower

Nishinomiya uta'awase

Nishinomiya uta’awase 12

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Round Twelve

Left

あふことをいなみ野に咲く女郎花をらぬものゆゑ袖ぞ露けき

au koto o
inamino ni saku
ominaeshi
oranu mono yue
sode zo tsuyukeki		A meeting she
Declines—blooming upon Inami Plain,
A maidenflower
I have not picked, yet
How dew-drenched my sleeves!

Taiyu no Suke
23

Right

うき人の心なりせばをみなへし吹くとも風になびかざらまし

ukibito no
kokoro nariseba
ominaeshi
fuku tomo kaze ni
nabikazaramashi		That cruel girl’s
Heart did they but have, then
The maidenflowers,
With the gusting of the wind
Would not bend at all, no doubt…

Tadasue
24

‘With the gusting of the wind’ and so forth sounds more in keeping with the topic at present than ‘blooming upon Inami Plain, / A maidenflower’.

Nishinomiya uta'awase

Nishinomiya uta’awase 11

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The Same and Maidenflowers

Round Eleven

Left

恋しさにおもひよそへて女郎花折るわが袖ぞいとど露けき

koishisa ni
omoi’yosoete
ominaeshi
oru wa ga sode zo
itodo tsuyukeki		In my yearning
Alike, I feel, is
This maidenflower—
The sleeve I picked her with is
Utterly drenched with dew!

The Former Assistant Governor-General
21

Right

なつかしく折る手にかをれ女郎花恋しき人もわするばかりに

natsukashiku
oru te ni kaore
ominaeshi
koishiki hito mo
wasuru bakari ni		So sweetly
In my hand that picked you shine,
O, maidenflower!
That the one I love
I would forget a while…

His Excellency, the Head
22

The Left’s ‘sleeve I picked her with is / Utterly drenched with dew’ is a form of words entirely in tune with the topic—it appears charmingly exactly how a poem in a poetry match should be. Then the Right expresses as somewhat shallow and unreliable conception of love that might be forgotten in the face of the shine of a maidenflower picked and held in the hand. Thus, I feel the dew-drenched sleeves are superior here, aren’t they.

Tōin senzai awase

Tōin senzai awase 06

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Left — Maidenflowers

うつろへるところありともをみなへしのべのふるさとわすれざらなむ

utsuroeru
tokoro ari tomo
ominaeshi
nobe no furusato
wasurezaranamu		Faded
Spots they have, yet,
Maidenflowers
At an old estate among the fields
Never will I forget!

7

Right

あきののにあだなのみたつをみなへし花さかぬまはしる人ぞなき

aki no no ni
adana nomi tatsu
ominaeshi
hana sakanu ma wa
shiru hito zo naki		In the autumn plains
Faithless rumours, alone, arise
Of my maidenflower—
But while she is not in bloom,
There’s no one knows, at all!

8

Yasuakira shinnō tachihaki no jin uta'awase

Yasuakira shinnō tachihaki no jin uta’awase 03

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Maidenflowers

Left

あきかぜはふかずもあらなむをみなへししるもしらぬもおもふこころは

akikaze wa
fukazu mo aranamu
ominaeshi
shiru mo shiranu mo
omou kokoro wa		Even should the autumn breeze
Fail to blow,
O, maidenflower, still
Those who know you and know you not,
Would hold you in their hearts…

Taira no Yasū
5

Right (Win)

をみなへしおひたるのべにふきかかるあきののかぜにみをやそへまし

ominaeshi
oitaru nobe ni
fukikakaru
aki no nokaze ni
mi o ya soemashi		Maidenflowers
Growing in the meadows
Brushed by the blowing
Autumn wind o’er the fields—
O, how I wish it trailed over me, too…

Tomo no Tadanori
(or in some texts Toshizane)
6

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta'awase

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 09

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Round Nine

Left (Win)

女郎花いづれの秋かみえざりし野原の霧に立ちなかくれそ

ominaeshi
izure no aki ka
miezarishi
nohara no kiri ni
tachi na kakure so		O, maidenflower,
In which autumn is it, that
You have remained unseen?
In the mists upon the meadow
Stand and don’t hide yourself!

Kataoka Shrine Priest Kamo no Masahira
17

Right

心から夜のまの露にしほたれてあさじめりする女郎花かな

kokoro kara
yo no ma no tsuyu ni
shiotarete
asajimerisuru
ominaeshi kana		Her heart
Throughout the night with dewdrops
Drenches her,
Dripping with morning tears is
The maidenflower!

Fujiwara no Koreyuki, Supernumerary Junior Assistant Minster of the Sovereign’s Household
18

The Left is extremely absorbingly composed. As for the Right, though, I wonder about the use of being ‘drenched with dewdrops’—while it does put me in mind of fisherfolk at Ise, because it fails to indicate anything in the conception of the topic, it should lose, I think.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta'awase

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 07

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Round Seven

Left (Win)

萩がはな分けゆく程は古郷へかへらぬ人もにしきをぞきる

hagi ga hana
wakeyuku hodo wa
furusato e
kaeranu hito mo
nishiki o zo kiru		When through the bush-clover blooms
He forges his way,
To his ancient home
Never to return—that man, too,
Wears a fine brocade!

Minamoto no Arifusa, Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division

13

Right

声たてて鳴くむしよりも女郎花いはぬ色こそ身にはしみけれ

koe tatete
naku mushi yori mo
ominaeshi
iwanu iro koso
mi ni wa shimikere		They lift their songs in
Plaintive cries, but far more than the insects
‘Tis the maidenflower’s
Wordless hue that truly
Pierce my soul!

Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs Sadanaga
14

The Left is well-composed, but what is the Right’s ‘wordless hue’? Are we supposed to imagine that the expression means ‘silent yellow’? This is difficult to grasp, isn’t it. Whatever way you look at it, the Left seems to win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta'awase

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 06

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Round Six

Left (Tie)

むつごともいはまほしきを女郎花くちなし色のつらくもあるかな

mutsugoto mo
iwamahoshiki o
ominaeshi
kuchinashi iro no
tsuraku mo aru kana		A lover’s whisper is
What I wish you’d say to me,
O, maidenflower, but
Your silent yellow hue
Is cruel, indeed!

Minamoto no Moromitsu, Supernumerary Master of the Right Capital Office
11

Right

女郎花はなの心はしらねども名をきくにこそをらまほしけれ

ominaeshi
hana no kokoro wa
shiranedomo
na o kiku ni koso
oramahoshikere		O, maidenflower,
A flower’s heart,
I cannot know, yet
Simply on hearing your name,
How I wish to pick you!

Hōribe no Narinaka, Hiyoshi Shrine Priest
12

The Left is charming. However, would a flower which is not ‘silent yellow’ be saying something? It’s more common to say that flowers say nothing. Even so, this is not a profound fault, so it’s better to evaluate this poem as charming. The Right is elegantly composed—saying ‘simply on hearing your name’, just sounds skillful, so it’s impossible for me to state a winner or loser this round.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta'awase

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 02

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Round Two

Left (Win)

花すすき誰ともわかずまねくにも心をとむる我やなになり

hanasusuki
tare tomo wakazu
maneku ni mo
kokoro o tomuru
wa ya nani nari		The silver grass fronds
Care not who
They beckon, yet
Entranced
What am I to them them?

Lord Taira no Tsunemori, Assistant Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household
3

Right

あだにおく夜のまの露にむすぼほれて思ひしほるる女郎花かな

ada ni oku
yo no ma no tsuyu ni
musubōrete
omoishioruru
ominaeshi kana		Faithlessly falling
In the night, the dewdrops
Have drenched
The dejected
Maidenflower!

Former Minor Captain, Lord Fujiwara no Kinshige
4

This round the poems, again, are equal in quality, but the Right’s use of ‘dejected’ as a piece of diction is vague, and in the absence of a prior example of usage, the Left should win.