Tag Archives: meadow

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 20

むらさきのねさへいろこき草なれやあきのことごとのべをそむらむ

murasaki no
ne sae irokoki
kusa nare ya
aki no kotogoto
nobe o somuramu
Do even the gromwell’s
Roots take on deeper hues
Among the grasses,
For in autumn every
Meadow does seem dyed?

39

秋のよにひとを見まくのほしければあまのかはらをたちもならすか[1]

aki no yo ni
hito o mimaku no
hoshikereba
ama no kawara o
tachi mo narasu ka
On an autumn night
To see him is
All my longing, so
On the banks of Heaven’s river
Should I be wont to stand?

40


[1] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Mandaishū (1801) and Shokugoshūishū (688): 秋の夜に人をみまくのほしければ天の川原を立ちならすかな aki no yo ni / hito o mimaku no / hoshikereba / ama no kawara o / tachinarasu kana ‘On an autumn night / To see him is / All my longing, so / On the banks of Heaven’s river / Is where I ever stand!’ (Anonymous).

Dairi uta’awase Kanna Gan-nen 3

Fields
 
Left

いつしかもゆきてはやみむあきのののはなのしたひもとけはてぬらん

itsu shika mo
yukite wa yamimu
aki no no no
hana no shitahimo
tokehatenuran
Swiftly
Shall I halt my travels
In an autumn meadow;
A blossom’s underbelt
Seems completely undone.

Korenari
5

Right (Win)

かりにとやいもはまつらんあきのののはなみるほどはいへぢわすれぬ

kari ni to ya
imo wa matsuran
aki no no no
hana miru hodo wa
ieji wasurenu
Is it but briefly that
My sweetheart should wait?
In an autumn meadow
While gazing at the flowers
The way home I have quite forgot!

Nagayoshi
6

Love VIII: 24

Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮

kono koro no
kokoro no soko o
yoso ni miba
shika naku nobe no
aki no yūgure
Of late
Of the depths of my heart
Were you to catch a distant glimpse:
A stag belling in the meadow
On an autumn evening…

A Servant Girl
1067

Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也

kurekakaru
susono no tsuyu ni
shika nakite
hito matsu sode mo
namida sou nari
Twilight
Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts,
With a stag’s sad cry;
Awaiting him, my sleeves, too,
Are wet with tears.

Nobusada
1068

Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.

In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.

Tentoku 4 Dairi uta’awase 30-31

Left.

夏草のなかを露けみかき分けて刈る人なしにしげる野辺かな

natu kusa no
naka o tuyukemi
kakiwakete
karu Fito nasi ni
sigeru nobe kana
The summer grasses
Midst is dew-drenched;
Forging through,
With no one to reap them
This meadow is lush, indeed!

Tadami

Right.

夏ふかくなりぞしにけるおほあらきの杜の下草なべて人かる

natu Fukaku
nari zo sinikeru
oFoaraki no
mori no sitagusa
nabete Fito karu
Deep within the summer
It is now:
At Ōaraki
In the sacred groves, the undergrowth
Is arrayed for men to reap it!

Kanemori