はかなくて今夜あけなば行く年のおもひでもなき春にやあはなん
| hakanakute koyoi akenaba yuku toshi no omoide mo naki haru ni ya awanan | So briefly Tonight has dawned, that The departing year Leaves no memories, save That we might meet in springtime? |
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Tag Archives: memories
Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 62
Round Twelve
Left (Win)
ほのかにてあるかなきかにすぐるみやなみまにまがふあまのいさりび
| honoka nite aru ka naki ka ni suguru mi ya namima ni magau ama no isaribi | Faintly, Uncertain if I’m here or not Do I pass through? Entangled between the waves, A fisherman’s torch. |
Lord Suetsune
123
Right
すみよしのなをたのみこししるしありてかへるみやこにおもひいでもがな
| sumiyoshi no na o tanomikoshi shirushi arite kaeru miyako ni omoi’ide mogana | In Sumiyoshi’s Name did I place my trust— Had it some effect then On returning to the capital Happy memories, I would have! |
Takanobu
124
The Left appears to have pleasant configuration and diction, saying ‘Entangled between the waves, / A fisherman’s torch’. Using ‘faintly’ and then concluding with ‘fisherman’s torch’ is extremely charming, but I do wonder about describing a person’s passage through the world as ‘faint’. The Right sounds elegant in style, but saying, ‘On returning to the capital / Happy memories, I would have!’ could be saying that the memories are of the return to the capital itself, and I don’t feel this matches with the initial part of the poem. In addition, is the conception of wanting the deity’s aid for the return? This sounds rather capricious. The Left has a pleasant configuration, and thus it should win.
Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 51
Personal Grievances
Round One
Left
むかしとてみのおもひではなけれどもきみしのびねぞたえずなかるる
| mukashi tote mi no omoide wa nakeredomo kimi shinobine zo taezu nakaruru | Bygone days— Memories of me then Have I none, yet Thinking fondly of my Lord I weep constantly. |
Hyōenosuke
101
Right
いくよしもありへむものとしらぬみはうきもつらきもなにかなげかむ
| iku yo shimo ariemu mono to shiranu mi wa uki mo tsuraki mo nanika nagekamu | However many ages I may live through I know not, so For the coldness and cruelties Why should I grieve so? |
Lord Naganori
102
The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning ‘Memories of me then / Have I none, yet’ appears elegant. The conception of self-effacingly not recalling oneself but thinking fondly of one’s former master seems sadly moving. The Right’s poem appears splendidly direct in its emotional stance. With that being said, the Right lacks clear source of grief, whereas the Left has its fond recollections, and thus I have to say it wins.
