Felicitations
Round One
Left
みどりなるまつかげひたすいけ水にちよのすみかとみゆるやどかな
| midori naru matsukage hitasu ikemizu ni chiyo no sumika to miyuru yado kana | Evergreen The pine tree’s shapes sink Into the pond waters— A residence for a thousand ages Does that dwelling seem! |
Lord Dainagon
57
Right (Win)
ちとせともいろにはいでていはし水ながれむほどは君がよなれば
| chitose to mo iro ni wa idete iwashimizu nagaremu hodo wa kimi ga yo nareba | For a thousand years or more Does its hue emerge— Spring waters from the rocks Might flow as long as My Lord’s reign will be, so… |
Lord Chūnagon
58
What on earth might be the colour of the Left poem’s ‘pine tree’s shapes sink’ and the Right poem’s ‘thousand years’ hue’? When one talks about ‘hue’ that means ‘scarlet’ and, in addition, it’s used of blossoms or autumn leaves. I have yet to see wisteria colouring the water in numerous private collections. The two poems are about the same, but the Right is marred by a series of faults.
The Left’s ‘shapes sink’ is extremely vague. ‘Sink’ means to submerge an object in water. One could certainly compose about a pine tree’s branches sinking, but how can we accept ‘shapes sink’ to mean an object’s reflection from beneath the water in the absence of a poem as precedent? The end is extremely, charming, though.
The poem of the Right doesn’t have anything special about it. It’s a pedestrian affair which doesn’t seem to show much evidence of thought. How are we to distinguish between a poem which is hackneyed but lacking any faults and one which is vague?
Round Twenty-Two
Left
おひやらぬいはねのまつはわれなれやひさしくよよにみどりなるかな
| oiyaranu iwane no matsu wa ware nare ya hisashiku yoyo ni midori naru kana | A spindly Pine growing in the crag-cracks Am I? Forever through the years I am stuck at green! |
Minamoto no Munenaga
143
Right (Win)
いけみづのいひいでずともおもひかねふかきうれへをかみはしるらむ
| ikemizu no ii’idezu tomo omoikane fukaki uree o kami wa shiruramu | As pond waters behind A sluice gate, I say nothing, yet I cannot help but wonder: The depths of my despair— Does the deity know it? |
Fujiwara no Noritsune
144
The conception of the Left’s poem, saying, ‘Forever through the years’ sounds pleasant, but I feel it’s a bit hackneyed, given the poem, ‘Solitary pinecone / Is green!’[1] The poem of the Right’s ‘As pond waters behind / A sluice gate, I say’ is also pedestrian, yet ‘The depths of my despair— / Does the deity know it?’ contains some conception. It’s a little better, I’d say.
[1] Composed when he had gone to the residence of Narisuke, the Chief Priest of Kamo, when drunk, was sorrowing that he had yet to be promoted. もみぢするかつらのなかにすみよしのまつのみひとりみどりなるかな momijisuru / katsura no naka ni / sumiyoshi no / matsu no mi hitori / midori naru kana ‘Among the scarlet-leaved / Katsura, / Sumiyoshi’s / Solitary pinecone / Is green!’ Kunimoto, the Governor of Tsu (GSIS XVII: 987)
Composed when he had gone to the residence of Narisuke, the Chief Priest of Kamo, when drunk, was sorrowing that he had yet to be promoted.
もみぢするかつらのなかにすみよしのまつのみひとりみどりなるかな
| momidisuru katura no naka ni sumiyosi no matu no mi Fitori midori naru kana | Among the scarlet-leaved Katsura, Sumiyoshi’s Solitary pinecone Is green! |
Kunimoto, the Governor of Tsu
Original
かすがののけふのみゆきをまつばらのちとせのはるはきみがまにまに
| kasugano no kyō no miyuki o matsubara no chitose no haru wa kimi ga manimani | On Kasuga Plain Today’s progress Awaited have the pine groves, A thousand years of springtimes, Just as my Lady’s thoughts. [1] |
Mitsune
31
Left
ゆくさきのはるをとほくしまかすればいまはちとせのうたがひもなし
| yukusaki no haru o tōkushi makasureba ima wa chitose no utagai mo nashi | Future Springtimes to distant times May we entrust, for Now that she will live a thousand years more There is no doubt, at all. |
32
Right (Win)
むれたちてわれをまつてふかすがののみどりふかくやおもひそめけむ
| muretachite ware o matsu chō kasugano no midori fukaku ya omoisomekemu | Growing crowded together, and Awaiting me are the pines On Kasuga Plain— Why should their green so deeply Seem to think of me? |
33
[1] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Mitsune-shū (325) with the same headnote as for poem (22), above.
Round Twenty
Scarlet Leaves
Left (Tie)
秋されば暁つゆにいもが袖まきぎの山ににほふもみぢば
| aki sareba akatsuki tsuyu ni imo ga sode makigi no yama ni niou momijiba | When the autumn comes, With the dawn, the dewdrops, as Upon a sweet girl’s sleeves, At Makigi Mountain Bring a lustre to the scarlet leaves… |
Masashige
39
Right
下染はおなじみどりにみし程も紅葉の色のうすくこきかな
| shitazome wa onaji midori ni mishi hodo mo momiji no iro no usuku koki kana | First dyed All with green, When I gazed upon them, now The scarlet leaves’ hues are Pale and vibrant both! |
Kūnin
40
The Left has a lofty tone, yet the Right is still smooth. Thus, I make this a tie.
Summer Poems Twenty Rounds
Left
蝉のこゑ聞けばかなしな夏衣うすくや人のならむと思へば
| semi no koe kikeba kanashi na natsu koromo usuku ya hito no naramu to omoeba | The cicadas’ cry: There’s a sadness in the sound; Summer clothes Are thin, as her feelings Will be, I feel. |
41[1]
Right
にほひつつ散りにし花ぞおもほゆる夏はみどりの葉のみしげりて
| nioitsutsu chirinishi hana zo omohoyuru natsu wa midori no ha nomi shigerite | Ever scented, The scattered blossoms, indeed, I do recall, for In summer the green Leaves, alone, are lush… |
42
[1] Kokinshū XIV: 715, attributed to Ki no Tomonori/Shinsen man’yōshū 43/Kokin rokujō VI: 3973
