Round Ten
Left
千鳥啼くさほの川霧たちぬなり嶺の紅葉の色まさりけり
| chidori naku sao no kawagiri tachinu nari mine no momiji no iro masarikeri | Plovers cry, as The mists from the Sao River Have risen; On the peaks the scarlet leaves’ Hues are fine, indeed. |
19
Right
This poem is missing from the surviving texts of the competition.
Round Nine
Left
川ぎりのふもとをこめて立ちぬれば空にぞ秋の山はみえける
| kawagiri no fumoto o komete tachinureba sora ni zo aki no yama wa miekeru | The river mists Around the foothills Have risen, so ‘Tis in the skies that autumn On the mountains is revealed. |
Fukayabu
17
Right
年毎の紅葉ばながす立田川みなとや秋のとまりなるらん
| toshigoto no momijiba nagasu tatsutagawa minato ya aki no tomari naruran | Every single year Scarlet leaves wash down The Tatsuta River; Is it at the mouth that autumn Might find its port? |
18
Groves 原
霧をいたみまのの萩原時雨れしてしづくに袖をおどろかしつる
| kiri o itami mano no hagiwara shigure shite shizuku ni sode o odorokashitsuru | Mists run round The bush-clover groves at Mano, where Drizzle falls; Droplets on my sleeves – So startling! |
Toshiyori
A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.
朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは
| asapi sasi sogapi ni miyuru kamu nagara mina ni obasesu sirakumo no tipe wo osiwake ama sosori takaki tatiyama puyu natu to waku koto mo naku sirotape ni yuki pa puri okite inisipe yu arikinikereba kogosikamo ipa no kamusabi tama kiparu ikuyo penikemu tatiwite miredomo ayasi minedakami tani wo pukami to otitagitu kiyoki ka puti ni asa sarazu kiri tati watari yupu sareba kumowi tanabiki kumowi nasu kokoro mo sino ni tatu kiri no omopi sugusazu yuku midu no woto mo sayakeku yoroduyo ni ipitugi yukamu kapa si taezu wa |
The morning sun shines At my back,and Divine Your great name links: Clouds of white In a thousand layers, you pierce, and Tower into the heavens, Tall Tachiyama! In winter and, in summer both Indistinguishably are you Clad in mulberry white Fallen drifts of snow; Since ancient days Ever has been your estate, Fastened round with Crags divine； ‘til all souls end Have countless ages passed! Standing here, I see you, yet am awed by Your lofty peak and Valley’s deep, where Plunge seething cataracts of Waters pure to pools where Morning never leaves – Mists rise and roll across, and When the evening comes Clouds trail in and Cover all, Even, with sadness, my heart, so The rising mists Never leave my thoughts, and of Your running waters’ Clear, pure sound Through ten thousand ages Will I ever tell Unending as a river’s flow… |
Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主
Oaks 柞
いはばやないはたのもりの柞原へだつるきりは立ちものくやと
| iwaba ya na iwata no mori no hahasowara hedatsuru kiri wa tachi mo noku ya to | Craggy, indeed, is The sacred grove of Iwata; The oak trees Covered by the mists Rising ever upward, they say… |
Tadafusa
夜の程に紅葉しにけりたつた山峰の薄霧いろいろに見ゆ
| yoru no hodo ni momijishinikeri tatsutayama mine no usugiri iroiro ni miyu |
In the space of just one night Have the leaves turned scarlet; On Tatsuta Mountain The faint mists around the peak Have taken on their hues. |
Cloistered Prince Kakushō
覚性法親王
春山の霧に惑へる鴬も我れにまさりて物思はめやも
| paru yama no kiri ni madoperu ugupisu mo ware ni masarite mono’omopame ya mo |
In the springtime mountains’ Mists astray Is the bush-warbler More than I Lost in gloomy thought? |
Composed when he had gone to the Uji River.
朝ぼらけ宇治の川ぎり絶々にあらはれ渡る瀬々の網代木
| asaborake udi no kaFagiri taedae ni araFarewataru sese no aziroki |
At the dawn The mists across Uji River Fade in and out Drifting across The fishing nets in the rapids. |
Middle Councillor [Fujiwara no] Sadayori (995-1045)
中納言定頼
Left (Win).
いづ方へ羽かく鴫の立ちぬらんまだ明やらぬ霧の迷ひに
| izukata e hane kaku shigi no tachinuran mada akeyaranu kiri no mayoi ni |
From where is it that The snipes’ wing-beats Do come? With no daybreak yet, They are lost amidst the mists… |
405
Right.
ほのかにも鴫の羽音ぞ聞ゆなる殘ことなき秋の寢覺に
| honoka ni mo shigi no haoto zo kikoyunaru nokoro koto naki aki no nezame ni |
Faintly Snipes’ wing-beats Do I hear; A flurry of thoughts On waking in autumn… |
406
Neither Left nor Right has any criticisms to make this round.
Shunzei’s judgement: Although both poems seem without fault, ‘a flurry of thoughts’ (nokoru koto naki) suggests all the sorrows of autumn, but the initial part of the poem states that all the poet can hear is the snipes’ wing-beats – and nothing else – so there is a disagreement in what the poem is expressing. I do wonder about the initial line of the Left’s poem, but it should win.
Left (Win).
山遠き門田の末は霧晴て穂波に沈む有明の月
| yama tōki kadota no sue wa kiri harete honami ni shizumu ariake no tsuki |
By the distant mountains, At the farthest reach of fields before my gates, The mists are clearing, and Sinking amongst the waves of rice-ears is The dawntime moon… |
395
Right.
夕月夜ほのめく影も哀なり稲葉の風は袖に通ひて
| yūzukuyo honomeku kage mo awarenari inaba no kaze wa sode ni kayoite |
The autumn evening moon’s Faint light is Moving, indeed; The wind upon the rice-stalks Passing o’er my sleeves… |
396
The Right simply say that the Left’s poem is ‘good’. The Left have no criticisms of the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘dawntime moon’ (ariake no tsuki) and the Right’s ‘early evening moon’ are both deeply moving; the Left, continuing with ‘at the farthest reach of fields before my gates, the mists are clearing’ (kadota no sue wa kiri harete) is particularly fine, I feel. ‘Sinking amongst the waves of rice-ears’ (honami ni shizumu) is certainly technically proficient, and yet lacks a certain profundity. And yet, the initial ‘By the distant mountains’ (yama tōki) show a true depth. It should win.