Tag Archives: momiji

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 43

Round Seven

Left (Tie)

色色にそむる紅葉に立田姫心のほどのみえもするかな

iroiro ni
somuru momiji ni
tatsutahime
kokoro no hodo no
mie mo suru kana
In the multitude of shades
Dyeing the scarlet leaves,
Princess Tatsuta’s
Deep thought and care
Can be seen!

Sadanaga
85

Right

いろいろにとり染めてけり立田姫はしむらごなる衣手の杜

iroiro ni
torisometekeri
tatsutahime
hashi muragonaru
koromode no mori
In a multitude of shades
Has her dye taken;
Princess Tatsuta stains
The edges dark and light of
The sacred grove at Koromode.

Lord Suetsune
86

The Left has nothing remarkable about it, and its ending is old-fashioned, I think. The Right, too, seems to be in the eccentric style, and so it’s impossible for me to say anything else about either of them.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 42

Round Six

Left (Win)

山姫はもみぢのにしきおりてけりたちなやつしそ嶺の朝霧

yamahime wa
momiji no nishiki
oritekeri
tachi na yatsushi so
mine no asagiri
The mountain’s princess,
Of scarlet leaves brocade
Has woven;
In your rising don’t despoil it,
O, morning mists upon the peak!

Lord Kinshige
83

Right

しぐれには紅葉の色ぞまさりける又かきくもる空はいとはじ

shigure ni wa
momiji no iro zo
masarikeri
mata kakikumoru
sora wa itowaji
A shower makes
The scarlet leaves’ hues
Most fine;
So, the swiftly clouding
Sky I could not dislike.

Lord Masahira

84

The Right sounds as if the poet has just come to the revelation that, even though a showery sky is charming, can one possibly dislike it, given that it improves the hues of the scarlet leaves. The Left isn’t bad, but it does have two identical sounds ending lines, and this has been called the same-sounding rhyme fault, I believe. With that being said, in the Tentoku Poetry Match, there were some poems with this feature which were criticized, and some which were not, so I wonder if this is not something to particularly worry about. In this poem it doesn’t sound like a defect and, taking this together with the fact that the Right’s poem is poor, the Left should win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 41

Round Five

Left

あさひ山みねの紅葉をみわたせばよもの木末に照りまさりけり

asahiyama
mine no momiji o
miwataseba
yomo no kozue ni
terimasarikeri
When upon Asahi Mountain’s
Peak of scarlet leaves
I turn my gaze,
All over, the treetops
Shine most bright!

Tamechika
81

Right (Win)

紅のやしほの色にめかれすなおなじはもりの神といへども

kurenai no
yashio no iro ni
mekaresu na
onaji hamori no
kami to iedomo
From the scarlet,
Deeply dyed, hues
O, avert not your eyes!
Though the same leaves’ guardian
Deity you are called…

Moromitsu
82

The Left has nothing particular to say and its expression is awkward. As for the Right, a number of learned men seem to have said that one does not compose about the guardian deity of the leaves in relation to trees in general, but about oak trees, yet a great many things have deities to protect them, so I wonder if the guardian deity of the leaves could be a deity for all types of tree—couldn’t it protect any of them? Thus, in this poem, too, couldn’t that be the case? While the concluding ‘though you are called’sounds overly direct, it appears it should win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 39

Round Three

Left

くれなゐのこぞめの色とみえつるや八しほの岡の紅葉なるらん

kurenai no
kozome no iro to
mietsuru ya
yashio no oka no
momiji naruran
With scarlet
Hues deeply dyed
Do, perhaps, seem
Yashio Hill’s
Autumn leaves?

Kenshō
77

Right (Win)

初時雨ふりにし里をきてみればみかきが原は紅葉しにけり

hatsu shigure
furinishi sato o
kitemireba
mikaki ga hara wa
momijinishikeri
The first showers
Have fallen on this ancient estate
I have come to see:
Mikaki Field has
All turned to autumn hues.

Suketaka
78

While the Left displays great technical skill in juxtaposing ‘deeply dyed with scarlet hues’ and ‘Yashio Hill’, the Right at present is conclusively composed with a somewhat more decorous configuration relaxed manner. In this it conveys emotion as poems of old did, and so I believe it should certainly win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 38

Round Two

Left (Win)

秋霧のたえまにみゆる紅葉ばやたちのこしたる錦なるらん

akigiri no
taema ni miyuru
momijiba ya
tachinokoshitaru
nishiki naruran
The autumn mists have
Gaps revealing
Scarlet leaves—
Remaining offcuts of
Brocade, perhaps?

Lord Tsunemori
75

Right

もみぢちる立田の山はえぞこえぬ錦をふまむ道をしらねば

momiji chiru
tatsuta no yama wa
e zo koenu
nishiki o fumamu
michi o shiraneba
Scattered with scarlet leaves
Tatsuta Mountain
I cannot cross, for
To tread upon a brocade
Path I know not how…

Lord Yorimasa
76

The Right is a poem on fallen leaves and blossom—something about which many people have composed in the recent past and modern times, too. The Left sounds as if it truly depicts things as they are. Its overall construction is lovely, too, so it should win.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 13

Round One

Deer

Left (Tie)

さをしかも秋をかなしとおもへばやときしも声をたてて鳴くらん

saoshika mo
aki o kanashi to
omoeba ya
toki shimo koe o
tatete nakuran
Does the stag, too,
Autumn’s sadness
Feel?
That at this time, of all, his cry
Should ring out so…

Lord Shige’ie
25

Right

嶺になく鹿の音ちかくきこゆなり紅葉吹きおろす夜はのあらしに

mine ni naku
shika no ne chikaku
kikoyu nari
momiji fuki’orosu
yowa no arashi ni
Crying upon the peak
The stag’s bell close by
Sounds, carried
With blown down scarlet leaves
On the midnight storm…

Lord Tsunemori
26

The Left truly sounds as if it grasps the conception with its use of ‘of all, his cry’. The Right, too, is poetic with ‘blown down scarlet leaves’. There may be some who say that one should not compose using a subsidiary topic, yet in the poetry match held in Tentoku[i] and the poetry match held by Emperor Kazan[ii], this was judged not to be a fault.


[i] This was the Dairi uta’awase Tentoku yo-nen 内裏歌合 天徳四年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Tentoku 4’) held by Emperor Murakami on the 30th day of the Third Month, Tentoku 4 [28.4.960].

[ii] This was the Dairi uta’awase Kanna gan-nen 内裏歌合 寛和元年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Kanna 1’) held by Emperor Kazan the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1 [28.8.985].

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 34

Round Thirty-Four

Left

世のうさに秋の心のふかければおつる涙ももみぢしにけり

yo no usa ni
aki no kokoro no
fukakereba
otsuru namida mo
momijishinikeri
With the cruelty of this world,
In autumn, my heart is full
Down to its depths, so
Even my dripping tears
Have turned to scarlet hues.

Iemoto
67

Right (Win)

おもひでも又待つ事もなけれどもさすがに世こそすてもやられね

omoide mo
mata matsu koto mo
nakeredomo
sasuga ni yo koso
sute mo yararene
If I recall
I still to await
Have nothing at all, yet
Even so, indeed, this world
I am not ready to abandon!

Yūsei
68

Neither has anything wrong with it, yet the Right is superior.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 23

Round Twenty-Three

Left (Win)

雪ふかみしづのふせ屋もうづもれて煙ばかりぞしるしなりける

yuki fukami
shizu no fuseya mo
uzumorete
keburi bakari zo
shirushi narikeru
Snow so deep that
The peasants’ huts, too,
Are buried, and
The smoke, alone, is
Their only sign!

Kinshige
45

Right

花の春もみぢの秋もしるかりし松の木ずゑもみえぬ白雪

hana no haru
momiji no aki mo
shirukarishi
matsu no kozue mo
mienu shirayuki
By blossom is spring, and
By scarlet leaves is autumn
Known—
The treetops of the pines
Invisible with snow, so white.

Kūnin
46

The Left poem’s conception of ‘sign of smoke’ sounds particularly profound. As for the Right, it is possible for enough snow to fall to conceal a pine’s lower leaves, too, so the poem does not sound satisfying.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 21

Round Twenty-One

Left (Win)

小倉山木木のもみぢのくれなゐはみねの嵐のおろすなりけり

ogurayama
kigi no momiji no
kurenai wa
mine no arashi no
orosu narikeri
On gloomy Mount Ogura
The leaves upon the trees,
So scarlet,
By the storm wind from the peak
Are tossed down.

Lord Kiyosuke
41

Right

ふかくあさきもみぢばながるあすか河ふちせは色にあらはれにけり

fukaku asaki
momijiba nagaru
asukagawa
fuchise wa iro ni
arawarenikeri
Across both depths and shallows
Flow the scarlet leaves
On the Asuka river,
Among the rapids and the pools
Have they appeared.

Shun’e
42

Neither of these is bad. The Right violates the five syllable pattern; the Left has no faults.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 20

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.