Geese in the evening
夕さればいなばのなびく秋風に空とぶかりの声もかなしや
| yū sareba inaba no nabiku akikaze ni ama tobu kari no koe mo kanashi ya | When the evening comes, Rice seedlings bend before The autumn wind, as The heaven-flying goose Calls are so sad! |
Tag Archives: namida
Kinkai wakashū 222
Dew upon the plains.
久かたの空とぶかりのなみだかもおほあらきののささのうへのつゆ
| hisakata no ama tobu kari no namida kamo ōarakino no sasa no ue no tsuyu | Eternal Heaven-flying goose Tears, perhaps? Upon Ōaraki Plain, Dew upon the dwarf-bamboo…[1] |
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. なきわたるかりの涙やおちつらむ物思ふやどの萩のうへのつゆ nakiwataru / kari no namida ya / ochitsuran / mono’omou yado no / hagi no ue no tsuyu ‘Calling across / Did the geese let tears / Fall? / My dwelling, lost in thought, / Has dew upon the bush clover.’ Anonymous (KKS IV:221); and: 如是為而也 尚哉将老 三雪零 大荒木野之 小竹尓不有九二 kakushite ya / nao ya oinuramu / miyuki furu / ōarakino no / shino ni aranaku ni ‘Is this how it is to be? / Have I yet grown old / Though covered with fair snow / On Ōaraki Plain / An arrow-bamboo I am not…’ Anonymous (MYS VII: 1349).
Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 19
Round Seven
Left (Tie)
草がくれ見えぬをしかも妻こふる声をばえこそ忍ばざりけれ
| kusagakure mienu oshika mo tsuma kouru koe oba e koso shinobazarikere | Hidden by the grasses, Unseen, the stag, too Longing for his mate, His bell, indeed, is unable To conceal! |
Lord Yorimasa
37
Right
秋の野の花のたもとに置く露や妻よぶしかの涙なるらむ
| aki no no no hana no tamoto ni oku tsuyu ya tsuma yobu shika no namida naruramu | In the autumn meadows, Upon the blossoms’ sleeves Are the fallen dewdrops The stag—calling for his mate— Letting tears fall? |
Narinaka
38
The Left is novel, and the Right charming, respectively. The Right’s poem does have a large number of identical syllables—while this is criticized in the Code of the Creation of Poetry as a ‘whole body fault’, it is not the case that poems containing this defect have not appeared in poetry matches from time to time, and I don’t feel it’s necessary to examine whether there are a large number of similar cases here: such things are simply a style of poetry.
Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 16
Round Four
Left
さをしかのなくねはよそにききつれど涙は袖の物にぞ有りける
| saoshika no naku ne wa yoso ni kikitsuredo namida wa sode no mono ni zo arikeru | The stag’s Sad bell in the distance Did I hear, yet still My tears my sleeves Have covered. |
Sadanaga
31
Right (Win)
山たかみおろすあらしやよわるらんかすかに成りぬさをしかの声
| yama takami orosu arashi ya yowaruran kasuka ni narinu saoshika no koe | From the mountain’s heights Descending, has the storm wind Weakened? Faintly comes The stag’s bell. |
Lord Suetsune
32
I do wonder about the Left, given that there appears to be a poem by the late Lord Toshiyori:
さをしかのなくねは野べにきこゆれどなみだは床の物にぞ有りける
| saoshika no naku ne wa nobe ni kikoyuredo namida wa toko no mono ni zo arikeru[1] | The stag’s Sad bell upon the plain I heard, yet My tears my bed Have covered. |
I am a little leery of the Right’s central line, but overall it is not the case that this poem lacks conception, so it should win.
[1] KYS (3) III: 225 Composed on ‘listening to stags in a hut in the fields’. Also SZS V: 310 ‘Composed when he heard a stag belling while at a mountain retreat in Tanakami’. Also Sanboku kikashū 451 ‘Listening to stags in a hut in the fields’.
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 28
Round Twenty-Eight
Left
わぎもこをかたまつよひの秋風はをぎのうはばをよきてふかなん
| wagimoko o kata matsu yoi no akikaze wa ogi no uwaba o yokite fukanan | For my darling girl I wait filled with longing, tonight I would the autumn wind The cogon grass fronds Pass by in its blowing! |
Shun’e
55
Right (Win)
朝夕におつる涙や恋草のしげみにすがる露と成るらん
| asayū ni otsuru namida ya koigusa no shigemi ni sugaru tsuyu to naruran | Morn and eve My falling tears to Love’s grasses Lush do cling and Turn to dewdrops. |
Atsuyori
56
The Right poem’s use of diction and expression has nothing wrong with it and is entirely appropriate.
Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 16
Round Sixteen
The Moon
Left (Tie)
今よりはふけ行くまでに月はみしその事となく涙おちけり
| ima yori wa fukeyuku made ni tsuki wa mishi sono koto to naku namida ochikeri | From now Until it set, Did I gaze upon the moon Had it not been there, then Would have my tears fell. |
Lord Kiyosuke
31
Right
待つ人のこぬもおもへばつらからずねなばこよひの月をみましや
| matsu hito no konu mo omoeba tsurakarazu nenaba koyoi no tsuki o mimashi ya | The man I await Has failed to come, I think, but I’ll not be downcast, for Had I to bed tonight Would I have gazed upon the moon? |
Kūnin
32
Both have deep feeling—it really is impossible to distinguish them.
Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 01
Warblers
Round One
Left (Tie)
鶯のなく木の本にふる雪はは風に花のちるかとぞみる
| uguisu no naku ki no moto ni furu yuki wa hakaze ni hana no chiru ka to zo miru | The warbler Sings from in a tree, its roots Covered by falling snow; Breeze stirred by its wingbeats, blossom Does seem to scatter. |
Lord Kiyosuke
1
Right
うぐひすのなきて木づたふ梅がえにこぼるる露や涙なるらん
| uguisu no nakite kozutau ume ga e ni koboruru tsuyu ya namida naruran | The warbler Crying flits from Branch to plum branch; Has the dripping dew His tears, perhaps, become? |
Shun’e
2
Both Left and Right proceed smoothly, but what are we to make of the line ‘Crying flits’ in the Right’s poem? As this is also an expression which implies that dew is falling, these should tie.
SCSS XX: 1350
Genji monogatari 253
Miotsukushi
誰により世をうみやまに行きめぐり絶えぬ涙にうきしづむ身ぞ
| tare ni yori yo o umi yama ni yukimeguri taenu namida ni ukishizumu mi zo | For whose sake did I The mountains and the sorry seas Traverse In endless tears Sunk in grief? |
Hikaru Genji
