Tag Archives: Naniwa

Love X: 6

Left (Win)
誰となく寄せては返る浪枕浮きたる舟の跡もとどめず

tare to naku
yosete wa kaeru
namimakura
ukitaru fune no
ato mo todomezu
To no one
Cleaving, they return;
Pillowed on the waves
The drifting boats’
Wakes fail to linger long…

A Servant Girl
1151

Right
何方を見ても忍ばむ難波女の浮き寝の跡に消ゆる白浪

izukata o
mitemo shinobamu
naniwame no
ukine no ato ni
kiyuru shiranami
Whither
Should I look in longing?
With a girl from Naniwa
I slept briefly, but her
Wake vanishes among the whitecaps…

Jakuren
1152

Both Left and Right together state: neither poem is bad.

In judgement: both poems seem elegant in configuration and diction, but the Right’s ‘girl from Naniwa’ (naniwame) raises the same issue as ‘diving girl’, only more so – there is not even evidence on this from inclusion in the Collection of Poems to Sing, is there? The Left’s ‘cleaving, they return; pillowed on the waves’ (yosete wa kaeru namimakura) really does seem like a pleasure girl, so I must say it is superior.

Spring II: 27

Left (Tie).

これやこの心ある人のながむべき難波わたりの春の明ぼの

kore ya kono
kokoro aru hito no
nagamubeki
naniwa watari no
haru no akebono
Is this what
That man with soul
Should gaze upon?
Close by to Naniwa –
The dawn at springtime…

Lord Kanemune.

113

Right (Tie).

あはれさは古りゆくまゝにそへてけり高津の宮の春の明ぼの

awaresa wa
furiyuku mama ni
soetekeri
takatsu no miya no
haru no akebono
How moving!
As it ages, it
Affects one more:
The Palace at Takatsu,
In the dawn at Springtime.

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

114

Neither team has any particular remarks to make about the other’s poems this round.

Shunzei, too, merely says, ‘Both poems make splendid use of places such as ‘the Palace at Takatsu’ (takatsu no miya), ‘close by to Naniwa’ (naniwa watari) and ‘dawn’ (akebono). It is difficult to decide on which is better. The round must, therefore, be a tie.’

GSS XIII: 960

Sent to the Kyōgoku Mother of Princes (Fujiwara no Hōshi 藤原褒子) after things got out.

わびぬれば今はた同じ難波なる身をつくしても逢はんとぞ思

wabinureba
ima Fa taonazi
naniFa naru
mi wo tukusitemo
aFan to zo omoFu
Suffering I was, so
Now, ‘tis just as then;
By Naniwa’s
Channel marks, though I die,
I would meet you.

Prince Motoyoshi (d. 943)