When the heart of a woman whom he had been visiting frequently showed no sign of melting, he sent this to her to say that months and years had passed and they were still in such a state.
なにはがたみぎはのあしのおいがよに怨みてぞふる人の心を
| naniFagata migiFa no asi no oFi ga yo ni uramite zo Furu Fito no kokoro wo | In Naniwa’s tidelands By the waterside the reeds Growing old within this world How I despise the passing time– And your hard heart… |
Anonymous
なにはがたみぎはのあしのいつまでかほにいでずしも秋を忍ばん
| naniwagata migiwa no ashi no itsu made ka ho ni idezu shimo aki o shinoban | In Naniwa’s tidelands, By the waterside reeds How long must I Refrain from bursting out, and Repress the surfeit of it?[i] |
563
[i] See: When the heart of a woman whom he had been visiting frequently showed no sign of melting, he sent this to her to say that months and years had passed and they were still in such a state. なにはがたみぎはのあしのおいがよに怨みてぞふる人の心を naniwagata/ migiwa no ashi no / oi ga yo ni / uramite zo furu / hito no kokoro o ‘In Naniwa’s tidelands / By the waterside the reeds / Growing old within this world / How I despise the passing time– / And your hard heart…’ Anonymous (Gosenshū XVI: 1170)
On the 29th day of the Eighth Month, Taiji 3,[i] Head of the Department of Shinto, His Excellency Akinaka gave a lecture before the Hirota Shrine, and various people from among his friends and relative met together in the same place.
Judge Mototoshi, Former Assistant Captain in the Palace Guards, Left Division.
Personal Grievances and the Moon
Round One
Left
難波江のあしまにやどる月みれば我が身ひとつも沈まざりけり
| naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba wa ga mi hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri | When, at the inlet at Naniwa Between the reeds a’lodging The moon I see, My sorry self, alone, Is sunk in sadness, am I not? |
Lord Akisuke, Former Governor of Mimasaka
1
Right
かがみ川影見る月にそこ澄みて沈むみくづのはづかしきかな
| kagamigawa kage miru tsuki ni soko sumite shizumu mikuzu no hazukashiki kana | In the mirror of Kagami River, The shape, I see, of the moon Clear down to the bed of Sunken flotsam— How terrible that I am so! |
His Excellency Akinaka, Head of the Department of Shintō
2
While both Left and Right show awareness of the conventions, I find it difficult to be beguiled more by coming to the realisation that ‘My sorry self, alone, / Is sunk in sadness, am I not’ on seeing the moon lodging between the reeds, than I am by the conception of the one who seems to have seen the moon over Mount Obasute[1], so I could say that it has a bit of conception about it at present.
[1] Topic unknown. わが心なぐさめかねつさらしなやをばすて山にてる月を見て wa ga kokoro / nagusamekanetsu / sarashina ya / obasuteyama ni / teru tsuki o mite ‘My heart / Cannot be consoled— / In Sarashina / Above Mount Obasute / On seeing the shining moon…’ Anonymous (KKS XVII: 878)
[i] 25 September 1128
Round Sixteen
Left (Win)
よにすめど人しれぬみやしをりするみやまがくれのたにのしたみづ
| yo ni sumedo hito shirenu mi ya shiorisuru miyamagakure no tani no shitamizu | Dwelling within this world, yet No one knows that ‘tis as if I Were marking a trail Hidden deep within the mountains To waters flowing on the valley floor… |
Hiromori
131
Right
あしからむなにはのことはかねてよりちかくてまもれすみよしのかみ
| ashikaramu naniwa no koto wa kanete yori chikakute mamore sumiyoshi no kami | Reaping reeds, should ill fortune come From Naniwa, in all things Just in case Ward me closely O, God of Sumiyoshi! |
Dharma Master Chikyō
132
The poem of the Right here, while it does draw on ‘reaping reeds at Naniwa’, in its phrasing sounds prosaic. As the Left’s ‘waters flowing on the valley floor’ seems to flow smoothly off the tongue, it wins.
Round Eighteen
Left (Tie)
なにはがたあしのまろやのたびねにはしぐれはのきのしづくにぞしる
| naniwagata ashi no maroya no tabine ni wa shigure wa noki no shizuku ni zo shiru | In Naniwa’s tidelands, In a reed-roofed hut, Dozing on my travels— A shower by the eaves Dripping droplets is revealed! |
Lord Tsunemori
85
Right
つのくにのこやのたびねにしぐれしてなにかはもらむあしのやへぶき
| tsu no kuni no koya no tabine ni shigureshite nani ka wa moramu ashi no yaebuki | In the land of Tsu In Koya, in a hut dozing on my travels During a shower— Will anything drip through My roof’s eightfold thatch? |
Lord Yorisuke
86
Both Left and Right are set in a traveller’s lodge in Sesshū province, but the Left appears to lack configuration and conception, it has long been said that using four of the character in a poem in a poetry match is a fault, but it does not sound to me as if the four uses of no here are a particular problem. With that being said, starting with ‘dozing on my travels’ [tabine ni wa]and then having ‘a shower by the eaves’ [shigure ni wa] uses wa twice and this seems to sound a bit discordant. The Right, while it refers to the same sort of shower from a cloudless sky, starts with ‘during a shower’ and follows this with ‘will anything drip through?’, which seems to sound a bit contradictory. I can’t help but feel it would have been better had it been ‘even though it showers’ and then had ‘will anything’. However, both poems are about reed roofed huts during a shower and it really is difficult to distinguish between them. Thus, I make this a tie.
When Akinaka, Head of the Department of Shintō, held a poetry match at Hirota, he composed this as a plea to the god on the topic of ‘Personal Grievances and the Moon’.
なにはえのあしまにやどる月みればわが身ひとつもしづまざりけり
| naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba wagami hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri | When at Naniwa inlet, Between the reeds lodging The moon I see ‘Tis not my sorry self alone that Is downcast, I know! |
Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke
Left
さえわたる月のひかりやすみよしのまつのはしのぎふれるしらゆき
| saewataru tsuki no hikari ya sumiyoshi no matsu no ha shinogi fureru shirayuki | So chill The moon’s light, that Sumiyoshi’s Pines’ needles seem weighed down With fallen snow. |
Grand Dharma Master Yūsei[i]
37
Right (Win)
月のすむなにはのうらのけしきにはかみのこころもたえずやあるらむ
| tsuki no sumu naniwa no ura no keshiki ni wa kami no kokoro mo taezu ya aruramu | The moon rising above The bay of Naniwa— At the scene Even the Deity’s heart Must be unable to endure… |
Lord Fujiwara no Norimori
Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade
Without Office[ii]
38
The poem of the Left appears pleasant in configuration and sequencing, but it lacks any profundity of thought and simply seems to flow easily. The Right’s poem appears to have some conception, managing to follow ‘Having a sensitive heart: / To such a one would I show / The land of Tsu’[1] and also seems to sound as if it conveys the sense of the old poem about a man finding the bay of Naniwa unbearably fine[2]. With that being said, expanding this to the Deity’s heart as well is charming. Thus, the Right wins.
[1] Sent to someone’s residence, when he was in Tsu province around the beginning of the year. こころあらむ人にみせばやつのくにのなにはわたりのはるのけしきを kokoro aramu / hito ni miseba ya / tsu no kuni no / naniwa watari no / haru no keshiki o ‘I would to a sensitive / Soul show / The land of Tsu / Around Naniwa— / Truly, the scenery of spring!’ Dharma Master Dōin (GSIS I: 43)
[2] Composed as a spring poem, when he presented a hundred-poem sequence. 心なきわが身なれども津の国の難波の春にたへずも有るかな kokoro naki / wagami naredomo / tsu no kuni no / naniwa no haru ni / taezu mo aru kana ‘Insensitive / Is my sorry self, yet / In the land of Tsu / Naniwa in springtime is / Unbearably fine!’ Fujiwara no Suemichi (SZS II: 106/Kyūan hyakushu 413)
[i] Daihōshi Yūsei大法師祐盛
[ii] San’i jūgoige Fujiwara ason Norimori 散位従五位下藤原朝臣憲盛
