Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
あはぬ夜のかずやはつもるいかなればたちぬる月といふはくるしき
| awanu yo no kazu ya wa tsumoru ika nareba tachinuru tsuki to iu wa kurushiki | When nights without a meeting Mount up in number, What am I to do, for The very passage of the moon Does bring me pain… |
Akinaka
Mandarin Ducks 鴛鴦
夜をさむみ岩波たかき山川につがはぬをしのすだくなるかな
| yo o samumi iwanami takaki yamakawa ni tsugawanu oshi no sudakunaru kana | On chilly nights, when Waves break upon the boulders In the mountain rivers, The unmated mandarins do Gather and cry out! |
Nakazane
A poem composed when deep in melancholy thought.
打つ田には稗はしあまたありといへど選えし我れぞ夜をひとり寝る
| utu ta ni pa pie pa si amata ari to ipedo eraesi ware zo yo wo pitori nuru | Out in the paddies Barnyard millet is there plenty They do say, yet I, singled out for dessertion Do spend my nights sleeping alone. |
Left (Tie)
憂き身ゆへよがるる床のさむしろはしき忍び忍びてもかひやなからむ
| ukimi yue yogaruru toko no samushiro wa shikishinobitemo kai ya nakaramu | My cruelty was it that Kept him from my bed these many nights; My blanket: Should I spread it and think of him alone, Would that have no effect at all? |
Lord Kanemune
1133
Right
恋わびぬむなしき床のさむしろに幾夜いくたび寝覚しつらん
| koiwabinu munashiki toko no samushiro ni ikuyo ikutabi nezameshitsuran | Sick am I of love – In an empty bed’s Blankets How many nights, how many times, Must I awake? |
Nobusada
1134
Both Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: both of the ‘blankets’ (samushiro) of the Left and Right here seem elegant. The configuration of the Left’s ‘my cruelty was it that kept him from my bed these many nights; my blanket’ (ukimi yue yogaruru toko no samushiro) and the conception of the Right’s ‘sick am I of love – in an empty bed’s’ (koiwabinu munashiki toko no) are such that I find both difficult to put down. I must make the round a tie.
Left (Win)
鳥の音は戀しき人の何なれや逢夜はいとひ逢はぬ夜は待つ
| tori no ne wa koishiki hito no nani nare ya auyo wa itoi awanu yo wa matsu |
The cock’s crow: For my darling, What might it mean? Hated on nights we meet, and Longed for when we do not… |
Lord Kanemune
1049
Right
いかにして空とる程もはし鷹のしばしもこひに身を休むらん
| ika ni shite sora toru hodo mo hashitaka no shibashi mo koi ni mi o yasumuran |
Why, when Hunting in the skies, does The sparrowhawk Briefly in the trees Take his ease? |
Ietaka
1050
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘What might it mean?’ (nani nare ya) fails to match. Ending ‘longed for’ (matsu) is overly definite. The Gentlemen of the Left state: what has hunting in the skies got to do with love?
In judgement: it has been said that ‘cock’s crow’ (tori no ne) and ‘what might it mean’ fail to match. Then there is also ‘definite’ (futsugiri). These are nothing but expressions which I do not know and find difficult to understand. ‘The sparrowhawk hunting in the skies’ (hashitaka no sora toru hodo) and ‘take his ease in the trees’ (koi ni yasumuran) both have only a faint conception of love, and I wonder about alluding to hawking. The Left failing to match, too, may be a term used in coursing for deer. Well, even if the deer do not match, as it has the conception of love, the Left should win.
Left (Tie)
ももよ草百夜までなど頼めけむかりそめ臥しの榻のはしがき
| momoyogusa momoyo made nado tanomekemu karisome fushi no shiji no hashigaki |
A hundred nights upon the grass: After a hundred nights, how Can I trust we’ll meet? Fitfully pillowed on The scratches on my shaft stand… |
Kenshō
1027
Right
逢事はいつといぶきの嶺に生ふるさしも絶せぬ思ひなりけり
| au koto wa itsu to ibuki no mine ni ouru sashimo taesenu omoi narikeri |
When will our meeting Come? On Ibuki Peak grows Moxa, thus, endlessly Burning, as do my fires of love. |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress Household Office
1028
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: it is difficult to grasp that there is nothing said from ‘when will it come? On Ibuki’ (itsu to ibuki). ‘Moza, thus’ (sashimo) does not fit with the end of the poem.
In judgement: I do wonder about the sound of beginning a poem with momoyogusa. Furthermore, originally, the ‘one hundred nights’ (momoyo) would be placed upon the shaft stand. ‘When on Ibuki grows moxa’ (itsu to ibuki no sashimo), too, just as with Inaba’s pines, places too much stress on the peak. The poems are of the same quality and tie.
Expressing true feelings.
敷栲の枕をまきて妹と我れと寝る夜はなくて年ぞ経にける
| sikitape no makura wo makite imo to are to nuru yo pa nakute tosi zo penikeru |
Spread mulberry cloth For a pillow tangled, My love and I Sleep no nights away, and only Years have gone by! |
Left (Win).
末の松待つ夜幾度過ぬらん山超す浪を袖にまかせて
| sue no matsu matsu yo ikutabi suginuran yama kosu nami o sode ni makasete |
At the pines of Sué How many nights have I spent Pining for him? As the waves break over the mountain So let them on my sleeves… |
A Servant Girl.
969
Right.
人知れず君に心を筑波山ひまなきものはなげき也けり
| hito shirezu kimi ni kokoro o tsukubayama himanaki mono wa nageki narikeri |
Secretly For you has my heart Yearned to exhaustion; as Tsukuba Mountain’s Close packed trees, endless Is my grief. |
Lord Tsune’ie.
970
The Gentlemen of the Right state: in what way are the the waves ‘allowed’ in ‘let them on my sleeves’ (sode ni makasuru)? The Left state: the Right uses Tsukuba, followed by ‘close packed trees, endless’ (himanaki), and although this does have the same meaning, it would be more customary to use ‘verdant’ (shigeki).
In judgement: although the Left’s ‘so let them on my sleeves’ (sode ni makasete) sounds somewhat unclear, the Right’s ‘Tsukuba Mountain’s close packed trees, endless’ suggests many layers of reed-thatch, I think. ‘As the waves break over the mountain’ (yama kosu nami) seems to reach greater heights.
夏の夜はにはかに照らす稲妻の光の間にも明けぬべらなり
| natu no yo Fa niFakani terasu inaduma no Fikari no ma ni mo akenuberanari |
On summer nights A brief flash Of lightning: And as it shines The dawn can break! |
Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼
夏の夜は山時鳥待ちかねて夕づけ鳥の鳴きぬべきかな
| natu no yo Fa yamaFototogisu matikanete yuFutukedori no nakinubeki kana |
On summer nights The mountain cuckoo Cannot bear to wait, so The cockerel Has no need to crow! |
Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼