Love
Left
わが恋は春のなかばになりにけり花のにほひに影やみゆると
| wa ga koi wa haru no nakaba ni narinikeri hana no nioi ni kage ya miyuru to | My love In the heart of spring Has come about: In the glow of blossom Can I see her face… |
7
Right
春はなほくるしかりけりさくら花いろのつきつつ恋のまされば
| haru wa nao kurushikarikeri sakurabana iro no tsukitsutsu koi no masareba | Spring is ever Full of pain: The cherry blossoms’ Hues exhausted, as My love is at its strongest… |
8
Round Twenty-One
Left (Win)
しがらきの外山の末の郭公たが里ちかき初音なるらん
| shigaraki no toyama no sue no hototogisu ta ga sato chikaki hatsune naruran | In Shigaraki At the foothills’ end A cuckoo By whose estate Might let out his first cry? |
Takasuke
41
Right
橘のにほひを空に尋ねきて山時鳥なかぬ日ぞなき
| tachibana no nioi o sora ni tazunekite yamahototogisu nakanu hi zo naki | Orange blossom’s familiar Scent within the skies I seek out, while The mountain cuckoo Fails to sing on not a single day… |
Shimotsuke
42
The Left poem’s ‘near whose estate does it first call’ does not sound bad. The Right’s poem, too, seems to have no faults to mention, yet the Left still wins by a hair.
In the year after that in which the Teishi Emperor relinquished the throne, he held a maidenflower match, making no instruction as to who should lead the teams of the Left and Right, so His Majesty and Her Majesty, the Empress, fulfilled those roles.
Left
くさがくれあきすぎぬべきをみなへしにほひゆゑにやまづみえぬらむ
| kusagakure aki suginubeki ominaeshi nioi yue ni ya mazu mienuramu | Hidden ‘mongst the grasses Has she spent the autumn, This maidenflower— Is it for her glow that She is soon discovered? |
1[1]
Right
あらがねのつちのしたにてあきへしはけふのうらてをまつをみなへし
| aragane no tsuchi no shita nite aki heshi wa kyō no urate o matsu ominaeshi | As ore Below the earth Has she spent the autumn, For today’s first round Awaiting—a maidenflower. |
2[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 508
[2] Shinsen man’yōshū 530; Fubokushō 4229.
Spring
Left
春のたつ霞の衣うらもなく年を経てこそ花の散りけれ
| haru no tatsu kasumi no koromo ura mo naku toshi o hete koso hana no chirikere | Spring does sew A robe of haze Without an underlay, The year passes by in A scattering of blossom |
1
春の野の雪間をわけていつしかと君がためとぞ若菜摘みつる
| haru no no no yuki ma o wakete itsushika to kimi ga tame to zo wakana tsumitsuru | Across the springtime meadows Do I forge between the snows, Eagerly, so eagerly, For you, my Lord, Have I gathered fresh herbs! |
2
春霞かすみこめたる山里はこほりとくともかげはみえじを
| harugasumi kasumi kometaru yamazato wa kōri toku tomo kage wa mieji o | The haze of spring Blurs all around A mountain retreat, Even were the ice to melt I could see no sign of it! |
3
Right
梅枝にきゐる鶯年毎に花の匂ひをあかぬ声する
| ume ga e ni ki’iru uguisu toshigoto ni hana no nioi o akanu koesuru | Upon the plum tree’s branches Has come to rest the warbler; Every single year, that Of the blossoms’ scent He cannot get his fill he sings. |
4
桜色に花さく雨はふりぬとも千しほぞそめてうつろふなそで
| sakurairo ni hana saku ame wa furinu tomo chishio zo somete utsurou na sode | Cherry-coloured Blossoms flower, as the rain Falls on, yet Dyed a thousand times Fade not, o, my sleeves! |
5
青柳のいとはるばると緑なる行末までも思ひこそやれ
| aoyagi no ito harubaru to midori naru yukusue made mo omoi koso yare | The willow’s Branches dangle lengthily So green Right to the very end Will I fondly think of you. |
6
The Gentlemen of the Right. These, too, had the sons of the Courtiers Fujiwara no Shigetoki and Hirokage, the Governor of Awa, construct an extremely large suhama upon which all the chrysanthemums were grown together; because the area was cramped when they brought it in, they made preparation to bring it in all at once, attaching wheels to sections, thinking to do it in one, but were startled by the Gentlemen of the Left bringing in their blooms one by one – when all were brought in and assembled together, they made a single charming spectacle, yet though assembled, they were separated and thus seemed incomplete. The initial poem became mixed in with all the others.
山深く入りにし身をぞいたづらに菊の匂ひに憩へ来にける
| yama Fukaku irinisi mi wo zo itadura ni kiku no nioFi ni ikoFekinikeru |
Deep within the mountains Have I entered in; Idly has The chrysanthemums’ scent Brought me to my ease. |
11
