Tag Archives: nobe

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 22

あきのよにかりかもなきてわたるなる我が思ふ人のことづてやせる[1]

aki no yo ni
kari kamo nakite
watarunaru
wa ga omou hito no
kotozute ya seru
On an autumn night
Is that the geese a’crying
As they pass by?
There is one I love—
Would you take a message to her?

43

おく露にくちゆくのべのくさのはやあきのほたるとなりわたるらむ[2]

oku tsuyu ni
kuchiyuku nobe no
kusa no ha ya
aki no hotaru to
nariwataruramu
Dew falls on
The rotting meadows, where
The blades of grass with
The tired autumn fireflies
Do seem to sound…

44


[1] A minor variant of this poem is included in Gosenshū (VII: 356), where it is attributed to [Ki no] Tsurayuki.

[2] This poem is included in Fubokushō (5548), where it is attributed to [Mibu no] Tadamine.

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 20

むらさきのねさへいろこき草なれやあきのことごとのべをそむらむ

murasaki no
ne sae irokoki
kusa nare ya
aki no kotogoto
nobe o somuramu
Do even the gromwell’s
Roots take on deeper hues
Among the grasses,
For in autumn every
Meadow does seem dyed?

39

秋のよにひとを見まくのほしければあまのかはらをたちもならすか[1]

aki no yo ni
hito o mimaku no
hoshikereba
ama no kawara o
tachi mo narasu ka
On an autumn night
To see him is
All my longing, so
On the banks of Heaven’s river
Should I be wont to stand?

40


[1] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Mandaishū (1801) and Shokugoshūishū (688): 秋の夜に人をみまくのほしければ天の川原を立ちならすかな aki no yo ni / hito o mimaku no / hoshikereba / ama no kawara o / tachinarasu kana ‘On an autumn night / To see him is / All my longing, so / On the banks of Heaven’s river / Is where I ever stand!’ (Anonymous).

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 17

あきくればむしとともにぞなかれぬるひとも草ばもかれぬと思へば[1]

aki kureba
mushi to tomo ni zo
nakarenuru
hito mo kusaba mo
karenu to omoeba
When the autumn comes
Together with the insects
Do I weep,
That both folk and grass and leaves
Have withered, is in my thoughts…

33

からにしきみだれるのべとみえつるはあきのこのはのふるにざりける

karanishiki
midareru nobe to
mietsuru wa
aki no ko no ha no
furu ni zarikeru
For Cathay brocade
Confused the meadows
Do seem, for
In autumn, the leaves from the trees
Have truly fallen!

34


[1] This poem also occurs in Fubokushō (5580).

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 16

しら露のおきしくのべを見るごとにあはれは秋ぞかずまさりける

shiratsuyu no
okishiku nobe o
miru goto ni
aware wa aki zo
kazu masarikeru
Silver dewdrops,
Fallen, scattered upon the meadows:
Every time I see them
The sadnesses of autumn
Increase in number.

31

あきかぜのうちふくからにはなもはもみだれてもちるのべの草きか

aki kaze no
uchifuku kara ni
hana mo ha mo
midarete mo chiru
nobe no kusaki ka
The autumn breeze
Is blowing keenly, so will
Both flowers and leaves
Scatter confusedly
From the trees and grasses on the meadow?

32

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 12

わびひとのとしふるさとはあきのののむしのやどりのなるぞわびしき[1]

wabibito no
toshi furu sato wa
aki no no no
mushi no yadori no
naru zo wabishiki
For one sunk in sadness
In an ancient dwelling
Among the autumn fields, where
The insects take their lodging,
Their cries are more heartbreaking.

23

あきのよのつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりのなみだやのべをそむらん[2]

aki no yo no
tsuyu oba tsuyu to
okinagara
kari no namida ya
nobe o somuramu
On Autumn nights
The dew as dewdrops
Falls, but,
Perhaps goose tears
Stain the fields?

24


[1] This poems also appears in Fubokushō (5579), where it is attributed to Ariwara no Motokata

[2] This poem also appears in Kokinshū (V: 258) and Kokin rokujō (584). In both collections it is attributed to Mibu no Tadamine.

San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 7

A profusion of deutzia flowers in full bloom

Left

白妙に卯花さけるかきねをばつもりし雪とおもひけるかな

shirotae ni
u no hana sakeru
kakine o ba
tsumorishi yuki to
omoikeru kana
A spread of white mulberry cloth,
The deutzias have bloomed
Along my brushwood fence
Drifting snow is piled, or
So it seems!

Minamoto no Narikata
13

Right

みわたせばたかねののべのうつぎ原みな白妙にさきにけるかな

miwatseba
takane no nobe no
utsugiwara
mina shirotae ni
sakinikeru kana
When I gaze across
The high-peak meadows
A field of deutzia,
All as white as mulberry cloth,
Have bloomed there.

Ōe no Fumi’ichi
14

Ietaka-kyō hyakuban jika’awase 2

Left
けふも猶雪はふりつつ春霞たてるやいづこ若菜つみてむ

kyō mo nao
yuki wa furitsutsu
harugasumi
tateru ya izuko
wakana tsumitemu
Still yet, today
Is the snow falling;
O, spring haze
Where do you arise?
For I would go and pluck fresh herbs!

3
In no hyakushu, shodo, Eighth Month Shōji 2 [September 1200]

Right
朝氷たがため分て此川のむかへの野べに若菜つむらん

asagōri
ta ga tame wakete
kono kawa no
mukae no nobe ni
wakana tsumuran
This film of morning ice:
For who’s sake do I break it?
On this river’s
Yonder side within the fields
Would I pluck fresh herbs…

4
Naidaijinke hyakushu, Ninth Month Kenpō 3 [October 1215]

Love VIII: 24

Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮

kono koro no
kokoro no soko o
yoso ni miba
shika naku nobe no
aki no yūgure
Of late
Of the depths of my heart
Were you to catch a distant glimpse:
A stag belling in the meadow
On an autumn evening…

A Servant Girl
1067

Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也

kurekakaru
susono no tsuyu ni
shika nakite
hito matsu sode mo
namida sou nari
Twilight
Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts,
With a stag’s sad cry;
Awaiting him, my sleeves, too,
Are wet with tears.

Nobusada
1068

Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.

In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.