野べにけぬ袖だに露は置くものをただこの比の秋のゆふ暮
| nobe ni kenu sode dani tsuyu wa oku mono o tada kono koro no aki no yūgure | Never gone from the plains, Even upon my sleeves the dew Does simply fall— That’s just how it is during An autumn evening… |
574
Tag Archives: nobe
Kinkai wakashū 573
Tōgū gakushi noritada uta’awase 05
Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains[i]
Left
なつくればのべのくさばもしげりあひていづれかみちとみえぞわかれぬ
| natsu kureba nobe no kusaba mo shigeriaite izure ka michi to mie zo wakarenu | When the summer comes, The blades of grass upon the plains Grow lushly together, so Which is the path to take I cannot tell by looking! |
9
Right
をちこちのみちみえぬまでなつののはくさばしげくもなりにけるかな
| ochikochi no michi mienu made natsuno no wa kusaba shigeku mo narinikeru kana | Until both distant and nearby Paths I cannot see Across the summer plains Have the blades of grass so lushly Grown, indeed! |
10
Do they not know the features of the summer plains conveyed by ‘Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains’? While both Left and Right use ‘blades of grass’, this puts one in mind of fresh grass sprouting in spring showers; and then of the two of them, the Right uses ‘distant and nearby’, which is nothing more than an archaic expression from the Age of Gods used for leg-wearying mountain paths, while at least the Left does not have a tangled argument.
| ato miezu natsuno no kusaba shigeku tomo yamaji o kakete madoubeshi ya wa | No folk’s tracks visible Upon the summer plains—the blades of grass Lush, yet I wonder if upon mountain paths One would lose ones way? |
Judge 5
[i] Yasō no michi shigeshi 野草路滋
Nishinomiya uta’awase 17
Asters and the Same
Round Seventeen
Left
あふことは片野ののべの蘭たれきてみよと露のおくらん
| au koto wa katano no nobe no fujibakama tare kitemiyo to tsuyu no okuran | Our meeting, so hard: In the hillside meadows grow Violet asters— Who should to come to see them Amongst the fallen dew? |
Nakafusa, Former Governor of Awaji
33
Right
色もかもよそへてぞみる蘭ねずりの衣馴れしかたみに
| iro mo ka mo yosoete zo miru fujibakama nezuri no koromo nareshi katami ni | Both scent and hue Do I imagine seeing Among the violet asters, Of his patterned robe, So familiar, a reminder they are… |
Hyōenokami
34
These poems, both Left and Right, appear to be of about the same quality, but while I am familiar with robes patterned with purple gromwell, I do wonder what it is that is patterning the robes here. Is the poet composing on asters imagining them to be gromwell? Even if that’s the case, the conception is not particularly apparent, so I have to say that the Left is better.
Kinkai wakashū 546
Love and tales.[i]
| wakarenishi mukashi wa tsuyu ka asajiwara ato naki nobe ni akikaze zo fuku | Since they were parted, Were those ancient times dewdrop brief? Across the cogon grass Upon the trackless plain The autumn wind is blowing! |
546
[i] The ‘tale’ here is the Song of Everlasting Woe about the doomed love between Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong
Kinkai wakashū 531
Kinkai wakashū 511
Kinkai wakashū 424
Tōin senzai awase 09
Left – Rani
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆる物かな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru mono kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Does all appear! |
15a
むしのねはまだおるとしもきこえぬをからにしきにもみゆるのべかな
| mushi no ne wa mada oru to shimo kikoenu o karanishiki ni mo miyuru nobe kana | The insects’ songs Yet weave and even though I hear them not As Cathay brocade Do the meadows appear! |
15b
Right
きる人をのべやしるらんふぢばかまいたづらにのみつゆのおきつつ
| kiru hito o nobe ya shiruran fujibakama itazura ni nomi tsuyu no okitsutsu | Folk wearing them Do the meadows know, perhaps? For upon these violet trousers In mischief alone Does the dew keep falling! |
16
Rani is a generic term for ‘orchid’ but in waka it was usually equated with eupatorium (a type of aster), which was also called fujibakama, the literal meaning of which was ‘wisteria [coloured] trousers’.
Tōin senzai awase 06
Left — Maidenflowers
うつろへるところありともをみなへしのべのふるさとわすれざらなむ
| utsuroeru tokoro ari tomo ominaeshi nobe no furusato wasurezaranamu | Faded Spots they have, yet, Maidenflowers At an old estate among the fields Never will I forget! |
7
Right
あきののにあだなのみたつをみなへし花さかぬまはしる人ぞなき
| aki no no ni adana nomi tatsu ominaeshi hana sakanu ma wa shiru hito zo naki | In the autumn plains Faithless rumours, alone, arise Of my maidenflower— But while she is not in bloom, There’s no one knows, at all! |
8
