Topic unknown.
うぐひすのなく野べごとに来てみればうつろふ花に風ぞ吹ける
| uguFisu no naku nobe goto ni kitemireba uturoFu Fana ni kaze zo fukikeru | The warblers Sing from every field, and When I arrive I see, Faded flowers blown By the gusting wind. |
Anonymous
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]
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.
Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき
| karakuni no tora fusu nobe ni iru yori mo madou koiji no sue zo ayauki |
In far Cathay are Meadows where tigers lie, But rather than entering there, The confusing paths of love Are, at the end, more dangerous… |
Lord Ari’ie
1063
Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず
| wa ga yado wa hito mo kareno no asajiwara kayoishi koma no ato mo todomezu |
At my home Is only a withered field Of cogon grass; The mount who once did cross it Has left no lingering tracks… |
Ietaka
1064
The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.
Left
山深み種ある岩に生ふる松の根よりもかたき戀や何なる
| yama fukami tane aru iwa ni ouru matsu no ne yori mo kataki koi ya nani naru |
Deep with the mountains, Upon the crags where seeds Grow into pines, Rooted firmly – how hard Will our love be? |
Lord Ari’ie
1041
Right (Win)
契きなまた忘れずよ初瀬河布留川野邊の二本の杉
| chigirikina mata wasurezu yo hatsusegawa furukawa nobe no futamoto no sugi |
You vowed it, did you not. Not to forget me more. In the River Hatsuse and River Furu’s meadows Stand twin cedars. |
Jakuren
1042
Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: While there are such things in the heart of the mountains as ‘crags where seeds grow into pines’ (tane aru iwa ni ouru matsu), it is normally by the sea or on rocky coastlines that one finds firmly rooted pine trees. Surely, mountain pines are but lightly rooted? Cedars on River Hatsuse recollects ‘Nor will I ever; a solid brick-kiln’ (wasurezu yo kawaraya), but ‘You vowed it, did you not’ (chigirikina) also reminds me of the old phrase ‘Both our sleeves wringing out’ (katami ni sode o shiboritsutsu), which is most fine. Thus, the Right wins.
When he had gone to Saga to dig up plants for his garden.
日暮しに見れ共あかぬ女郎花のべにや今宵旅ねしなまし
| higurasi ni miredomo akanu wominaFesi nobe ni ya koyoFi tabinesinamasi |
At the sunset I see, yet cannot get my fill Of maidenflowers, so In the fields tonight Should I make a traveller’s bed? |
Fujiwara no Nagayoshi
藤原長能
Composed in the conception of hidden love after a vow, when the gentlemen were composing poetry at the Hosshōji at around time of the offering of flowers in the Fifth Month.
憑めこし野邊の道芝夏ふかしいづくなるらむ鵙の草ぐき
| tanomekoshi nobe no michishiba natsu fukashi izukunaruramu mozu no kusaguki |
Trusting her, I have come To the overgrown plains, where Summer lies deep; Where can The shrike be hiding in the grasses? |
Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office, Shunzei
皇太后宮大夫俊成