Tag Archives: Noji

SKKS IV: 373

On the wind across the meadows, for the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor and Palace Minister.

たかまどののぢのしの原すゑさわぎそそや木がらしけふ吹きぬなり

takamado no
noji no shinohara
sue sawagi
soso ya kogarashi
kyō fukinu nari
At Takamado
Groves of dwarf bamboo by the roadside
Leaf-tips noisily
Rustling—O, the cold winter wind
Has begun to blow today.

Fujiwara no Mototoshi

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Kanpaku naidaijin uta’awase 15-16

The wind across the fields (野風)

Round One

Left

けさみればはぎをみなへしなびかしてやさしの野辺の風のけしきや

kesa mireba
hagi ominaeshi
nabikashite
yasashi no nobe no
kaze no keshiki ya
This morn when I look out
Are the bush clovers and maidenflowers
Waving
Gently in the fields
A vision of wind?

Lord Toshiyori
15

Right (Win)

高円の野路の篠原末騒ぎそそや秋風今日吹きぬなり

takamado no
noji no shinohara
sue sawagi
sosoya akikaze
kyō fukinu nari
In Takamado,
At Shinohara in Noji,
Noisy in the treetops
Rustles the autumn wind
As it blows today.

Lord Mototoshi
16

In the Left’s poem, from the phrase ‘bush clovers and maidenflowers’ (hagi ominaeshi) and to the following ‘gently in the fields’ (yashi no nobe) seem singularly unremarkable. In fact, the diction seems so out of place as to be comic. The Right’s poem has an elevated style and charming diction, so one would think it should win, should it not?

The Gentlemen of the Left: the Right’s poem does use the comically forceful diction ‘rustles’ (sosoya).

In judgement: the Left’s ‘waving’ (nabikashite) is an expression giving the poem an extremely idiosyncratic style. The initial section also appears to be lacking in force. As for the Right’s poem, ‘rustles’ (sosoya) is used by Sone no Yoshitada in his poem ‘rustling, the autumn wind has blown’ (sosoya akikaze fukinu nari),[1] so it is not as if there is not a prior example of usage. Thus, it seems to me that the Right’s poem is superior.


[1]The judge, Fujiwara no Mototoshi, is mistaken here, as the poem he is remembering is by Ōe no Yoshitoki 大江嘉言 and can be found in Shikashū (III: 108). Yoshitada is the author of SKS III: 110, however, so it seems he has simply made a mistaken identification of authorship over two poems which are more or less adjacent to each other in that anthology.

SZS IV: 281

Composed on the conception of the moon over the water, at the residence of Supernumerary Middle Councillor Toshitada at Katsura.

あすも来む野路の玉川萩こえて色なる浪に月やどりけり

asu mo komu
nodi no tamakaFa
Fagi koete
ironaru nami ni
tuki yadorikeri
The morning comes, too,
To Noji’s jewelled river;
Over-running the bush-clover are
Motley waves where
The moon does lodge.

Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼

Autumn III: 23

Left.

初霜や秋をこめても置きつらん今朝色變る野路の篠原

hatsujimo ya
aki o kometemo
okitsuran
kesa iro kawaru
noji no shinohara
Have the first frosts
In the midst of autumn
Fallen?
This morning has brought a change of hue
To the arrow-bamboo groves in Noji!

Lord Kanemune.

465

Right (Win).

いかに又秋は夕と眺め來て花に霜置く野邊の明ぼの

ika ni mata
aki wa yūbe to
nagamekite
hana ni shimo oku
nobe no akebono
How much more striking
Than an autumn evening
Spent gazing, is
The frost fallen on the flowers
In the fields at dawn!

Ietaka.

466

Neither team finds any fault with the other’s poem this round and say as much.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘frost’ (shimo) on the ‘arrow-bamboo groves in Noji’ (noji no shinohara) is certainly elegant [yū ni wa haberubeshi]. The Right’s ‘frost fallen on the flowers’ (hana ni oku shimo) is, too; although there is no difference in formal quality [uta no sama wa ikuhodo sabetsu naku] between them, ‘frost fallen on the flowers’ at ‘dawn’ (akebono) is more arresting [midokoro ya haberu] than ‘arrow-bamboo groves’.