Tag Archives: numbers

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 09

Round Nine

Left

すみのえのこほりとみゆる月かげにとけやしぬらむかみのこころも

suminoe no
kōri to miyuru
tsukikage ni
toke ya shinuramu
kami no kokoro mo
At Suminoe
As ice appears
The moonlight, but
Is not, perhaps, melted
Even the deity’s heart?

Lord Fujiwara no Kinshige,
Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade,
Without Office
17

Right (Win)

すみよしのおまへのきしのまつのはもかずかくれなくみゆる月かげ

sumiyoshi no
omae no kishi no
matsu no ha mo
kazu kakurenaku
miyuru tsukikage
At Sumiyoshi
On the coast before the shrine
Even the pine needles
Cannot hide their numbers,
Appearing in the moonlight.

Venerable Dharma Eye Enjitsu
18

While in the Left ‘ice appears’ and ‘is not, perhaps, melted’ seem to have some kind of linkage, if we consider this as a Cathay-style poem saying ‘A chill night’s moon / Ice atop the swell’, then I would have preferred it to say ‘is, perhaps, bound’. An alternative version of this would, of course, be ‘A spring morn’s breeze / Ice on the eastern shore’ which could lead to ‘is not, perhaps, melted’, I think. The Right has ‘On the coast before the shrine / Even the pine needles’ and through this type of linkage expresses the brightness of the moon. While this type of smug-sounding expression also appeared in the round before last, the moon here does seem bright and so I can say that the Right wins.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 34

Round Ten

Left

をぐらやま下ゆく水のさざれ石も数かくれなくてらす月かげ

ogurayama
shita yuku mizu no
sazare’ishi mo
kazu kakurenaku
terasu tsukikage
Beneath gloomy Mount Ogura
Flow waters full
Of pebbles,
Unable to conceal their numbers
In the shining moonlight.

Lord Kiyosuke
67

Right (Win)

あまの川とわたる月の影すみてにごれるよともみえぬ空かな

ama no kawa
towataru tsuki no
kage sumite
nigoreru yo tomo
mienu sora kana
Across the River of Heaven’s
Mouth passes the moon’s
Clear light—
Even this cloudy world
Does not appear so beneath this sky!

Shinkaku
68

There’s nothing to mention about the Left, and the same is the case for the Right, but for some reason should it win?

Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 11

Love without meeting

Left (Win)

あふことのかたきしなればしらなみのたちよるかずはわれのみぞしる

au koto no
katakishi nareba
shiranami no
tachiyoru kazu wa
ware nomi zo shiru
Meeting you is
A distant cliff, so
The whitecaps’
Numbers breaking there
I alone do know.

21

Right

あはむとはおもひわたれどふじかはのすまずはつひにかげもみえじを

awamu to wa
omoi wataredo
fujikawa no
sumazu wa tsui ni
kage mo mieji o
To meet her
Passionately did I cross, yet
The Fuji River
Was so clouded that at the last
Her shape I could not see at all…

Mitsune
22