Tag Archives: Oki

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 8

Round Eight

Left

秋風の吹来る声はやまながらなみ立ちかへるおとぞきこゆる

akikaze no
fukikuru koe wa
yama nagara
nami tachikaeru
oto zo kikoyuru
The autumn breeze’s
Cry comes gusting;
And in the mountains,
The sound of waves washing back and forth
Comes to my ears.

15

Right

すみの江の松を秋風吹くからにこゑうちそふる沖つ白なみ

suminoe no
matsu o akikaze
fuku kara ni
koe uchisouru
oki tsu shiranami
At Suminoe
The pines by the autumn breeze
Are blown, so
The sound lies atop
The whitecaps in the offing.

16

GYS VI: 918

Composed on plovers.

沖つ潮指出の磯の浜千鳥風寒からし夜半に友呼ぶ

oki tsu shio
sashide no iso no
hama chidori
kaze samukarashi
yowa ni tomo yobu
From the offing the tides
Strike the shore at Sashide;
On the beach plovers,
Chilled by the wind
Call for their mates at midnight.

Supernumerary Middle Counsellor [Fujiwara no] Nagakata (1139-1191)
藤原長方

Plovers and a sand piper.

Love VIII: 10

Left (Win)
うかりける我み山木の契かな連なる枝もありとこそ聞け

ukarikeru
wa ga mi yamagi no
chigiri kana
tsuranaru eda mo
ari to koso kike
In despair
Am I: hidden among the mountain trees
Is my love;
Though once branches lay atop each other
I did hear…

Lord Suetsune
1039

Right
涙には憂き深山木も朽ちぬべし沖つ小嶋のひさきならねど

namida ni wa
uki fukayamagi mo
kuchinubeshi
oki tsu kojima no
hisaki naranedo
Among my tears,
Drift, despairing, trees from the mountain deeps,
Rotting all away, though
On islets in the offing
On bush-covered beaches, they are not…

Lord Tsune’ie
1040

Both Left and Right state: we find no faults.

In judgement: both Left and Right use the image of ‘trees from the mountain deeps’ (fukayamagi), and neither is superior, or inferior, to the other in this, but I would have to say that the Left’s ‘though once branches lay atop each other I did hear…’ (tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike) is somewhat better than the Right’s ‘on bush-covered beaches, they are not…’ (hisaki naranedo).

MYS II: 153

A poem by Her Majesty, the Dowager Empress.

鯨魚取り 近江の海を 沖放けて 漕ぎ来る船 辺付きて 漕ぎ来る船 沖つ櫂 いたくな撥ねそ 辺つ櫂 いたくな撥ねそ 若草の 夫の 思ふ鳥立つ

isana tori
opomi no umi wo
oki sakete
kogikitaru pune
pe tu kite
kogikuru pune
oki tu kai
itaku na pane so
pe tu kai
itaku na pane so
wakakusa no
tuma no
omopu tori tatu
In the whale-hunting
Sea of Ōmi
From far off in the offing
Boats come rowing;
Nearing the shore,
Boats come rowing;
Off in the offing, oars
Beat not so hard!
By the shore, oars
Beat not so hard!
A fresh blade of grass –
My husband’s
Beloved birds you’ll start to flight!

Yamato Hime no Ōkimi
倭皇后