Tag Archives: Oki

Yamato monogatari 42

The late Master of the Right Capital Office was Lord Muneyuki. While he was fretting over when he might achieve advancement, His Majesty, the Cloistered Teishi Emperor was presented with a stone with seaweed clinging to it from the province of Ki, and various people presented poems on the topic. The Master of the Right Capital Office composed

沖つ風ふけゐの浦にたつなみのなこりにさへや我はしつまん

oki tsu kaze
fukei no ura ni
tatsu nami no
nagori ni sae ya
ware wa shitsuman
From the offing the wind blows
Upon the beach at Fukei;
Are the breaking waves
Indeed a memento
I might keep?

Uda-in uta’awase 9

Lilac Daphne

Left (Tie)

かたをかにひのはなばなにみえつるはこのもかのもにたれかつけつる

kataoka ni
hi no hanabana ni
mietsuru wa
konomo kanomo ni
tare katsuketsuru
Upon the hillside
The fires as flowers
Do appear—
Here and there,
Who has kindled them?

Tsurayuki
17

Right

わたつみのおきなかにひのはなれいでてもゆとみゆるはあまつほしかも

watatsumi no
oki naka ni hi no
hanare’idete
moyu to miyuru wa
ama tsu hoshi kamo
Across the broad sea sweep
Upon the offing, fires
In the distance
Burn it seems—
Stars within the heavens, perhaps…

Tomonori
18

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 87

Left

おもひ侘びけぶりは空に立ちぬれどわりなくもなき恋のしるしか

omoiwabi
keburi wa sora ni
tachinuredo
warinaku mo naki
koi no shirushi ka
Suffering from passion’s fire,
Smoke into the skies
Has risen, yet
Of a not unreasonable
Love is this a sign?

168

Right

人をおもふ心のおきは身をぞやく煙たつとは見えぬものから

hito o omou
kokoro no oki wa
mi o zo yaku
keburi tatsu to wa
mienu mono kara
Loving her
The coals within my heart
Do burn my flesh, though
Of smoke arising
Is there no sign at all…

169

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

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).