Tag Archives: pheasants

Love IV: 18

Left (Win).
雲となり雨となるてふ中空の夢にも見えよ夜半ならずとも

kumo to nari
ame to naru chō
nakazora no
yume ni mo mieyo
yowa narazu tomo
Whether you become clouds, or
Whether you become rain
In the heart of the heavens
Let me glimpse you in a dream,
Though nighttime it is not…

Lord Ari’ie.
815

Right.
暮ぬ間はかゝりせばや山鳥も夜半に思ひに契り變へけん

kurenu ma wa
kakariseba ya
yamadori mo
yowa ni omoi ni
chigirikaeken
The hours with no darkness:
Is it because they are so?
As the pheasants do
At night to thoughts of love
Can we vow to turn?

Ietaka.
816

The Right state: we find no particular faults to mention. The Left state: the mention of ‘pheasants’ (yamadori) comes a bit abruptly, does it not?

In judgement: the style of the Left’s poem sounds utterly elegant and beautiful. The Right’s mention of ‘pheasants’ is unnecessary. Thus, the Left wins.

Winter I: 27

Left.

雉子鳴く嵯峨野の原の御幸には古き跡をや先尋ぬらん

kigisu naku
sagano no hara no
miyuki ni wa
furuki ato o ya
saki tazunuran
The pheasants cry
In the fields of Sagano;
On this Imperial Progress,
The traces of times long gone
Should we visit first?

Lord Kanemune.

533

Right (Win).

すべらぎの今日の御幸は御狩野の草葉も靡く物にぞ有ける

suberagi no
kyō no miyuki wa
mikarino no
kusaha mo nabiku
mono ni zo arikeru
On His Majesty’s
Progress on this day
To His hunting grounds
The very blades of grass do bow
Before Him

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

534

The Right state that pheasants do not cry out during the winter, to which the Left reply that this is seen occasionally in recent poetry. The Left then comment that mi occurs too often in the Right’s poem.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘traces of times long gone’ (furuki ato o ya) is most fine [yoroshiku haberubeshi]. On pheasants crying in winter, it goes without saying that they do not, and in this poem in particular, I wonder about the appropriateness of ‘pheasants crying’ (because it was convention to avoid anything with potentially negative associations in a poem on the topic of Imperial Visits). The Right’s poem commences with ‘His Majesty’ (suberagi no) and continues with ‘the very blades of grass do bow’ (kusaha mo nabiku) which has felicitous associations. Thus, the Right must win.

Winter I: 25

Left.

大原や野邊の御幸に所得て空取る今日の眞白斑の鷹

ōhara ya
nobe no miyuki ni
tokoro ete
soratoru kyō no
mashirō no taka
Ōhara
Plain for an Imperial Progress is
Most apt;
Catching prey a’wing this day
Is a white banded hawk!

Kenshō.

529

Right (Win).

嵯峨の原走る雉子の形跡は今日の御幸に隱れなき哉

saga no hara
hashiru kigisu no
kata ato wa
kyō no miyuki ni
kakurenaki kana
On the field of Saga
Racing, the pheasants’
Tracks
Today’s Imperial Progress
Will not come at all…

Tsune’ie.

530

The Right state that ‘most apt’ (tokoro ete) is rarely heard in poems. The Left reply that ‘track’ (kata ato) is the same.

Shunzei’s judgement: The poem of the Left sounds grandiose, but there is something dubious about it. When starting with Ōhara (ōhara ya), one expects it to be followed by ‘Oshio Mountain’, as it suggests the field of Ōhara. Without that following Oshio Mountain, when one encounters Ōhara, on recollects both ‘misty clear waters’ and ‘waters of a pure, peaceful well’, and does not know to which the Ōhara refers. There is no precedent at all for Imperial vists to the Ōhara which lies at the foot of Mount Hiei. There are, however, for visits to Mount Oshio. In the poem on ‘waters of a pure, peaceful well’, it states that ‘though there are no birds, we visit for our pleasure’, so it would be impossible for the ‘white banded hawk’ to take prey a’wing there. I have heard ‘tracks’ before, but the poem has little sense of truly knowing ‘Saga Field’, yet there have, without doubt, been Imperial visits there, so ‘tracks’ must be the better poem.

Spring II: 12

Left.

妻戀のやたけの雉心せよ通ふ裾野も人あさる也

tsuma koi no
yatake no kigisu
kokoro seyo
kayou susono mo
hito asarunari
Longing for your hen,
O, peak-dwelling Pheasant,
Take care!
For in the meadows on the mountains’ skirts
Folk are seeking you!

Kenshō

83

Right (Win).

狩人の入野の雉妻戀て鳴ねばかりに身をやかへてん

karibito no
iruno no kigisu
tsuma koite
nakune bakari ni
mi o ya kaeten
Hunters
Enter the meadows and, a pheasant,
Longing for his hen,
A single call
Exchanges for his life.

Jakuren

84

The Right state that the expression ‘peak-dwelling pheasant’ (yatake no kigisu) is ‘not one we’re familiar with’ [kikinarawazu], and question the use of ‘Folk are seeking’ (hito asaru) in the Left’s poem. (The standard expression would have been kigisu asaru (‘seeking pheasants’), and they are probably indicating some resistance to the Left’s unusual phrasing.) The Left, on the other hand, simply say that the Right’s poem ‘is satisfying’ [kanshin ari].

Shunzei’s judgement: The Right’s poem says ‘a single call’ (nakune bakari ni) will cost a the pheasant his life, but is a call really enough? When hunters enter a field, they have dogs to sniff out the pheasant’s scent, so he’d be caught whether he called or not. However, in the Left’s poem, ‘peak-dwelling’ (yatake) is pretentious [kotogotoshiku], and ‘folk are seeking’ (hito asaru) sounds dreadful [ito osoroshiku kikoyu]. Thus, in any case, the Right’s poem must win.

Spring II: 11

Left.

武蔵野に雉も妻やこもるらんけふの煙の下に鳴なり

musashino ni
kigisu mo tsuma mo ya
komoruran
kyō no kemuri no
shita ni nakunari
Upon Musashi Plain
Is the cock pheasant’s hen, also,
Concealed?
For today from beneath
The smoke come plaintive cries…

A Servant Girl.

81

Right (Win).

妻戀のきゞす鳴なり朝霞晴るればやがて草隱れつゝ

tsuma koi no
kigisu nakunari
asa kasumi
harureba yagate
kusagakuretsutsu
Longing for his hen
The pheasant calls;
When morning’s haze
Has cleared, how swiftly
He hides among the grass.

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

82

The Right comment that the Left’s poem resembles Minamoto no Yorimasa’s poem:

霞をや煙と見えん武蔵野に妻もこもれる雉鳴くなり

kasumi wo ya
kemuri to mien
musasino ni
tuma mo komoreru
kigisu nakunari
The haze
Does seem as smoke;
On Musashino Plain
With his hen hidden
A pheasant calls.

The Left snap back that as Yorimasa’s poem is not included in the imperial anthologies, they could not have seen it, and in any case, what sort of criticism is it to say that it ‘resembles Yorimasa’s poem?’ As for the Right’s poem, ‘do pheasants always hide in the grass come the morning?’

Shunzei comments that it is ‘a bit much’ to avoid Yorimasa’s poem altogether. Although he does then go on to say that ‘there’s no reason to strong arm in examples’ of poems not in the imperial anthologies. However, ‘what’s the point’ of associating ‘today’ (kyō) so strongly with ‘smoke’ (kemuri)? (It was supposed to be used only for particular days, such as the first day of spring.) In the Right’s poem ‘When morning’s haze/Has cleared, how swiftly’ (asa kasumi/harureba yagate) ‘has nothing needing criticism about it’, so the their poem is superior this round.

Spring II: 10

Left (Tie).

煙立つ片山きゞす心せよ裾野の原に妻もこもれり

kemuri tatsu
katayama kigisu
kokoro seyo
susono no hara ni
tsuma mo komoreri
Smoke is rising
From the mountain slopes, O Pheasant,
Beware!
In the meadows on the mountain’s skirts,
Does your wife lie hidden…

Lord Ari’ie

79

Right (Tie).

燒捨てし枯野の跡やかすむらん煙にかへるきゞす鳴也

yaki suteshi
kareno no ato ya
kasumuran
kemuri ni kaeru
kigisu naku nari
Left to burn,
All sign of the sere fields
Seems lost in haze;
Returning to the smoke
A pheasant calls…

Ietaka

80

The Right have no particular remarks to make about the Left’s poem this round, while the Left say that they understand the general import of the Right’s poem, but are ‘unable to grasp’ the sense of ‘Returning to the smoke’ (kemuri ni kaeru) (that is, why a pheasant would do it).

Shunzei merely adds that ‘the smoke in both poems prevents one from seeing very far’, so there is no clear winner and the round must be a tie.

Spring II: 9

Left (Win).

春山の霞のうちに鳴く雉思ふ心をよそに知れとや

haru yama no
kasumi no uchi ni
naku kigisu
omou kokoro wo
yoso ni shire to ya
In the springtime mountain
Haze
A pheasant calls,
His longing to the distance
Must he wish to make known…

Lord Kanemune

77

Right.

忍あまり人に知れつゝ鳴く雉その妻戀のほどよいかにぞ

shinobi amari
hito ni shiretsutsu
naku kigisu
sono tsuma koi no
hodo yo ika ni zo
Too much to conceal, so
To all must he tell it,
A calling pheasant:
His fondness for his hen,
How great must it be?

Lord Takanobu

78

The Right team query why mountains are singled out in the Left’s poem, while the Left say that it is ‘unimpressive’ to conclude a poem ‘How great must it be?’ (ika ni zo) after beginning it with ‘Too much to conceal’ (shinobi amari).

Shunzei starts by addressing the Right’s question, stating that it is ‘perfectly normal’ for pheasants to call from mountains and meadows in springtime, and it is not the case that a poem on the theme of pheasants has to contain a reference to meadows. As for the final line of the poem, ‘Must he wish to make known’ (shire to ya), ‘there have, of late, been some who have a liking for this form of expression,’ but ‘it is not particularly desirable.’ The Right’s expression, ‘To all must he tell it’ (hito ni shiretsutsu) was old-fashioned, but ‘failed to sound impressive.’ In addition, the final line was ‘not satisfactory,’ whereas the initial line of the Left’s poem was ‘not bad’ (the commentators suggest Shunzei is referring to the image of a pheasant calling from the concealment of the mountain mists here), and so they must be the winner.

Spring II: 8

Left (Win).

御狩する人や聞くらん杉の野にさをどるきゞす聲しきりなり

mikarisuru
hito ya kikuran
sugi no no ni
saodoru kigisu
koe shikirinari
Does the hunting
Party hear it?
Among the cypress groves
The waltzing pheasants’
Cries come clearly.

Lord Suetsune

75

Right.

雉鳴く交野の原のとだちこそまことにかりの宿りなりけれ

kigisu naku
katano no hara no
todachi koso
makoto ni kari no
yadorinarikere
The pheasants cry upon
The plain of Katano:
In the bird-brakes,
Truly, will they find only brief
Lodgings!

Lord Tsune’ie

76

The Right say they have no particular criticisms of the Left’s poem this round. The Right, on the other hand, say that ‘pheasants crying in the bird brakes’ (kigisu naku todachi) sounds ‘clumsy’. After all, a bird-brake is a place from where birds fly, and those birds are pheasants. The Left counter that Fujiwara no Kintō’s poem, ‘Of my mountain hut, the blossoms are the lodgings’ (yamazato Fa Fana koso yado no) is a similar case, as there is no difference between a ‘hut’ and ‘lodgings’, and there is nothing to criticise in this poem.

Shunzei begins by saying that the Left’s poem, below ‘cypress groves’ (sugi no no) is ‘old-fashioned’, while the top two stanzas are ‘modern poetry’, and wonders whether it is not ‘unsuitable’ to mix these styles in one poem. As to the question of whether the Right’s poem is ‘defective’, the poem they cite in its defence is ‘even more defective’ (meaning that the complete version of Kintō’s poem uses the same auxiliary verb (-keri) twice). However, in ancient times, and the past, too, it was the normal state of affairs that ‘such defects were not avoided.’ Is it not the case, he asks, whether ‘the anthologies and poetry competitions are entirely different?’ (The commentators take this as suggesting it’s better to avoid producing ‘defective’ poems in competition.) Thus, though he finds the use of old-fashioned expressions like ‘waltzing’ (saodoru) displeasing, the Left’s poem is not defective and so must win this round.