Tag Archives: pillow

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 31

Round Six

Left (Tie)

たびねするこやのしのやのひまをなみもらぬしぐれにぬるるそでかな

tabinesuru
koya no shinoya no
hima o nami
moranu shigure ni
nururu sode kana
Dozing on my journey
In Koya, beneath dwarf-bamboo thatch,
No gaps has it, so
No drips fall from the showers, yet
Still my sleeves are soaked!

Kunisuke
61

Right

しぐれつつものぞかなしきわすれぐさまくらにむすぶきしのたびねは

shiguretsutsu
mono zo kanashiki
wasuregusa
makura ni musubu
kishi no tabine wa
In the ever-falling showers,
I am sad, indeed, so
Of forgetful day-lily
My pillow will I weave,
Napping on my travels by the coast…

Horikawa
62

The Left’s poem is not bad in configuration and diction, but I would have preferred it had it said ‘no drips fall from the showers, too, yet’. As for the Right, saying that one is napping on one’s travels on the coast at Sumiyoshi, having woven a pillow from forgetful day-lilies does, indeed, sound evocative, but it would have been more so had there been a reason for the reference to day-lilies earlier in the poem. These tie, don’t they.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 30

Round Five

Left (Win)

はれくもりしぐれするよはまつがねのまくらをえこそさだめざりけれ

harekumori
shiguresuru yo wa
matsu ga ne no
makura o e koso
sadamezarikere
Clear then clouded
With showers is the night,
When pine roots do
My pillow make
I cannot decide at all…[1]

Asamune
59

Right

かみなづきしぐるるよはのたびやかたもるとはなしにぬるるそでかな

kaminazuki
shigururu yowa no
tabiyakata
moru to wa nashi ni
nururu sode kana
In the Godless Month
Showers at midnight
At traveller’s lodge
Should drench me not, yet
Soaked are my sleeves! [2]

Kanetsuna
60

The style of both Left and Right sounds elegant. However, with regard to the Right’s poems, while I am well accustomed to hearing that one would not be drenched at a lodge, the combination of the diction of ‘showers’ and ‘soaked’ would have been better avoided. The conclusion of the Left, with ‘pine roots’ and sequencing sounds pleasant. Thus, the Left wins.


[1] Alluding to: Topic unknown. よひよひに枕さだめむ方もなしいかにねし夜か夢に見えけむ yoi yoi ni / makura sadamemu / kata mo nashi / ika ni neshi yo ka / yume ni miekemu ‘Night after night / To decide upon my pillow / I cannot do, at all / How can I sleep the night away / And see you in my dreams?’ Anonymous (KKS XI:  516)

[2] Alluding to: Composed in place of an islander from  Ulleungdo. 故郷有母秋風涙 旅館無人暮雨魂 kokyō ni haha ari aki no kaze no namida / ryokan ni hito nashi bō no Tamashii ‘My mother lies in my ancient home; my tears overflow with the autumn wind, as / Alone in my traveller’s lodgings, the rain at dusk draws out my soul.’ Tamenori (Shinsen rōeishū 606)

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 21

Round Nine

Left (Tie)

秋はぎを草の枕にむすびてや妻恋ひかねて鹿のふすらん

akihagi o
kusa no makura ni
musubite ya
tsuma koikanete
shika no fusuran
The autumn bush clover
For a grassy pillow
Has he woven—is that why
Unable to love his mate
The stag seems to lie?

Koreyuki
41

Right

妻こふる秋にしなればさをしかの床の山とてうちもふされじ

tsuma kouru
aki ni shi nareba
saoshika no
toko no yama tote
uchi mo fusareji
He yearns for his mate
In autumn, above all, so
In the stag’s
Bed among the mountains
He cannot lay him down, it seems.

Arifusa
42

The Left isn’t bad, but isn’t there Controller Kore’ie’s poem:

秋萩を草の枕にむすぶ夜はちかくもしかのこゑをきくかな

akihagi o
kusa no makura ni
musubu yo wa
chikaku mo shika no
koe o kiku kana
The autumn bush clover
For a grassy pillow
I weave tonight—
Close by, truly, a stag’s
Bell I hear! [1]

While there is this earlier example, neither core nor the conceptions of these poems are the same, and as the Right’s poem is not all that good, after careful consideration I make this a tie.


[1] On hearing a stag at his lodgings. KYS (3) III: 224

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 19

Round Nineteen

Left (Win)

うちはらふ枕のちりもかくれなくあれたる宿をてらす月影

uchiharau
makura no chiri mo
kakurenaku
aretaru yado o
terasu tsukikage
Needing to be swept away,
The dust upon my pillow
Cannot be concealed
In my dilapidated dwelling, when
The moonlight shines within…

Taifu
37

Right

秋の夜の月みる袖におく露やひるにかはれるしるしなるらん

aki no yo no
tsuki miru sode ni
oku tsuyu ya
hiru ni kawareru
shirushi naruran
On an autumn night
Upon my sleeves, when gazing at the moon,
Fall dewdrops—
That all is changed from daytime
Might they be a sign?

Yorisuke
38

In both the moon is bright, and I feel they reflect the essential meaning of the topic, but as its diction is currently slightly more familiar, I make the Left the winner. It would be possible to call this a tie, too, though.

SKKS XIII: 1209

Major Captain of the Left Asamitsu had not visited her for a long time, when he came to see her on her travels; having no pillow, they wove one out of grass.

あふことはこれやかぎりの旅ならん草のまくらも霜がれにけり

au koto wa
kore ya kagiri no
tabi naran
kusa no makura mo
shimogarenikeri
Will our meeting
Here be the limit of
Our journey?
Even our grassy pillow
Seared by distant frosts…

The Uma Handmaid

Jidai fudō uta’awase 116

Round One Hundred and Sixteen

Left

ひとりぬる人やしるらん秋の夜をながしとたれか君につげつる

hitori nuru
hito ya shiruran
aki no yo o
nagashi to tareka
kimi ni tsugetsuru
Sleeping alone
I know it all too well—that
An autumn night is
Long to someone
You’ve been telling!

231[1]

Right

こふれどもみぬめの浦のうき枕なみにのみやは袖のぬれける

kouredomo
minume no ura no
ukimakura
nami ni nomi ya wa
sode no nurekeru
I love him, yet
Unnoticed at Minume shore
Drifting with a sorry pillow
By the waves, alone,
Are my sleeves left drenched?

232[2]


[1] Goshūishū XVI: 906: Around the time the Naka Chancellor had begun visiting her, on the morning following a night when he had failed to call, she composed this to say that this night’s dawn had been particularly hard to bear.

[2] This poem does not appear in any other collection in the canon.

GSIS XII: 701

Composed when the Naka Chancellor [Fujiwara no Michitaka] returned from another woman’s residence with the dawn, but rather than coming in, remained outside and went back to his own house.

暁のつゆはまくらにおきけるを草葉のうへとなにおもひけん

akatuki no
tuyu Fa makura ni
okikeru wo
kusaba no uFe to
nani omoFiken
At the dawning
Dewdrops upon my pillow
Have fallen, but
Resting atop a blade of grass—
Is that what you think of me? [1]

The Kō Handmaid

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

[1] An allusive variation on Izumi shikibu-shū 304/Mandaishū XVIII: 3559.