Tag Archives: pool

GSIS XI: 647

When a woman told him to throw himself into a pool.

身をすててふかきふちにも入りぬべしそこの心のしらまほしさに

mi o sutete
Fukaki Futi ni mo
irinubesi
soko no kokoro no
siramaFosisa ni
I shall cast off all restraint, and
Into a deep pool, indeed,
Plunge—
For at the bottom your heart’s depths
I would come to know…

Minamoto no Michinari

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

Uda-in uta’awase 11

Wisteria

Left (Win)

おくつゆのひかりてたまぞみえまがふちのはながらにきえずもあらなむ

oku tsuyu no
hikarite tama zo
miemagau
chi no ha nagara ni
kiezu mo aranamu
The fallen dewdrops
Shine like gems
Within my sight;
From the budding leaves
I would they vanished not!

21

Right

あまつそらてりみくもりみゆくつきのふちのはなどはさやけかるらん

ama tsu sora
terimi kumorimi
yuku tsuki no
fuchi no ha nado wa
sayakekaruran
Through the heaven-bound skies
Shining, then clouding,
Goes the moon, so
Why, by this deep pool’s edge
Should it show so clear?

Fukayabu
22

MYS XVII: 4003

A poem with two envoys, composed in respectful response to Tachiyama.

朝日さし そがひに見ゆる 神ながら 御名に帯ばせる 白雲の 千重を押し別け 天そそり 高き立山 冬夏と 別くこともなく 白栲に 雪は降り置きて 古ゆ あり来にければ こごしかも 岩の神さび たまきはる 幾代経にけむ 立ちて居て 見れども異し 峰高み 谷を深みと 落ちたぎつ 清き河内に 朝さらず 霧立ちわたり 夕されば 雲居たなびき 雲居なす 心もしのに 立つ霧の 思ひ過ぐさず 行く水の 音もさやけく 万代に 言ひ継ぎゆかむ 川し絶えずは

asapi sasi
sogapi ni miyuru
kamu nagara
mina ni obasesu
sirakumo no
tipe wo osiwake
ama sosori
takaki tatiyama
puyu natu to
waku koto mo naku
sirotape ni
yuki pa puri okite
inisipe yu
arikinikereba
kogosikamo
ipa no kamusabi
tama kiparu
ikuyo penikemu
tatiwite
miredomo ayasi
minedakami
tani wo pukami to
otitagitu
kiyoki ka puti ni
asa sarazu
kiri tati watari
yupu sareba
kumowi tanabiki
kumowi nasu
kokoro mo sino ni
tatu kiri no
omopi sugusazu
yuku midu no
woto mo sayakeku
yoroduyo ni
ipitugi yukamu
kapa si taezu wa
The morning sun shines
At my back,and
Divine
Your great name links:
Clouds of white
In a thousand layers, you pierce, and
Tower into the heavens,
Tall Tachiyama!
In winter and, in summer both
Indistinguishably are you
Clad in mulberry white
Fallen drifts of snow;
Since ancient days
Ever has been your estate,
Fastened round with
Crags divine;
‘til all souls end
Have countless ages passed!
Standing here,
I see you, yet am awed by
Your lofty peak and
Valley’s deep, where
Plunge seething cataracts of
Waters pure to pools where
Morning never leaves –
Mists rise and roll across, and
When the evening comes
Clouds trail in and
Cover all,
Even, with sadness, my heart, so
The rising mists
Never leave my thoughts, and of
Your running waters’
Clear, pure sound
Through ten thousand ages
Will I ever tell
Unending as a river’s flow…

Ōtomo no Ikenushi
大伴池主

Love III: 15

Left (Win.)

侘びつゝは音する風のつてもかが荻の上葉の枯果てぬとも

wabitsutsu wa
otosuru kaze no
tsute mo gana
ogi no uwaba no
karehatenu tomo
Sunk in constant grief
A whispered wind-borne
Word would do; though
The fronds of silver-grass
Have withered all away…

Lord Ari’ie

749

Right.

あさましや淵とせく瀬の末だにもかく絶果つる程は見えぬを

asamashi ya
fuchi to seku se no
sue dani mo
kaku taehatsuru
hodo wa mienu o
How unexpected!
The flow dammed into a pool
Has reached an end;
That it would cease so
It never did seem…

Ietaka

750

The Right state: it sounds as if the silver-grass after withering make no sound. The Left state: the expression ‘flow dammed into a pool’ (fuchi to seku se) is odd.

In judgement: the Left is not saying that silver-grass makes no sound after withering, but that there is no wind. The Right’s ‘flow dammed into a pool’ is certainly not poor, but the final section sounds clumsy. The Left’s poem is better. It should win.