Tag Archives: sakurabana

Entō ōn’uta’awase 12

Round Twelve

Left

うつり行く花の下道跡もなしながめも白き春の山風

utsuriyuku
hana no shita michi
ato mo nashi
nagame mo shiroki
haru no yamakaze
The shifting
Blossom on the paths beneath
Leaves no footprints there;
My gaze with whiteness filled
By spring’s breezes in the mountains.

Dōchin
23

Right (Win)

身にかへておもふもくるし桜花さかぬみ山に宿もとめてん

mi ni kaete
omou mo kurushi
sakurabana
sakanu miyama ni
yado mo tometen
It should be me instead,
I think, but even that brings pain;
Where cherry blossoms
Fail to bloom, deep within the mountains
Should I make my home.

Dharma Master Nyokan
24

The Left’s poem does not sound poor, but has ‘gaze with whiteness’—a long time ago, Lay Priest Toshinari repeatedly said that it is not appropriate to compose about looking at something specific using ‘gaze’. The initial and concluding section of the Right’s poem sound fine—it should win.

Entō ōn’uta’awase 9

Mountain Cherries

Round Nine

Left (Tie)

人心うつりはてぬる花の色に昔ながらの山の名もをし

hitogokoro
utsurihatenuru
hana no iro ni
mukashi nagara no
yama no na mo oshi
As a human heart
All faded are
The blossoms’ hues upon
Ever unchanged Nagara
Mountain—even its name brings regret.[1]

A Court Lady
17

Right

なぞもかく思ひそめけむ桜花やまとしたかく成りはつるまで

nazo mo kaku
omoisomekemu
sakurabana
yama toshi takaku
narihatsuru made
Why is it that I seem so
Absorbed in thought of
Cherry blossom that
The mountain higher
Has grown? [2]

Lord Ietaka
18

The Right’s poem mentioning ‘Grief as hard as felling trees upon a mountain higher’ has charming diction. As for the Left’s poem, while I have heard it strongly stated that using a ‘human heart’ is not diction that should be composed with these days, as this is not a poem for public circulation, for the moment I make this a tie.


[1] An allusive variation on KKS XV: 797.

[2] An allusive variation on KKS XIX: 1056.

SSIS II: 123

On the same conception [blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence].

身にかへておもふもくるしさくら花さかぬみ山にやどもとめてむ

mi ni kaete
omou mo kurushi
sakurabana
sakanu miyama ni
yado mo tometemu
It will cost my life,
So painful to think of
Cherry blossom
Not yet in bloom deep within the mountains
Where my lodging is to be.

Monk Nyogan

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

SZS I: 56

As a poem on blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence to Former Emperor Sutoku.

かづらきやたかまの山のさくら花雲井のよそにみてや過ぎなん

kaduragi ya
takama no yama no
sakurabana
kumowi no yoso ni
mite ya suginan
In Kazuragi
On the peak of Takama are
Cherry blossoms:
Being beyond the clouds
Should I overlook them?

Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke

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

Kinkai wakashū 60

For a folding screen depicting a large number of travellers lying beneath blossom.

木のもとにやどりはすべし桜花ちらまくをしみ旅ならなくに

ko no moto ni
yadori wa subeshi
sakurabana
chiramaku oshimi
tabi naranaku ni
Beneath this tree
Let me lodge a while, for
The cherry blossoms’
Scattering I do regret, so
I’ve no cause to journey on my way…
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

Kinkai wakashū 59

For a folding screen depicting a large number of travellers lying beneath blossom.

いましはと思ひし程にさくらばなちる木のもとに日数へぬべし

ima shi wa to
omoishi hodo ni
sakurabana
chiru ko no moto ni
hikazu henubeshi
‘Now, for sure, I’ll—’
I did think, but
Cherry blossom
Scattered from the trees, and beneath,
Without arising, must I pass my time!
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.