夜をさむみ鴨のはがひにおく霜のたとひけぬとも色に出でめやも
| yo o samumi kamo no hagai ni oku shimo no tatoikenu tomo iro ni ide ya mo | On a night so chill Upon the ducks’ folded wings Frost falls— Even should my fate be the same Would I ever reveal passion’s hue? |
430
Tag Archives: shimo
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 16
Round Four
Left (M – Tie)
白砂の霜よに置きてみつれども移ふ菊はまがはざりけり
| shirotae no shimo yo ni okite mitsuredomo utsurou kiku wa magawazarikeri | White as mulberry cloth. Frost has fallen tonight I see, and yet The faded chrysanthemums I can clearly tell apart. |
Lord Masakane
31
Right (T – Win)
八重菊の花の袂をあかずとや霜のうはぎを猶かさぬらん
| yaegiku no hana no tamoto o akazu to ya shimo no uwagi o nao kasanuran | Of eightfold chrysanthemum Bloomed sleeves I cannot get my fill, but Is a frosty jacket Yet laid upon them? |
Lord Tadafusa
32
Toshiyori states: the assemble company have stated about the first poem that in the absence of the moon or the stars it would difficult to distinguish chrysanthemums from the frost, and it certainly sounds like this would be the case. In the latter poem, we need to think of who it is that is feeling that they cannot get their fill of bloomed sleeves—the person wearing them should be included, or if the chrysanthemums are, perhaps, the subject, then ‘eightfold chrysanthemum’ is an error. Even so, the style of the poem seems elevated.
Mototoshi states: the poem stating ‘White as mulberry cloth. / Frost has fallen tonight’ is a bit hackneyed, and it then continues ‘The faded chrysanthemums / I can clearly tell apart’—I question whether one would really mistake faded chrysanthemums and frost. As for the Right’s poem, which says ‘Bloomed sleeves / I cannot get my fill’, well, this really is difficult to grasp. I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth agonizing over whether these were a person’s sleeves or those of the chrysanthemum! I feel that the diction in both poems is skillful, but there’s a lack of necessary information, so it’s impossible to decide a winner or loser here.
Kinkai wakashū 388
In the Twelfth Month of Kempō 5 [January 1218], I stayed at a monk’s cell at the Eifukuji on account of a directional taboo. When I returned home the following morning, I left behind a jacket
春まちてかすみの袖にかさねよと霜のころものおきてこそゆけ
| haru machite kasumi no sode ni kasaneyo to shimo no koromo no okite koso yuke | Awaiting the springtime, Sleeves of haze, O, layer up! A frosty robe I leave you as I go! |
388
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 15
Round Three
Left
万代の秋のかたみになす物はきみがよはひをのぶるしらぎく
| yorozuyo no aki no katami ni nasu mono wa kimi ga yowai o noburu shiragiku | Of ten thousand ages’ Autumns a keepsake I will make: My Lord’s age Extended by a white chrysanthemum! |
Lord Akinaka
29
Right
今朝みればさながら霜をいただきて翁さびゆくしら菊の花
| kesa mireba sanagara shimo o itadakite okina sabiyuku shiragiku no hana | When this morn I look That’s how it is: with frost Bestowed A lonesome ancient seems This white chrysanthemum bloom! |
Lord Mototoshi
30
Toshiyori states: this first poem is strongly characterized by felicitation, and that’s about all the fault I can mention. As for the second poem, ‘a lonesome ancient seems’ is certainly an expression I don’t know. Still, if I think of examples from prior poems, ‘lone ancient’ could be interpreted as deriving from ‘dotaged ancient’, but then the conception seems different here, so this is most likely wrong. I can only give a decision once I am certain.
Mototoshi states: ‘Of ten thousand ages’ / Autumns a keepsake / Will make’ resembles Kanemori’s famous work,[1] which has often been alluded to in composition, I think. This poem is charming. ‘Will make’ is an extremely abbreviated expression, and so the final ‘age / Extended by a white chrysanthemum’ appears to have little connection to it. There is Tomonori’ s ‘Dew-dappled / Let us pluck and wear’[2], and also responses sent on the 9th day of the Ninth Month to the residences of Tadamine and Tsurayuki like ‘Bearing droplets / Age is extended by / Chrysanthemums’, aren’t there. Given that’s the case there would be many such keepsakes of extended age. As for the Right’s ‘That’s how it is: with frost / Bestowed / A lonesome ancient seems, well, it seems that just how I composed a poem about lingering chrysanthemums—have I done something wrong?
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 14
Round Two
Left
ま袖もて朝置く霜を払ふかなあへず移ふきくの惜さに
| masodemote asa oku shimo o harau kana aezu utsurou kiku no oshisa ni | From both my sleeves The morning frost fall I will brush away! Reluctant to face the fading Chrysanthemum’s burden of regret… |
Lord Akikuni
27
Right (Both Judges – Win)
露結ぶしも夜の数をかさぬればたへでや菊のうつろひぬらん
| tsuyu musubu shimo yo no kazu o kasanureba taede ya kiku no utsuroinuran | Dewdrops bound with Frost—when such nights in number Mount up, Might it be unbearable that the chrysanthemums Do fade away? |
Lord Morotoshi
28
Toshiyori states: the first poem is extremely charming. Nevertheless, I must question the use of ‘reluctant to face the fading’ as I feel this is something I have not heard before. I can grasp the sense of diction such as ‘unable to do anything about’ or ‘without taking on autumn hues’, but did the poet mean to use the diction ‘unbearable’, perhaps? Even though this is somewhat archaic phrasing, it is used in composition. This poem’s expressions, though, I feel are somewhat unfamiliar. The conception and diction of the second poem are both extremely charming. However, this poem, too, is vague. What is going on with the initial ‘dewdrops bound’? Does it mean that the dewdrops get turned into frost? If so, then, from what is known of the calendar, this is something which only occurs on a single night, and from the following night there is only frost. It sounds as if the conception of this poem, though, is that night after night dew turns to frost, and this would be a fault. Despite this vagueness, however, its tone is elegant, so it seems superior.
Mototoshi states: the poem of the Left has a poetic configuration, but I strongly feel that it would have been preferable not to use the diction ‘both my sleeves’. It does seem as if this was used in the ancient Collection of a Myriad Leaves, but even given that was the case, in the preface to the Ancient and Modern, I recall it saying, ‘On examining the poems of ancient times, we find they use many archaic expressions. These were there not just to please the ear, but simply for moral instruction’. It appears that there are no instances of this piece of diction being used in poetry matches from the period of the Ancient and Modern, Later Selection and Gleanings, and these were all conducted for entertainment. Even in a poetry match conducted in Engi 12 [912], when the term ‘sleeve’ was used, I get the feeling that it was such a source of amusement that the poem was not recited. While the quality of the Right’s poem is not superb, the tone of ‘Dewdrops bound with / Frost—when such nights in number’ is not bad, so I feel the dew can still remain bound!
Kinkai wakashū 349
Kinkai wakashū 343
Kinkai wakashū 342
Kinkai wakashū 334
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 05
Round Five
Left (T – Tie)
時雨には菅の小笠も水もりて遠の旅人ぬれやしぬらん
| shigure ni wa suga no ogasa mo mizu morite ochi no tabibito nure ya shinuran | In such a shower A little hat of woven sedge, too, Drips with water; A distant traveller Is drenched, no doubt… |
Lady Kazusa
9
Right (M – Win)
霜さえて枯行くをのの岡べなるならの朽葉にしぐれ降るなり
| shimo saete kareyuku ono no okabe naru nara no kuchiba ni shigure furu nari | Chill the frost upon The sere meadows on The hillside where Upon the withered oak leaves A shower is falling. |
Lord Mototoshi
10
Toshiyori states: In the first poem, ‘drips with water’ is vague. In the second poem, ‘hillside where’ lacks smoothness. What are we to make of ‘withered oak leaves’? If leaves have withered away, then they wouldn’t make any sound, would they. Is this even possible?
Mototoshi states: the diction of ‘In such a shower / A little umbrella of woven sedge, too, / Drips with water’ is something which lacks any prior precedent. ‘Dripping with water’ give the impression of a painted pot with a crack in it, so what kind of shower can this be? It would be more normal to refer to having to shelter beneath one’s sleeves. While it is lacking in any superlative features, I feel that the sound of a shower on withered oak leaves is somewhat more commonplace.
