Tag Archives: shiratama

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 83

Left

白玉のきえて涙と成りぬれば恋しきかげを袖にこそ見れ

shiratama no
kiete namida to
narinureba
koishiki kage o
sode ni koso mire
Pearls
Vanish and to tears
Have turned, so
Her beloved face
I will see upon my sleeves.

160

Right

人を見ておもふ事だに有るものを空にこふるぞはかなかりける

hito o mite
omou koto dani
aru mono o
sora ni kōru zo
hakanakarikeru
I saw her, and
Thoughts simply
Filled me, but
In the skies, love is
Fleeting, indeed!

161

Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase 26

しらたまのあきのこのはにやどれると見つるは露のはかるなりけり[1]

shiratama no
aki no ko no ha ni
yadoreru to
mitsuru wa tsuyu no
hakaru narikeri
Pearls
Upon the leaves of the autumn trees
Have found lodging:
At the sight, the dewdrops
I’ll measure!

51

ゆきかへりここもかしこもかりなれやあきくるごとにねをばなくらん

yukikaeri
koko mo kashiko mo
kari nare ya
aki kuru koto ni
ne oba nakuran
Going back and forth,
Hither and thither
Are the geese?
That autumn’s coming
Is in their cries, it seems.

52


[1] This poem was included in Gosenshū (VI: 311).

MYS XVI: 3815

A poem in reply.

白玉の緒絶えはまことしかれどもその緒また貫き人持ち去にけり

siratama no
wodae pa makoto
sikaredomo
sono wo mata nuki
pito moti’inikeri
The pearl’s
Strand broke, it’s true,
And yet
It has been threaded once more,
And is in another’s hands!

Of the above poem, it is said, ‘Once, there was a young woman. She was abandoned by her husband, and wed another man. At that time, a certain man, not knowing of her remarriage, sent a poem to her parents asking for her hand. So, her parents, realising the man did not know the details of the situation, sent this poem to him to inform him that their daughter had married once more.’

Love III: 3

Left (Tie).

袖の上にかかる涙の白玉を包まねばこそよそに散るらめ

sode no ue ni
kakaru namida no
shiratama o
tsutsumaneba koso
yoso ni chirurame
To my sleeves
Cling tears
As pearls:
I could not cover them, so
They have scattered far as wide, it seems…

Lord Ari’ie.

725

Right.

よしさらば逢はで重ぬる濡れ衣の恨みに朽る妻もあらなん

yoshi saraba
awade kasanuru
nureginu no
urami ni kutsuru
tsuma mo aranan
I care not if it’s so!
Without meeting, laid atop each other
Our dampened clothes
From despair will decay
At the hem – that is my desire!

Nobusada.

726

The Right state: in the Left’s poem, it sounds as if the tears are being scattered by some other person. The Left state: we cannot understand the Right’s poem at all.

Shunzei’s judgement: the entirety of the final section of the Left’s poem is inappropriate [kashinserarezaru]. While the configuration of the Right is elegant, it does, indeed, seem somewhat difficult to grasp. Compared, the round is a tie.