On dew.
このころの秋風寒し萩の花散らす白露置きにけらしも
kono koro no akikaze samusi pagi no pana tirasu siratuyu wokinikerasi mo |
At about this time The autumn wind is chill; Bush clover bloom Scattering silver dewdrops – Do they, perhaps, fall too? |
Anonymous
On dew.
このころの秋風寒し萩の花散らす白露置きにけらしも
kono koro no akikaze samusi pagi no pana tirasu siratuyu wokinikerasi mo |
At about this time The autumn wind is chill; Bush clover bloom Scattering silver dewdrops – Do they, perhaps, fall too? |
Anonymous
When he drew the topic of dew, when people were composing poetry on randomly selected topics at the residence of the Minister of the Left.
我ならぬ草葉もものは思ひけり袖より外におけるしらつゆ
aFare naranu kusaba mo mono Fa omoFikeri sode yori Foka ni okeru siratuyu |
Not only I, but All the grassy leaves Are sunk in gloomy thought For in places other than my sleeves Fall silver dewdrops. |
Fujiwara no Tadakuni
藤原忠国
At a time when she was living with relatives, and the bush-clover was blooming particularly beautifully, the master of the house was somewhere else and not communicating, so she sent this to him.
白露も心おきてや思ふらむぬしもたづねぬやどの秋はぎ
siratuyu mo kokoro okite ya omoFuramu nusi mo tasunenu yado no aki Fagi |
Silver dewdrops Also fall on their hearts I feel; As the master pays no call On his dwelling’s autumn bush-clover. |
Chikuzen Wet Nurse
筑前乳母
小笹原末葉に結ぶ白露の光の間にも澄める月影
ozasawara sueba ni musubu shiratsuyu no hikari no ma ni mo sumeru tsukikage |
In the groves of young broad-leaved bamboo The leaf-tips are bound With silver dewdrops: In those bright fragments Clearly shines the moonlight. |
Fujiwara no Chikataka
藤原親隆
小笹原染み身における白露を飽きは絶えせぬ玉とこそ見れ
ozasawara shimi mi ni okeru shiratsuyu o aki wa taesenu tama to koso mire |
The groves of young broad-leaved bamboo Are deeply dyed with Silver dew: I will never cease to long For those seeming jewels! |
Fujiwara no Akinaka
藤原顕仲
我が宿の菊の白露今日今日ごとにいく代たまりて淵となるらむ
wa ga yado no kiku no siratuyu keFu goto ni ikuyo tamarite Futi to naruramu |
At my dwelling, The silver dew upon the chrysanthemums Ever on this day For countless ages accumulates Into a deep river pool. |
Nakatsukasa
中務
On the 13th night of the Ninth Month.
今宵はと心え顔に澄む月の光もてなす菊の白露
koyoi wa to kokoro egao ni sumu tsuki no hikari motenasu kiku no shiratsuyu |
“Tonight is it!” Knowingly The limpid moon’s Light garlands Silver dewfall on the chrysanthemums. |
Saigyō
西行
Composed for a folding screen of the moon, during the Engi period.
夏はつる扇と秋の白露といづれかまづはおかむとすらん
natsu hatsuru ōgi to aki no shiratsuyu to izure ka mazu wa okamu to suran |
With the end of summer My fan or the autumn’s Silver dewdrops Which will be the first To fall, I wonder! |
Mibu no Tadamine
This poem is also Wakan rōeishū 169.
夕立の雨うち降れば春日野の尾花が上の白露は思ほゆ
yuFudati no ame utiFureba kasugano no wobana ga uFe no siratuyu Fa omoFoyu |
When evening showers’ Rain does fall, On the plain at Kasuga Upon the miscanthus grass Silver dewfall comes to mind. |
Left.
祝ひ置きてなを長月と契かな今日摘む菊の末の白露
iwaiokite nao nagatsuki to chigiri kana kyō tsumu kiku no sue no shiratsuyu |
Celebrating: To have yet more long life, Is the vow, with White dewdrops from the tips Of today’s plucked chrysanthemums… |
451
Right (Win).
君が經ん代を長月のかざしとて今日折り得たる白菊の花
kimi ga hen yo o nagatsuki no kazashi tote kyō orietaru shiragiku no hana |
That my Lord will pass through Ages more, for the Longest Month Our garland will be Picked on this very day, White chrysanthemum blooms! |
452
Neither team can find any fault with the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s poem is excellent in both diction and overall configuration [sugata kotoba yū narubeshi]. Although the Right’s fine phrase [shūku] ‘picked on this very day’ (kyō orietaru) is somewhat archaic [koto furite] and I am unable to appreciate it, the Left’s poem, however, sounds as if it were a poem praying for one’s own long life. The Right, though, celebrates for one’s Lord, and so must win.