obotsukana izure izuchi no michi naramu shiori mo miezu fureru shirayuki
How strange! Which is which Path, I wonder? Even the laden branches go unseen In the falling snow, so white.
Retired from the World 47
Right
雪ふかみとなりのさともうづもれてけぶりのみこそしるしなりけれ
yuki fukami tonari no sato mo uzumorete keburi nomi koso shirushi narikere
So deep the snow, that The estate next door Is buried; Trails of smoke are the only Sign it’s there!
Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
48
The poem of the Left’s ‘even the laden branches go unseen’ and what follows is both poetic and a familiar usage. As for the Right’s poem, how can ‘the estate next door be buried’ unless it’s the only place that snow is falling and nowhere else? Thus, I feel that the snow falling to conceal the broken branches has more feeling to it.
The Left’s ‘which path’ gives me the impression that there are many of them. This sense of multiplicity is something I can imagine—which is a good thing—and, I think, see me using myself. ‘Laden branches’ are something which occur on peaks deep in the mountains. It might be a bit remiss of me, but I wonder whether I can imagine snow drifting so high on a mountain peak?
As for the Right’s poem, we use ‘next door’ when there’s a fence of some sort between one estate and another, don’t we? As such, saying that the smoke is the sign is rather vague. Even if there’s been a quite extraordinary snowfall, there would be something other to notice as well as the smoke, so this is an error, isn’t it. It would be acceptable to refer to smoke if the estate were further away.
aki kurete chigusa no hana wa nokoranedo hitori utsurou shiragiku no hana
Autumn sinks to twilight, and Of a thousand blossoms Not one lingers, save Alone and fading A white chrysanthemum bloom.
Lord Shigemoto 41
Right (T – Win)
かぎりなく君が千代経むしるしにや散残るらん宿のしらぎく
kagirinaku kimi ga chiyo hemu shirushi ni ya chirinokoruran yado no shiragiku
That endless through A thousand ages will my Lord pass A sign there is: Not scattering and lingering White chrysanthemums at his house!
Lord Tadataka 42
Toshiyori states: I don’t have much to point out about the poem on ‘autumn sinking to twilight’, except that it could have had ‘indeed, linger’ in place of ‘not one lingers, yet’ to lead to ‘alone and fading’. As for the second poem, there are no other examples of saying ‘chrysanthemums scatter’, yet I do wonder about how this sounds? Nevertheless, it has a conception of Felicitation and this makes it somehow superior.
Mototoshi states: the poems of Left and Right are of the same standard in both conception and diction, so it’s not possible to tell them apart. These, too, are of the same quality.
yawaraguru hikari o tanomu shirushi ni wa komu yo no yami o terasazarame ya
The God has dimmed His light, but rely on it As a sign, I will, that In the darkness of the world to come He will surely shine…
Dharma Master Yūsei 137
Right
かみにわれたのみをかけてまつなればすみよしにこそみをばやどさめ
kami ni ware tanomi o kakete matsu nareba sumiyoshi ni koso mi oba yadosame
In the God, I Place my trust, and Await, with the pines, so At Sumiyoshi, surely, Will I make my lodging!
Norimori 138
The Left’s poem does not have a particularly remarkable conception, but with that being said, while its flow appears smooth, the expression of its core sentiment is, indeed, moving. As for the poem of the Right, while ‘Place my trust, and / Await, with the pines, so’ seems charming, the elevated tone of the Left is slightly superior, I think.
yo no naka o umiwataritsutsu toshi henuru koto wa tsumori no kami ya tasukemu
In this mundane world, An endless sea of suffering, Have my years gone by; Might Tsumori’s Deity save me, I wonder?
Dharma Master Shun’e 115
Right (Win)
いへのかぜわがみのうへにすずしかれかみのしるしをあふぐとならば
ie no kaze wa ga mi no ue ni suzushikare kami no shirushi o augu to naraba
My house’s breeze of fortune To my sorry self I would bring cool, if For a sign from the God I were to seek…
Lord Sanekuni 116
The Left’s conception is charming, beginning with ‘An endless sea of suffering’ and following this with ‘Might Tsumori’s / Deity save me, I wonder?’, but ‘endless sea of suffering’ does not sound like acceptable diction. The Right’s conception of ‘For a sign from the God / I were to seek’ sounds charming, so I make it the winner.
The Garden Match held by the Chancellor at the Eastern Mansion
When His Lordship, the Chancellor, was having the Eastern Mansion refurbished, he divided his sons into teams and having a large number of charming plants grown in pots on the eastern and western sides of the main hall, he matched poems composed on the names of these plants. These poems are as follows.
Left – Pine
あだしきのちるにもさらににぬまつはちとせこえふるしるべなりけり
adashiki no chiru ni mo sara ni ninu matsu wa chitose koefuru shirube narikeri
The other trees’ Scattering is e’en more Unlike the pines— Passing through a thousand years Is their singular sign.
1a
あたらしき春にもさらににぬまつはちとせこえこぬしるべなりけり
atarashiki haru ni mo sara ni ninu matsu wa chitose koekonu shirube narikeri
A new Spring is e’en more Unlike the pines— That it last not a thousand years Is a singular sign.
1b
Right
たれもみなちとせこえくるまつにのみひさしきことはならへとぞ思ふ
tare mo mina chitose koekuru matsu ni nomi hisashiki koto wa narae to zo omou
Every single one, without exception, Passes through a thousand years— That the pines, alone, Are eternal: Learn that! Or so I feel…
wakana tsumu toshi wa henuredo kasugano no nomori wa kyō ya haru o shiruramu
Plucking fresh herbs do The years pass by, yet On Kasuga Plain, The wardens today Must truly know ‘tis spring. [1]
Mitsune 19
Left (Tie)
けふ見てぞわれはしりぬるはなはなほかすがののべのものにぞありける
kyō mite zo ware wa shirinuru hana wa nao kasuga no nobe no mono ni zo arikeru
Today did I see, and Understood it well, that Blossom, truly, Upon the meadows of Kasuga Is best of all.
20
Right
ありへてもかすがののもりはるにあふはとしもわかなもつめるしるしか
arihete mo kasuga no nomori haru ni au wa toshi mo wakana mo tsumeru shirushi ka
Over passing ages, For the wardens of Kasuga, Encountering the springtime, The years and the fresh herbs, both, Have garnered as a sign, perhaps.
21
[1] A variant of this poem occurs in Shokugosenshū: In the twenty-first year of the same era, on a day when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber visited the shrine at Kasuga, he composed this in place of the official from the province of Yamato. としごとにわかなつみつつかすが野ののもりもけふやはるをしるらん toshi goto ni / wakana tsumitsutsu / kasugano no / nomori mo kyō ya / haru o shiruran ‘Every single year / Ever plucking fresh herbs / On Kasuga Plain / The wardens, too, today / Must truly know ‘tis spring.’Mitsune (XVI: 1032/1029)
