雨ふれど猶もえわたる早蕨や春のやくののしるしなるらん
| ame furedo nao moewataru sawarabi ya haruno yakuno no shirushi naruran | The rain has fallen, yet Still smouldering into bud Is fresh bracken that The plains in spring are burnt A sign, perhaps? |
[Minamoto no] Morotoki 師時
Tag Archives: sign
Reikeiden no nyōgo uta’awase 01
Poetry Match held by the Reikeiden Junior Consort
Poems matched by the retainers of the Reikeiden Junior Consort, around the Third Month, Tenryaku 10.
Haze
Left (Tie)
あさひさすみねのしらゆきむらぎえてはるのかすみはたなびきにけり
| asahi sasu mine no shirayuki muragiete haru no kasumi wa tanabikinikeri | Morning sun shines upon The snow upon the peak, so white, All vanishing with The haze of spring A’trailing. |
Kanemori
1
Right
みよしのはゆきふりやまずさむけれどかすみぞはるのしるべなりける
| miyoshino wa yuki furiyamazu samukeredo kasumi zo haru no shirube narikeru | In fair Yoshino, where Never does the snow stop falling, ‘Tis cold, yet Haze of spring Is a sign. |
2
Eien narabō uta’awase 24
Round Three
Left
おぼつかないづれいづちのみちならむしをりも見えずふれるしらゆき
| 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.
Kenpō meisho hyakushu 161
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 21
Round Nine
Left (M – Tie)
秋くれて千草の花は残らねど独うつろふ白菊のはな
| 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.
Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 69
Round Nineteen
Left (Win)
やはらぐるひかりをたのむしるしにはこむよのやみをてらさざらめや
| 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.
Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 58
Round Eight
Left
よのなかをうみわたりつつとしへぬることはつもりのかみやたすけむ
| 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.
Tōin senzai awase 01
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… |
2
Sane’ie-shū 301
When a lady had dropped her hair-tie, I picked it up and passed it back to her.
あさねがみもとゆひそめししるしありてとけてみゆるをこころともがな
| asanegami motoyui someshi shirushi arite tokete miyuru o kokoro to mogana | That your morning bed-hair You had started to do up Is this a sign, but I would see you loosen it Together with your heart! |
Fujiwara no Sane’ie (1145-1193)
Kyōgoku no miyasudokoro uta’awase 13
Original
ちりまがふかすがのやまのさくらばなひかりにきえぬゆきと見えつつ
| chirimagau kasuga no yama no sakurabana hikari ni kienu yuki to mietsutsu | Tangledly scattering on The mount of Kasuga are The cherry blossoms—as Not fading with the sunlight Does this snow, it ever seems… |
37
Left
さくらばななにかはきえむしろたへのいろばかりこそゆきににるらめ
| sakurabana nanika wa kienu shirotae no iro bakari koso yuki ni niruramu | Cherry blossoms— Why should they fade away? White as mulberry cloth, In their hue alone Do they resemble snow, I’d say! |
38
Right (Win)
やまざくらゆきにまがひてちりくれどきえぬばかりぞしるしなりける
| yamazakura yuki ni magaite chirikuredo kienu bakari zo shirushi narikeru | Mountain cherry blossoms Tangle with the snowflakes, and Come a’scattering, yet ‘Tis only that they fade not that’s The sign of what they are! |
39
