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)
Composed on seeing the blinds being moved by the wind one evening, around the 20th day of the Waterless Month.
秋ちかくなるしるしにや玉簾こすのまとほし風のすずしき
aki chikaku naru shirushi ni ya tamasudare kosu no ma tōshi kaze no suzushiki
Of approaching autumn Is this a sign, perhaps? Hung with jewels The blinds’ gaps reveal The coolness of the wind.[i]
[i] An allusive variation on: Composed on the moon. 玉垂之 小簾之間通 独居而 見験無 暮月夜鴨 tamadare no / osu no ma tōshi / hitori ite / miru shirushinaki / yūzukuyo kamo ‘Hung with jewels / The blinds’ gaps reveal / Me sitting here alone / How pointless to be gazing out / At the rising moon tonight!’ Anonymous (MYS VII: 1073).
yuki fukami shizu no fuseya mo uzumorete keburi bakari zo shirushi narikeru
Snow so deep that The peasants’ huts, too, Are buried, and The smoke, alone, is Their only sign!
Kinshige 45
Right
花の春もみぢの秋もしるかりし松の木ずゑもみえぬ白雪
hana no haru momiji no aki mo shirukarishi matsu no kozue mo mienu shirayuki
By blossom is spring, and By scarlet leaves is autumn Known— The treetops of the pines Invisible with snow, so white.
Kūnin 46
The Left poem’s conception of ‘sign of smoke’ sounds particularly profound. As for the Right, it is possible for enough snow to fall to conceal a pine’s lower leaves, too, so the poem does not sound satisfying.
uchiharau makura no chiri mo kakurenaku aretaru yado o terasu tsukikage
Needing to be swept away, The dust upon my pillow Cannot be concealed In my dilapidated dwelling, when The moonlight shines within…
Taifu 37
Right
秋の夜の月みる袖におく露やひるにかはれるしるしなるらん
aki no yo no tsuki miru sode ni oku tsuyu ya hiru ni kawareru shirushi naruran
On an autumn night Upon my sleeves, when gazing at the moon, Fall dewdrops— That all is changed from daytime Might they be a sign?
Yorisuke 38
In both the moon is bright, and I feel they reflect the essential meaning of the topic, but as its diction is currently slightly more familiar, I make the Left the winner. It would be possible to call this a tie, too, though.
Composed on the conception of visiting distant blossom in the mountains, on a day when he was due to return after paying a visit to the residence of the regent.
たづねつる花のあたりになりにけりにほふにしるしはるの山かぜ
tazuneturu Fana no atari ni narinikeri nioFu ni sirusi Fa Faru no yamakaze
I have paid a visit to A place of blossom Here; Of their scent a sign is carried On the spring mountain breezes.
