Left
さくらばなちりぬるかぜのなごりにはみづなきそらになみぞたちける
sakurabana
chirinuru kaze no
nagori ni wa
mizu naki sora ni
nami zo tachikeru | The cherry blossom
Scattering wind as
A keepsake in
The waterless skies
Has roused the waves. |
Tsurayuki
37
Right
みなそこにはるやくるらんみよしののよしののかはにかはづなくなり
minasoko ni
haru ya kururan
miyoshino no
yoshino no kawa ni
kawazu nakunari | To the water’s depths
Has the spring arrived, it seems, for
In fair Yoshino
From the Yoshino River
The frogs are singing. |
Tsurayuki
38
The Right won. His Majesty remarked, ‘There is a Royal poem here, so how could it lose?’
Left (Tie)
ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ
furusato ni
kasumi tobiwake
yuku kari wa
tabi no sora ni ya
haru o suguramu | Above an ancient estate
Flying through the parting haze
Go the geese:
In the skies they journey through,
I wonder, will they pass the springtime? |
Mitsune
19
Right
ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ
chiru hana o
nukishi tomeneba
aoyagi no
ito wa yoru tomo
kai ya nakaramu | The scattered blossom
Has been pierced, but not stayed, so,
The green willow’s
Threaded fronds are spun together, yet
It useless seems… |
20
‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’
Left (Win)
さくらちるこのしたかぜはさむからでそらにしられぬゆきぞふりける
sakura chiru
ko no shitakaze wa
samukarade
sora ni shirarenu
yuki zo furikeru | The cherry scattering
Breeze beneath the trees
Lacks chill—
Unaware from within the skies
The snow is falling. |
Tsurayuki
13[i]
Right
わがこころはるのやまべにあくがれてながながしひをけふもくらしつ
wa ga kokoro
haru no yamabe ni
akugarete
naganagashi hi o
kyō mo kurashitsu | My heart to
The mountainside in springtime
Is drawn—
The long, long day
Today, too, has reached its dusk. |
Mitsune
14[ii]
The Left wins. ‘The Right has “long, long” which is a disagreeable word. It was hissed through pursed lips with drooping shoulders,’ and so it lost.
[i] This poem is included in Shūishū (I: 64), with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
[ii] This poem is included in Shinkokinshū (I: 81), attributed to Tsurayuki with the headnote ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.
Left
つのくにのながらへゆかばわすれなくいまもみまくのほりえなるらむ
tsu no kuni no
nagara e yukaba
wasurenaku
ima mo mimaku no
horie naruramu | If, into the land of Tsu
To Nagara I go,
I’ll forget you not, and
Now to see you
More is what I want! |
37
Right (Win)
ひさかたのくもゐはるかにありしよりそらにこころのなりにしものを
hisakata no
kumoi haruka ni
arishi yori
sora ni kokoro no
narinishi mono o | The eternal
Clouds distant
Ever were—so
In the skies, my heart
With them did dwell. |
38
The Beginning of Autumn
Left (Win—in a certain book Tie)
しぐれにもあめにもあらぬはつぎりのたつにもそらはさしくもりけり
shigure ni mo
ame ni mo aranu
hatsugiri no
tatsu ni mo sora wa
sashikumorikeri | Neither a shower
Nor rain,
The first mists
Simply rise into the skies
And cover all with cloud. |
11
Right
としごとにあふとはすれどたなばたのぬるよのかずぞすくなかりける
toshi goto ni
au to suredo
tanabata no
nuru yo no kazu zo
sukunakarikeru | Every year
She meets him, yet
The Weaver Maid’s
Nights of passion
Are few indeed. |
Mitsune
12
On the conception of love, in a hundred poem sequence.
あふ事のむなしき空のうき雲は身をしる雨の便りなりけり
au koto no
munashiki sora no
ukigumo wa
mi o shiru ame no
tayori narikeri | Meeting you is
A vain hope—empty as the skies, where
Drifting clouds are
The rainfall of my misery’s
Harbingers. |
Prince Kore’akira
惟明親王
An allusive variation on KKS XIV: 705.
Mist
しぐれにもあめにもあらぬはつぎりのたつにもそらはさしくもりけり
shigure ni mo
ame ni mo aranu
hatsugiri no
tatsu ni mo sora wa
sashikumorikeri | Neither a shower
Nor rain,
The first mists
Simply rise into the skies
And cover all with cloud. |
Attributed to Mitsune in a certain volume
Azaleas
Left
かりがねにおもひかけつつしのばなんあまつそらなるわが身なりとも
kari ga ne ni
omoikaketsutsu
shinobanan
ama tsu sora naru
wa ga mi naritomo | Upon the goose cries
Ever hang your thoughts, and
Remember, that
Within the sky-spanning heavens
I may yet be… |
Sadafun
15
Right
うぐひすのこゑなつかしくなきつるはのちもこひつつしのばなむとか
uguisu no
koe natsukashiku
nakitsuru wa
nochi mo koitsutsu
shinobanamu to ka | Does the warbler’s
Song so charmingly
Ring out that
Later, ever fondly
Will he be remembered? |
16
On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].
いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな
ika ni sen
semete wa tabi no
soradanome
munashiku matan
yūgure mogana | O, what am I to do?
At least, it’s due to travel’s
Unreliable skies that
Emptily I would wait
This evening—if only that were so! |
Iehira, Junior Third Rank
従三位家衡
A place where a flute is playing.
ふえのねはすみぬなれどもふくかぜになべてもかすむはるの空かな
fue no ne wa
suminu naredomo
fuku kaze ni
nabete mo kasumu
haru no sora kana | The flute’s notes
Have ended, yet
Blown by the wind
Together they haze
The springtime sky. |
Fujiwara no Takatō (949-1013)
藤原高遠
'Simply moving and elegant'