ひとりふす草の枕のよるのつゆは友なき鹿のなみだなりけり
| hitori fusu kusa no makura no yoru no tsuyu wa tomo naki shika no namida narikeri | Lying alone Upon a grassy pillow The dew tonight is A friendless stag’s Tears. |
578
Tag Archives: stag
Kinkai wakashū 577
秋もはやすゑのはら野に鳴く鹿の声きく時ぞ旅はかなしき
| aki mo haya sue no harano ni naku shika no koe kiku toki zo tabi wa kanashiki | Autumn swiftly ends On the plain at Sue, where Belling out, a stag’s Cry I hear—‘tis then that My travels are sad, indeed![i] |
577
[i] An allusive variation on: 梓弓 末之腹野尓 鷹田為 君之弓食之 将絶跡念甕屋 azusayumi / sue no harano ni / togarisuru / kimi ga yuzuru no / taemu to omoe ya ‘A catalpa bow / On the plain at Sue / A’hawking— / As your bowstring, / I wonder: will I be able to endure?’ Anonymous (Man’yōshū XI: 2638); and: A poem from the poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. おく山に紅葉ふみわけなく鹿のこゑきく時ぞ秋は悲しき okuyama ni / momiji fumiwake / naku shika no / koe kiku toki zo / aki wa kanashiki ‘In the mountains’ heart / Forging through the autumn leaves, / A calling stag: / When I hear his voice I feel, / Autumn is sorrowful, indeed.’ Anonymous (Kokinshū IV: 215)
Kinkai wakashū 576
Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase 03
Original
やまざとはふゆぞさびしさまさりけるひとめもくさもかれぬとおもへば
| yamazato wa fuyu zo sabishisa masarikeru hitome mo kusa mo karenu to omoeba | In a mountain retreat Winter’s loneliness Overwhelms As both folks’ gaze and the grasses, too Have withered away, I feel… |
Minamoto no Toshiyuki
6
Left (Tie)
おほかたのあきはあはれのふかければやまざとならでなほぞかなしき
| ōkata no aki wa aware no fukakereba yamazato narade nao zo kanashiki | In general, when Autumn’s sorrow Is at its deepest ‘Tis not only a mountain retreat That is still sunk in sadness! |
7
Right
やまざとはいつともわかじいとどしくあきはしかこそかなしかるらめ
| yamazato wa itsu to mo wakaji itodoshiku aki wa shika koso kanashikarurame | A mountain retreat Fails to stand out— Most of all In autumn does the stag Seem so sad! |
8
Yōzei’in ichi no miko himegimi uta’awase 02
Original
さよふかくこひするしかのこゑきけばわれさへあやなそでのひづかな
| sayo fukaku koisuru shika no koe kikeba ware sae ayana sode no hizu kana | Deep within a night so brief, A’loving, the stag’s Cry I hear Even my sleeves, strangely, Never dry at all! |
4
きくひとのそでさへひづるしかのねにあきのしぐれのふりでてぞなく
| kiku hito no sode sae hizuru shika no ne ni aki no shigure no furidete zo naku | Folk hearing, With even their sleeves never drying, At a stag’s bell— An autumn shower Falling with a cry! |
5
Only one poem was requested in response this round.
Nishinomiya uta’awase 06
Round Six
Left
雲かかる高志のやまの明暮に妻まどはせるを鹿鳴くなり
| kumo kakaru takashi no yama no akegure ni tsuma madowaseru oshika naku nari | All hung about with cloud On Takashi Mountain In the gloaming Having lost his mate A stag bells out. |
Nakamasa
11
Right
山がつの先あかつきをしりがほに裾野に出でて鹿ぞ鳴くなる
| yamagatsu no mazu akatsuki o shirigao ni susono ni idete shika zo naku naru | A mountain man First of all, that ‘tis dawn Knows plain upon his face, As he sets out upon the slopes As a stag bells out! |
Head
12
The Left poem’s conclusion, ‘Having lost his mate / A stag bells out’ seems no different from that of a poem by Gō no Jijū in poetry match held by the First Princess.[1] As for the poem of the Right’s ‘A mountain man / Awaits the dawn / Knowing plain upon his face’—what on earth might a mountain man look like while waiting for dawn? There is the tale of Hangu Pass in Cathay, where the barrier guard was waiting for dawn and opened the gate after hearing a cock’s crow, but the expression ‘a mountain man awaits the dawn’ has never appeared before in a poem—either one of Cathay or in the words of Yamato, so I feel that both Left and Right lack any superlative qualities.
[1] Stags. をぐら山たちどもみえぬゆふぎりにつままどはせるしかぞなくなる ogurayama / tachidomo mienu / yūgiri ni / tsuma madowaseru / shika zo nakunaru ‘On gloomy Ogura Mountain / Stands unseen / Among the evening mists / Having lost his mate / A belling stag.’ (Yūshi naishinnō-ke uta’awase eishō go-nen 27). This event was held at the residence of Imperial Princess Sukeko (Yūshi) on the 5th day of the Sixth Month, Eishō 5 [26.10.1050]. The poem won its round, and was later included in Goshūishū (IV: 292).
Kinkai wakashū 541
Entō ōn’uta’awase 40
Round Forty
Left (Win)
山もとの杜のしめ縄ながきよを秋のをしかの鳴きあかすらん
| yamamoto no mori no shimenawa nagaki yo o aki no oshika no nakiakasuran | At the mountains’ foot lies A sacred grove with garlands Long as the nights In autumn when the stag Bells in the dawn. |
Tomoshige
79
Right
なよ竹のよながき秋の山風に幾たび鹿のね覚しつらん
| nayotake no yo nagaki aki no yamakaze ni ikutabi shika no nezameshitsuran | Green bamboo with Knots as apart as the autumn night is long, While with the mountain wind How many times might the stag Have awakened?[1] |
Dharma Master Zenshin
80
The Left’s poem has ‘at the mountains’ foot lies a sacred grove with garlands long as the nights’ which sounds pleasant. The Right has ‘knots as apart as the autumn night is long, while with the mountain wind’—these, too, seem to have no clear winner or loser, yet still, the Left should be superior and should win.[2]
[1] An allusive variation on: Composed when the gentlemen in the Crown Prince’s service were presented with wine, on the occasion of Tadafusa being appointed Secretary of an embassy to China, during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor. なよ竹のよながきうへにはつしものおきゐて物を思ふころかな nayotake no / yo nagaki ue ni / hatsushimo no / oki’ite mono o / omou koro kana ‘Green bamboo with / Knots as far apart as the night is long / While the first frost settles on my active / Thoughts these days!’ Fujiwara no Tadafusa (KKS XVIII: 993)
Entō ōn’uta’awase 39
Round Thirty-Nine
Left (Tie)
さをしかのふしどをあさみ吹く風に夜半に鳴く音ぞふかくなりゆく
| saoshika no fushido o asami fuku kaze ni yowa ni naku ne zo fukaku nariyuku | The stag’s Resting place disturbed by The gusting wind At midnight his belling cry Comes from deeper in the mountains. |
Chikanari
77
Right
さらでだにね覚かなしき秋風に夜しもなどか鹿の鳴くらん
| sarade dani nezame kanashiki akikaze ni yoru shimo nado ka shika no nakuran | Even were it not so, To waken is so sad With the cruel autumn wind; Why is it that above all at night The stag should cry so? |
Ie’kiyo
78
The Left poem’s ‘at midnight his belling cry comes from deeper’ does not sound especially elegant. The Right poem composes ‘why is it that above all at night the stag should cry so’, sounding like it is only at night that stags bell, but stags do this all the time in autumn. The Ancient and Modern also has the composition, ‘Mud-daubers buzzing / In the autumn bush clover; / Leaving with morning’.[1] The poems of Left and Right have no merits or faults between them—they should tie.
[1] This is a quotation from: Topic unknown. すがるなく秋のはぎはらあさたちて旅行く人をいつとかまたむ sugaru naku / aki no hagiwara / asa tachite / tabi yuku hito o / itsu to ka matan ‘Mud-daubers buzzing / In the autumn bush clover; / Leaving with morning, / Away on a journey: for him, / How long must I wait?’ Anonymous (KKS VIII: 366)
Entō ōn’uta’awase 38
Round Thirty-Eight
Left
今更にふしもさだめぬ鹿の音よ木葉の数のつもるよごとに
| ima sara ni fushi mo sadamenu shika no ne yo ko no ha no kazu no tsumoru goto ni | At around this time, With his bedding undecided, The stag bells out! Just as the leaves’ from on the trees numbers Do mount up… |
Shō
75
Right (Win)
木葉ちる夜半の嵐の月影に心すみてや鹿も鳴くらん
| ko no ha chiru yowa no arashi no tsukikage ni kokoro sumite ya shika mo nakuran | Leaves scatter from the trees In the midnight storm In the moonlight From his wild and earthy thoughts Does the stag, too, cry out? |
Nagatsuna
76
The Left’s ‘just as the leaves from on the trees numbers do mount up’ at night and so forth, appears to be a novel style, yet the Right poem sounds more gorgeous, so it wins.
