八幡山木だかき松にゐるたづのはね白妙にみ雪ふるらし
| yahatayama kodakaki matsu ni iru tazu no hane shirotae ni miyuki fururashi | On Yahata Mountain’s Pines, so tall, Rest cranes with Wings white as mulberry cloth Seeming dusted with fallen snow. |
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Tag Archives: tazu
Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 36
Round Twelve
Left (T – Win)
わが恋はたかしの浜にゐる田鶴の尋ねてゆかん方もおぼえず
| wa ga koi wa takashi no hama ni iru tazu no tazuneteyukan kata mo oboezu | My love is Upon Takashi Beach A resting crane— He will go a’visting, but Where? No one knows… |
Lord Tamezane
71
Right (M – Win)
あふことのたのむる人のなきときはよをうき物と思ひぬるかな
| au koto no tanomuru hito no naki toki wa yo o uki mono to omoinuru kana | To meet with me Is there no one I can trust— At such times The world is such a cruel place I feel! |
Lord Tokimasa
72
Toshiyori states: the poems of both Left and Right seem to be of about the same standard. The first poem displays slightly better technique, but there’s nothing to point out about it. The later poem doesn’t do anything. I would say ‘A resting crane— / He will go a’visiting’ wins.
Mototoshi states: as for the poem about ‘My love is / Upon Takashi Beach’: it really seems to me that if you mention Takashi – heights – then you need to mention waves. After all, in reply to Tadafusa Tsurayuki composed, ‘The waves offshore / Rise high; on the beach at Takashi’, and while there are many beaches, I recklessly feel its mistaken not to have waves linked with Takashi Beach—although, of course, this may be a failing of my elderly mind. The poem of the Right’s ‘feeling in a cruel place’ seems a bit smoother in the current context.
SKKS XVIII: 1723
Composed when he was far from courtier’s hall.
あまつ風ふけひの浦にゐるたづのなどか雲井にかへらざるべき
| ama tsu kaze fukei no ura ni iru tazu no nado ka kumoi ni kaerazarubeki | Heaven’s breezes Blow upon the shore at Fukei, where Rests a crane: Why, beyond the clouds, May he not return? |
Fujiwara no Kiyotada
藤原清正[1]
[1] Fujiwara no Kiyotada 藤原清正 (?-953): one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals and a minor courtier. As well as being included in Shinkokinshū, this poem is also listed in Wakan rōeishū (II: 453), Kiyotada’s personal collection, Kiyotada-shū (89) and also the personal collection of Fujiwara no Tadami 藤原忠見, Tadami-shū (143). While Wakan rōeishū simply gives the topic of the poem as ‘Cranes’, the personal collections provide more information. Tadami states that the poem was ‘Sent to the Shōni Palace Lady to present in his place when he was of about the age to be admitted to the Courtier’s Hall and had become Governor of Kii’ making the waka a plea for further advancement at court. Kiyotada himself simply says ‘When I had become Governor of Kii and had not yet been permitted to enter the Courtier’s Hall.’ Tanaka and Akase (1992, 502) note that Kiyotada was appointed Governor of Kii while still a Chamberlain at Sixth Rank, when this was usually a post held by someone of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, the lowest rank at which a man would be permitted to enter the Courtier’s Hall (tenjō no ma 殿上間) and have direct contact with the emperor. The poem is, thus, simultaneously, an expression of gratitude for imperial favour (the ‘heavenly wind’) to him (‘the crane’) which has made him Governor of Ki – the province where Fukei is located, and a plea that he be allowed above ‘the clouds’ (into the Courtier’s Hall), which is subtly laced with resentment (‘Why haven’t I had the promotion in rank which this post would normally bring?’)!
