Tag Archives: tears

Kinkai wakashū 222

Dew upon the plains.

久かたの空とぶかりのなみだかもおほあらきののささのうへのつゆ

hisakata no
ama tobu kari no
namida kamo
ōarakino no
sasa no ue no tsuyu
Eternal
Heaven-flying goose
Tears, perhaps?
Upon Ōaraki Plain,
Dew upon the dwarf-bamboo…[1]

[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. なきわたるかりの涙やおちつらむ物思ふやどの萩のうへのつゆ nakiwataru / kari no namida ya / ochitsuran / mono’omou yado no / hagi no ue no tsuyu ‘Calling across / Did the geese let tears / Fall? / My dwelling, lost in thought, / Has dew upon the bush clover.’ Anonymous (KKS IV:221); and: 如是為而也 尚哉将老 三雪零 大荒木野之 小竹尓不有九二 kakushite ya / nao ya oinuramu / miyuki furu / ōarakino no / shino ni aranaku ni  ‘Is this how it is to be? / Have I yet grown old / Though covered with fair snow / On Ōaraki Plain / An arrow-bamboo I am not…’ Anonymous (MYS VII: 1349).

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 19

Round Seven

Left (Tie)

草がくれ見えぬをしかも妻こふる声をばえこそ忍ばざりけれ

kusagakure
mienu oshika mo
tsuma kouru
koe oba e koso
shinobazarikere
Hidden by the grasses,
Unseen, the stag, too
Longing for his mate,
His bell, indeed, is unable
To conceal!

Lord Yorimasa
37

Right

秋の野の花のたもとに置く露や妻よぶしかの涙なるらむ

aki no no no
hana no tamoto ni
oku tsuyu ya
tsuma yobu shika no
namida naruramu
In the autumn meadows,
Upon the blossoms’ sleeves
Are the fallen dewdrops
The stag—calling for his mate—
Letting tears fall?

Narinaka
38

The Left is novel, and the Right charming, respectively. The Right’s poem does have a large number of identical syllables—while this is criticized in the Code of the Creation of Poetry as a ‘whole body fault’, it is not the case that poems containing this defect have not appeared in poetry matches from time to time, and I don’t feel it’s necessary to examine whether there are a large number of similar cases here: such things are simply a style of poetry.

Daikōtaigōgū no suke taira no tsunemori-ason ke uta’awase 16

Round Four

Left

さをしかのなくねはよそにききつれど涙は袖の物にぞ有りける

saoshika no
naku ne wa yoso ni
kikitsuredo
namida wa sode no
mono ni zo arikeru
The stag’s
Sad bell in the distance
Did I hear, yet still
My tears my sleeves
Have covered.

Sadanaga
31

Right (Win)

山たかみおろすあらしやよわるらんかすかに成りぬさをしかの声

yama takami
orosu arashi ya
yowaruran
kasuka ni narinu
saoshika no koe
From the mountain’s heights
Descending, has the storm wind
Weakened?
Faintly comes
The stag’s bell.

Lord Suetsune
32

I do wonder about the Left, given that there appears to be a poem by the late Lord Toshiyori:

さをしかのなくねは野べにきこゆれどなみだは床の物にぞ有りける

saoshika no
naku ne wa nobe ni
kikoyuredo
namida wa toko no
mono ni zo arikeru[1]
The stag’s
Sad bell upon the plain
I heard, yet
My tears my bed
Have covered.

I am a little leery of the Right’s central line, but overall it is not the case that this poem lacks conception, so it should win.


[1] KYS (3) III: 225 Composed on ‘listening to stags in a hut in the fields’. Also SZS V: 310 ‘Composed when he heard a stag belling while at a mountain retreat in Tanakami’. Also Sanboku kikashū 451 ‘Listening to stags in a hut in the fields’.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 34

Round Thirty-Four

Left

世のうさに秋の心のふかければおつる涙ももみぢしにけり

yo no usa ni
aki no kokoro no
fukakereba
otsuru namida mo
momijishinikeri
With the cruelty of this world,
In autumn, my heart is full
Down to its depths, so
Even my dripping tears
Have turned to scarlet hues.

Iemoto
67

Right (Win)

おもひでも又待つ事もなけれどもさすがに世こそすてもやられね

omoide mo
mata matsu koto mo
nakeredomo
sasuga ni yo koso
sute mo yararene
If I recall
I still to await
Have nothing at all, yet
Even so, indeed, this world
I am not ready to abandon!

Yūsei
68

Neither has anything wrong with it, yet the Right is superior.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 28

Round Twenty-Eight

Left

わぎもこをかたまつよひの秋風はをぎのうはばをよきてふかなん

wagimoko o
kata matsu yoi no
akikaze wa
ogi no uwaba o
yokite fukanan
For my darling girl
I wait filled with longing, tonight
I would the autumn wind
The cogon grass fronds
Pass by in its blowing!

Shun’e
55

Right (Win)

朝夕におつる涙や恋草のしげみにすがる露と成るらん

asayū ni
otsuru namida ya
koigusa no
shigemi ni sugaru
tsuyu to naruran
Morn and eve
My falling tears to
Love’s grasses
Lush do cling and
Turn to dewdrops.

Atsuyori
56

The Right poem’s use of diction and expression has nothing wrong with it and is entirely appropriate.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 16

Round Sixteen

The Moon

Left (Tie)

今よりはふけ行くまでに月はみしその事となく涙おちけり

ima yori wa
fukeyuku made ni
tsuki wa mishi
sono koto to naku
namida ochikeri
From now
Until it set,
Did I gaze upon the moon
Had it not been there, then
Would have my tears fell.

Lord Kiyosuke
31

Right

待つ人のこぬもおもへばつらからずねなばこよひの月をみましや

matsu hito no
konu mo omoeba
tsurakarazu
nenaba koyoi no
tsuki o mimashi ya
The man I await
Has failed to come, I think, but
I’ll not be downcast, for
Had I to bed tonight
Would I have gazed upon the moon?

Kūnin
32

Both have deep feeling—it really is impossible to distinguish them.

Daikōtaigōgū daijin kiyosuke-ason ke uta’awase 01

Warblers

Round One

Left (Tie)

鶯のなく木の本にふる雪はは風に花のちるかとぞみる

uguisu no
naku ki no moto ni
furu yuki wa
hakaze ni hana no
chiru ka to zo miru
The warbler
Sings from in a tree, its roots
Covered by falling snow;
Breeze stirred by its wingbeats, blossom
Does seem to scatter.

Lord Kiyosuke
1

Right

うぐひすのなきて木づたふ梅がえにこぼるる露や涙なるらん

uguisu no
nakite kozutau
ume ga e ni
koboruru tsuyu ya
namida naruran
The warbler
Crying flits from
Branch to plum branch;
Has the dripping dew
His tears, perhaps, become?

Shun’e
2

Both Left and Right proceed smoothly, but what are we to make of the line ‘Crying flits’ in the Right’s poem? As this is also an expression which implies that dew is falling, these should tie.