Tag Archives: thousand ages

Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 21

Round Nine

Left (M – Tie)

秋くれて千草の花は残らねど独うつろふ白菊のはな

aki kurete
chigusa no hana wa
nokoranedo
hitori utsurou
shiragiku no hana
Autumn sinks to twilight, and
Of a thousand blossoms
Not one lingers, save
Alone and fading
A white chrysanthemum bloom.

Lord Shigemoto
41

Right (T – Win)

かぎりなく君が千代経むしるしにや散残るらん宿のしらぎく

kagirinaku
kimi ga chiyo hemu
shirushi ni ya
chirinokoruran
yado no shiragiku
That endless through
A thousand ages will my Lord pass
A sign there is:
Not scattering and lingering
White chrysanthemums at his house!

Lord Tadataka
42

Toshiyori states: I don’t have much to point out about the poem on ‘autumn sinking to twilight’, except that it could have had ‘indeed, linger’ in place of ‘not one lingers, yet’ to lead to ‘alone and fading’. As for the second poem, there are no other examples of saying ‘chrysanthemums scatter’, yet I do wonder about how this sounds? Nevertheless, it has a conception of Felicitation and this makes it somehow superior.

Mototoshi states: the poems of Left and Right are of the same standard in both conception and diction, so it’s not possible to tell them apart. These, too, are of the same quality.

Daigo ōntoki kiku awase 03

ももしきにしもはおくともきくの花ちよの冬までうつろふなゆめ

momoshiki ni
shimo wa okutomo
kiku no hana
chiyo no fuyu made
utsurounayume
Upon the hundred-fold palace
The frost may fall, yet
These chrysanthemum blooms,
Though winter last a thousand ages,
Will not fade, at all…

[Minamoto no] Koremochi
5

きくのはなちとせみまくのほしければをしみしよるのあくるもしらず

kiku no hana
chitose mimaku no
hoshikereba
oshimi yoru no
akuru mo shirazu
O, chrysanthemums!
For a thousand years to gaze on them
Is my desire, then
The regrets of night’s
Dawn I would never know!

[Fujiwara no] Kunimoto
6

Daigo ōntoki kiku awase 02

霜のうへにのこれるきくのいろふかくをしむ心はなにならなくに

shimo no ue ni
nokoreru kiku no
iro fukaku
oshimu kokoro wa
nani naranaku ni
Atop the frost,
The lingering chrysanthemums’
Hues are deep, so
Regret within my heart
There should not be, yet…

Prince Iwa
3

いてしよも霜のうへなるきくのはなうつらぬほどにちよをかぞへむ

iteshi yo mo
shimo no ue naru
kiku no hana
utsuranu hodo ni
chiyo o kazoemu
On frozen nights, too,
O’er the frost
While the chrysanthemum blooms
Remain unfaded,
I would count a thousand ages.

Saimo no kami
4