Tag Archives: Tōchi

Love VI: 25

Left (Tie).
妹が住むとをちの里の煙だになど我方へなびかざるらん

imo ga sumu
tōchi no sato no
kemuri dani
nado wa ga kata e
nabikazaruran
My darling lives
In far distant Tōchi;
Even the smoke,
Somehow, will not
Stream my way…

Lord Suetsune.
949

Right.
つれなさに絶ずなりなん煙をも我ゆへとやはながめゝしもせん

tsurenasa ni
taezu narinan
kemuri o mo
ware yue to ya wa
nagamemeshi mo sen
Her cruelty
I can endure no more!
That the smoke
Is for her sake – will she
Find that consolation? No, surely not!

Lord Takanobu.
950

Both Left and Right together state that their opponent’s poem lacks anything unusual.

In judgement: that ‘far distant Tōchi’s smoke’ (tōchi no sato no kemuri) will not stream my way really has no significance. ‘Her cruelty I can endure no more! That the smoke’ (tsurenasa ni taezu narinan kemuri) must be being used to avoid mentioning dying of love as unpropitious, and certainly lacks clarity of expression. This is clearly insufficient. The round ties.

SIS XVIII: 1197

He went as a messenger to Kasuga, and sent this to a woman promptly on his return.

くればとく行きてかたらむあふ時のとをちのさとのすみうかりしも

kureba toku
yukite kataramu
aFu toki no
towoti no sato no
sumi ukarisi mo
At sunset, swiftly
Will I come to call;
When we meet
That in far distant Tōchi
Life was hard, I will recall…

[Fujiwara no] Koremasa, The Ichijō Regent
伊尹 一条摂政
(924-972)

Sanekata Shū 257

When a lady had gone to Hase and was returning, I sent someone to say that we could meet where she was and, indeed, we did.

こゝながら袖ぞつゆけき草枕十市の里の旅寢とおもへば

koko nagara
sode zo tuyukeki
kusamakura
towoti no sato no
tabine to omoFeba
Here,
My sleeves are dew-drenched, indeed:
Pillowed on the grasses,
At Tōchi hamlet and
Slumbering on your travels—how you fill my thoughts…