Tag Archives: treetops

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū

Shunzei-kyō no musume-shū 19

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Fifty Poems on the Moon and Blossom

Blossom on the mountains blooming unevenly.

おしなべて風こそかをれ春の山咲く桜あればさかぬ梢も

oshinabete
kaze koso kaore
haru no yama
saku sakura areba
sakanu kozue mo		Each and every
Breeze is truly scented!
The mountains in spring
Have blossoming cherries, but
Bloomless treetops, too…[i]

19

[i] See: Spring いづくより花のにほひをさそひきてさかぬ梢も風かをるらむ izuku yori / hana no nioi o / sasoikite / sakanu kozue mo / kaze kaoruramu ‘From somewhere / The scent of blossom / Invites; / The bloomless treetops, too, / Have a fragrant breeze.’ The Third Prince [Imperial Prince Kore’akira 惟明親王] (Shōji shodo hyakushu 113)

Sankashū

Sankashū I: 13

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On the same conception, while I was at a place called Futami in Ise.

浪こすとふたみのまつの見えつるはこずゑにかかる霞なりけり

nami kosu to
futami no matsu no
mietsuru wa
kozue ni kakaru
kasumi narikeri		As waves breaking
O’er the pines at Futami
Did it appear,
Clinging to the treetops,
The haze.[i]

13

[i] See: 君をおきてあだし心を我がもたば末の松山波もこえなん kimi o okite / adashi kokoro o / wa ga motaba / sue no matsu yama / nami mo koenan ‘To abandon you / An inconstant heart / Would I have, but sooner / Over Sue-no-Matsuyama / Would waves break!’ (Kokinshū XX: 1093)

Sengohyakuban uta’awase

Sengohyakuban uta’awase 87

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Round Eighty-Seven

Left

けふまでも木ずゑは冬のいろながらこぞにはかはるゆきのした草

kyō made mo
kozue wa fuyu no
iro nagara
kozo ni wa kawaru
yuki no shitagusa		Until today
The treetops winter’s
Hues did hold, but
With the change to the year before
Grasses grow up ‘neath the snow.

Lord Yasusue
173

Right

くれはどりあやにながめのなりゆくかみどりの空にあそぶいとゆふ

kurehadori
aya ni nagame no
nariyuku ka
midori no sora ni
asobu itoyū		A chequered
Pattern–when I gaze out how strange
It becomes:
In the verdant skies
Sports heat haze…

The Minister of the Centre
174

Although it sounds a bit difficult to grasp the sense of the Left’s ‘grasses ‘neath the snow with the change to the year before’, there’s nothing wrong with composing about grasses growing beneath fallen snow, so the configuration is pleasant. The Right’s poem, too, has no faults to mention, so this round, too, should tie.

Shinchokusenshū

SCSS II: 93

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In the spring of Kenryaku 2 [1212] when there had been a match of Cathay-style poetry at the palace, he composed this on the topic of ‘a spring dawn at a dwelling in the mountains’.

月かげのこずゑにのこる山のはに花もかすめるはるのあけぼの

tsukikage no
kozue ni nokoru
yama no ha ni
hana mo kasumeru
haru no akebono		The moonlight
Lingers ‘pon the treetops
On the mountains’ edge;
The blossoms are all hazy
At the dawn in sprintime.

The Rokujō Lay Priest and Former Chancellor
[Fujiwara no Yorizane 藤原頼実 (1155-1225)]

Shūishū

SIS II: 84

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Poems for a folding screen for His Majesty, former Emperor En’yū.

住吉の岸のふぢなみわがやどの松のこずゑに色はまさらじ

sumiyosi no
kisi no Fudinami
wa ga yado no
matu no kozuwe ni
iro wa masarazi		On Sumiyoshi’s
Shore are wisteria waves, but
Those at my house,
In the treetops of the pines
Are not less superb in hue…

Taira no Kanemori

Kinkai wakashū

Kinkai wakashū 634

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The summer moon above a shrine.[i]

ながむれば吹く風すずしみわの山杉の木ずゑをいづる月影

nagamureba
fuku kaze suzushi
miwa no yama
sugi no kozue o
izuru tsukikage		While I was staring into space,
How cool the gusting breeze, as
Above Mount Miwa’s
Cedar treetops
Emerges the moon…[ii]

634

[i] As with poem 631, the topic here, ‘The summer moon above the shrine’ (shatō kagetsu 社頭夏月) was generally used when the poet had a specific shrine in mind—in this case, Ōmiwa Shrine (Ōmiwa jinja 大神神社).

[ii] See: As part of a hundred-poem sequence. ながむれば衣手すゞしひさかたのあまのかはらの秋のゆふぐれ nagamureba / koromode suzushi / hisakata no / ama no kawara no / aki no yūgure ‘While I was staring into space, / How chill my sleeves became; / Upon eternal / Heaven’s riverbed / Comes an autumn evening.’ Princess Shokushi (Shinkokinshū IV: 321)

Kinkai wakashū

Kinkai wakashū 623

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Composed and sent to the residence of the Superintendent Abbot of Tsurugaoka[i] on a morning when snow had fallen.

つるの岡あふぎてみれば峰の松梢はるかに雪ぞつもれる

tsuru no oka
ōgite mireba
mine no matsu
kozue haruka ni
yuki zo tsumoreru		When to the Hill of Cranes
I lift up my gaze,
On the peaks beyond, pine
Treetops in the distance
Are covered with drifted snow.

623

[i] Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine (Tsurugaoka hachimangū 鶴岡八幡宮) is located in Yukinoshita in Kamakura and venerated Hachiman, the deity of war and warriors as the patron of the Minamoto clan. The shrine thus was, and still is, one of the focal points of the city and where many of its most important festivals are held. It was also the location of Sanetomo’s assassination in 1219. The Superintendent Abbot (bettō sōzu  別当僧都) to whom Sanetomo sent this time was probably the shrine’s third, Teigyō 定暁 (dates unknown) (Higuchi 2016, 96).

Eien narabō uta'awase

Eien narabō uta’awase 05

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Round Five

Left (Win)

さくらやまはなのさかりに風ふけばこずゑをこして白波ぞたつ

sakurayama
hana no sakari ni
kaze fukeba
kozue o koshite
shiranami zo tatsu		On the mount of Cherries
So fine is the blossom that
When the wind does blow,
Passing o’er the treetops,
Whitecaps arise!

Controller’s Graduate
9

Right

この春ははなにこころのあくがれてこのもとにてもくらしつるかな

kono haru wa
hana ni kokoro no
akugarete
ko no moto nite mo
kurashitsuru kana		This springtime
By the blossoms my heart
Is captivated, and
Beneath the trees
Does dwell!

Kerin’in Graduate
10

Both Left and Right, in terms of diction, tone and style are superb with no faults at all. Thus, this is a tie.

The final section of the Left’s poem lacks fluency, yet it has conception. As for the Right’s poem, in order for one’s heart to be captivated by the blossom on every single treetop, one would need to be walking around. If one is resting peacefully beneath the trees, then one should say that one’s heart is captured. This section sounds erroneous, so the Left should win.