A poem by Prince Yuhara, when he was in Yoshino.
吉野なる菜摘の川の川淀に鴨ぞ鳴くなる山蔭にして
| yosino naru natumi no kapa no kapa yodo ni kamo zo nakunaru yama kage ni site | In Yoshino From the River Natsumi’s Deep, still pools The ducks cry In the mountains’ shade. |
Prince Yuhara
薦枕高瀬の淀に刈る薦の刈るとも我は知らで頼まむ
| komo makura takase no yodo ni karu komo no karu tomo ware Fa sirade tanomamu |
Pillowed on a mat of rush Where the Yodo meets Takase, Reaped rushes Wither, yet I, All unknowing, will place my trust in them! |
真菰草高瀬の淀に茂れども末葉も見えぬ五月雨のころ
| makomogusa takase no yodo ni shigeredomo sueba mo mienu samidare no koro |
The rushes Where the Yodo meets Takase Are lush, indeed, yet The fronds are hidden In this time of showers… |
Taikenmon’in horikawa
待賢門院堀河
いかにして真菰を刈らむ五月雨に高瀬の淀も水まさりけり
| ika ni shite makomo o karamu samidare ni takase no yodo mo mizu masarikeri |
What am I to do? I would reap rushes In the rain Where the Yodo meets Takase, But the waters have risen high… |
Minamoto no Morotoki
源師時
Left (Win).
行く末の深き縁とぞ契つるまだ結ばれぬ淀の若菰
| yukusue no fukaki eni to zo chigiritsuru mada musubarenu yodo no wakagomo |
In the future, A deep connection will we have, You vowed, Yet still no one has cupped This young shoot of wild rice at Yodo. |
A Servant Girl.
863
Right.
結ばんと契し人を忘れずやまだ影淺き井手の玉水
| musuban to chigirishi hito o wasurezu ya mada kage asaki ide no tamamizu |
That we would be joined We swore, so Will you not forget me? The slight reflection left In Ide’s jewelled waters… |
Ietaka.
864
Both Left and Right state: there is no separation between man and woman.
In judgement: ‘Young shoot of wild rice at Yodo’ (yodo no wakagomo) and ‘Ide’s jewelled waters’ (ide no tamamizu) are both elegant in style, but the Left has pledged a more profound bond. The Right has ‘the slight reflection left’ (mada kage asaki) and the Left is a poem about a vow which has been made. The Right is just referring to events of the past. Thus, ‘depth’ should win.
Envoy.
明日香河川淀さらず立つ霧の思ひ過ぐべき恋にあらなくに
| asukagapa kapa yodo sarazu tatu kiri no omopisukubeki kopi ni aranakuni |
O, Asuka River, Ever from your pools Mist arises; To simply put from my mind This love – I cannot! |
Yamabe no Akahito
山部赤人
Left.
薦枕高瀬の淀に立つ鴫の羽音もそそやあはれかくなり
| komo makura takase no yodo ni tatsu shigi no haoto mo soso ya aware kaku nari |
Pillowed on a mat of rush Where the Yodo meets Takase The starting snipe With rustling wingbeats Draw in my melancholy. |
397
Right (Win).
あはれさは萩吹く風の音のみか有明の月に鴫も鳴なり
| awaresa wa hagi fuku kaze no oto nomi ka ariake no tsuki ni shigi mo nakunari |
Melancholy is not In the wind upon the bush clover’s Sigh alone but With the moon at break of dawn The snipe a’crying. |
The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office.
398
The Right state that the Left’s poem is based on a misinterpretation of the song ‘The Spreading Moon Rises’, and this has led to the usage of ‘mat of rush’. Furthermore, in the absence of expressions such as ‘bush clover’ or ‘new grown rice’, ‘rustling’ lacks a context. The Left merely state that the initial section of the Right’s poem ‘does not sound attractive’.
Shunzei’s judgement: The gentlemen of the Right have already stated the issue with ‘rush mat’. As for ‘rustling’, I have already suggested that it was unsuitable in the earlier poem on bush clover in the topic of ‘Autumn Evenings’, and it is unfeasible to think that one could go so far as to use it in reference to ‘wing beats’. In regard to the Right’s poem, the initial line, indeed, sounds poor, and the central ‘alone but’ is also regrettable, but even so, it wins the round.
On snow.
鍋さげて淀の小橋を雪の人
| nabe sagete yodo no kobashi o yuki no hito |
Pots in hand Across the little bridge at Yodo Go women in the snow. |
Sent to someone in the capital to say he was going down to Mimasaka around the Seventh Month.
宮こをば秋とゝもにぞたちそめしよどの河ぎりいくよへだてつ
| miyako o ba aki to tomo ni zo tachisomeshi yodo no kawagiri iku yo hedatetsu |
From the capital, Along with Autumn’s First days I left; The river mists upon the Yodo, Are now several nights away. |
Former Middle Councillor [Ōe no] Masafusa
Topic unknown.
まこもかるよどのさは水雨ふればつねよりことにまさるわが戀
| makomo karu yodo no saFamidu ame Fureba tune yori koto ni masaru wa ga koFi |
Harvesting wild rice Among the marsh waters of the Yodo: After rain, Extraordinarily the waters Overflow, as does my love. |
Tsurayuki
貫之