Mugwort in the Grounds[i]
Left
よろづよもときはならなんけふのためいはひておほすそののよもぎは
| yorozuyo mo tokiwa naranan kyō no tame iwaite ōsu sono no yomogi wa | For ten thousand ages more Evergreen, I would you be! For today’s Celebration, lushly growing Mugwort in the grounds… |
3
Right
そののうちにおふるよもぎのえだしげみすゑさかゆべくみゆるきみかな
| sono no uchi ni ouru yomogi no eda shigemi sue sakayubeku miyuru kimi kana | Within the grounds A’growing, the mugwort’s Branches are lush To the very end they flourish, As do you appear to, my Lord! |
4
In ancient times, folk arose on this day with the dawn together with the birds and, taking those branches of mugwort from within their grounds that resembled people, dried them in the shade and made medicinal draughts—I wonder, were both Left and Right unaware of this? There is not even a dewdrop’s worth of diction in accordance with the topic, so I must make this round a tie.
かたかたにとるかたもなきよもぎぐさひとかずならぬここちこそすれ
| katakata ni toru kata mo naki yomogigusa hito kazu naranu kokochi koso sure | Both sides say Nothing noteworthy about Mugwort plants,so Neither is worth much, I feel! |
Judge 2
[i] Sono no naka no yomogi 園中蓬
Round Seven
Left
かすがやまちえにさかゆるさかきばはよろづよまでのきみがためか
| kasugayama chie ni sakayuru sakakiba wa yorozuyo made no kimi ga tame ka | Upon Kasuga Mountain A thousand branches grow, Leafy, on the sacred tree— Until ten thousand ages pass Will they ward my Lord! |
Lady Kazusa
69
Right
君がよはいふかぎりなしみよしののこがねがみねにみよをまつまで
| kimi ga yo wa iu kagiri nashi miyoshino no kogane ga mine ni miyo o matsu made | My Lord’s reign— Words cannot describe: ‘til fair Yoshino’s Golden peak’s Age one must await! |
Lady Shikibu
70
The poem of the Left seems poetic to an extraordinarily outlandish degree! The poem of the Right’s ‘‘til fair Yoshino’s / Golden peak’s / Age one must await!’ has a sufficient conception of felicitation. Thus, these tie.
That the Left is addressed to Mount Kasuga is highly admirable. Is the Right’s ‘golden peak’ a reference to Mount Mitake? It’s very difficult to say anything profound here. Arbitrarily, I would make this a tie—the quality of the poems makes that seem right.
Round Six
Left (Win)
うれしさはおほつのはまにたつなみのかずもしられぬきみがみよかな
| ureshisa wa ōtsu no hama ni tatsu nami no kazu mo shirarenu kimi ga miyo kana | My joy is Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach Break waves In numbers quite unknown, Such is my Lord’s reign most fair! |
Cell of Fragrant Cloud
67
Right
かすがやまみねのしらがしよろづよをきみにといへばかみもいさめず
| kasugayama mine no shiragashi yorozuyo o kimi ni to ieba kami mo isamezu | Kasuga Mountain has White-barked evergreen oaks upon its peak: ‘Ten thousand generations For my Lord!’—should I say that, The God will surely not refuse! |
Cell of Compassionate Light
68
The poem of the Left’s ‘Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach’ and what follows is something that sounds grievously prosaic. With that said, there are many parts of the poem which are not. What is the poem of the Right’s ‘White-barked evergreen oaks on its peak / Ten thousand generations’ linked with in the remainder of the poem? I wonder what it’s composed about… The Left doesn’t contain any errors, so I still say it wins.
The Left’s poem, as I have said in an earlier round, appears to lack smoothness. Is the poem of the Right’s ‘white-barked evergreen oaks’ a long-standing expression? I can’t seem to recall a prior precedent. ‘The God will surely not refuse’ is vague, too. Is it asking the deity’s favour for the speaker? While I am somewhat hesitant, given my appallingly constricted knowledge, I will, fearfully, say that this is inferior.
Round Three
Left
万代の秋のかたみになす物はきみがよはひをのぶるしらぎく
| yorozuyo no aki no katami ni nasu mono wa kimi ga yowai o noburu shiragiku | Of ten thousand ages’ Autumns a keepsake I will make: My Lord’s age Extended by a white chrysanthemum! |
Lord Akinaka
29
Right
今朝みればさながら霜をいただきて翁さびゆくしら菊の花
| kesa mireba sanagara shimo o itadakite okina sabiyuku shiragiku no hana | When this morn I look That’s how it is: with frost Bestowed A lonesome ancient seems This white chrysanthemum bloom! |
Lord Mototoshi
30
Toshiyori states: this first poem is strongly characterized by felicitation, and that’s about all the fault I can mention. As for the second poem, ‘a lonesome ancient seems’ is certainly an expression I don’t know. Still, if I think of examples from prior poems, ‘lone ancient’ could be interpreted as deriving from ‘dotaged ancient’, but then the conception seems different here, so this is most likely wrong. I can only give a decision once I am certain.
Mototoshi states: ‘Of ten thousand ages’ / Autumns a keepsake / Will make’ resembles Kanemori’s famous work,[1] which has often been alluded to in composition, I think. This poem is charming. ‘Will make’ is an extremely abbreviated expression, and so the final ‘age / Extended by a white chrysanthemum’ appears to have little connection to it. There is Tomonori’ s ‘Dew-dappled / Let us pluck and wear’[2], and also responses sent on the 9th day of the Ninth Month to the residences of Tadamine and Tsurayuki like ‘Bearing droplets / Age is extended by / Chrysanthemums’, aren’t there. Given that’s the case there would be many such keepsakes of extended age. As for the Right’s ‘That’s how it is: with frost / Bestowed / A lonesome ancient seems, well, it seems that just how I composed a poem about lingering chrysanthemums—have I done something wrong?
Lingering Chrysanthemums
Round One
Left (Both Judges – Win)
紫に匂へるきくは万代のかざしのために霜や置きつる
| murasaki ni nioeru kiku wa yorozuyo no kazashi no tame ni shimo ya okitsuru | With violet Shine these chrysanthemums: That for ten thousand ages We might wear them in our hair— Is that why the frost has fallen? |
Lady Kazusa
25
Right
おのづから残れる菊をはつ霜は我が置けばとぞおもふべらなる
| onozukara nokoreru kiku o hatsushimo wa wa ga okeba to zo omouberanaru | Surely, Of the lingering chrysanthemums The first frost, ‘Tis because I’ve fallen!’ Seems to think! |
Lord Toshiyori
26
Toshiyori states: while the first poem is not remarkable, it does sound smooth. The concluding ‘has fallen’, though—would it be excessive to say that I feel it’s a bit grating? In the second poem, the assembled company have stated that ‘seems to’ is something that they have never heard before in their lives and given that they have said that this is what it sounds like, I make the Left the winner.
Mototoshi states: ‘With violet / Shine these chrysanthemums’ sounds appropriately poetic, but saying ‘that…we might wear them in our hair’ followed by the final ‘has fallen’ is a sequencing that is, in great part, inharmonious and lacking in gentle beauty. Nevertheless, I feel that the second poem’s ‘Surely, / Of the lingering chrysanthemums’ and the final ‘seems to’ is so unfamiliar that it makes me wonder what is going on with the sequencing there, so a single dipping in violet dye is superior and, I feel, all the sweeter!
Left – Pinks
もも草のときにつけつつさく中にいつともわかぬとこ夏の花
| momokusa no toki ni tsuketsutsu saku naka ni itsu tomo wakanu tokonatsu no hana | A hundred grasses Always with the season Bloom and among them Ever inseparable are The flowering pinks. |
17
Right
よろづよにぬるとこなつの花なればうつろふ秋もまたれざりけり
| yorozuyo ni nuru tokonatsu no hana nareba utsurou aki mo matarezarikeri | For ten thousand ages Have slept abed the pinks In bloom, so For the autumn when they fade They have no need to wait! |
18
A poem inscribed in cursive script on a lacquerware box from when he was absorbed in compiling the Collection of a Thousand Years.
和歌の浦にちぢのたまもをかきつめて万世までも君がみんため
| waka no ura ni chiji no tamamo o kakitsumete yorozuyo made mo kimi ga min tame | In the Bay of Waka Countless gemweeds Have I raked together that For ten thousand generations My Lord may gaze upon them! |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari
A poem by His Majesty, the Retired Emperor [Genshō].
波太須珠寸 尾花逆葺 黒木用 造有室者 迄萬代
はだすすき尾花逆葺き黒木もち造れる室は万代までに
| hadasusuki obana sakapuki kuroki moti tukureru muro pa yoroduyo made ni | Silver Grass, reversed, for thatch, and With unbarked lumber Made, this rude dwelling For ten thousand generations, surely will endure… |
Composed at the Kameyama Palace in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the shape of a pine tree floating in a pond’.
万代とかめのを山の松かげをうつしてすめるやどの池水
| yorozuyo to kame no oyama no matsukage o utsushite sumeru yado no ikemizu | For ten thousand generations On the mount of Kame Is the pine tree’s shape, Reflected, so clear in This dwelling’s pond waters. |
The Retired Emperor [Kameyama]
