A poem composed by Hitomaro, Lord Kakinomoto on the occasion of an imperial excursion to the Yoshino Palace.
見れど飽かぬ吉野の川の常滑の絶ゆることなくまたかへり見む
| miredo akanu yosino no kapa no tokoname no tayuru koto naku mata kaperimimu |
I gaze on you, yet never get my fill: River Yoshino, where Mosses grow Without end; I will return again, and see you more! |
柿本人麻呂
Left (Win).
吉野山篠の假寢に霜冴えて松風早し深ぬ此夜は
| yoshinoyama suzu no karine ni shimo saete matsukaze hayashi fukenu kono yo wa |
Upon Mt Yoshino, In fitful sleep upon a bed of bamboo, The frost falls chill, indeed, and The wind gusts through the pines, With the fall of night. |
559
Right.
外山なる柴の編戸は風過て霰横ぎる松の音かな
| toyamanaru shiba no amido wa kaze sugite arare yokogiru matsu no oto kana |
On the mountains’ edge My woven brushwood door Is pierced by the wind; Hearing hail blown horizontal Against the pines… |
560
Both Left and Right are exaggerated in their insistence that the other’s poem lacks any faults.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘Upon Mt Yoshino, in fitful sleep upon a bed of bamboo’ (yoshinoyama suzu no karine ni) would seem to suggest an ascetic who, having travelled into the mountains, has made himself a hut from bamboo and pillowed upon the tree roots, would it not? But here he seems to have simply cut them down, spread them out and lain upon them! In addition, ‘The wind gusts through the pines’ (matsukaze hayashi) fails to sound elegant [yū ni shi kikoezaru]. The Right, by starting with ‘On the mountains’ edge’ (toyamanaru), suggests that the poet is speaking of his own dwelling’s door in the mountains. ‘Hearing hail blown horizontal against the pines’ (arare yokogiru matsu no oto) also just does not sound appropriate. Both poems have an exaggerated feeling [kotogotoshikaran to wa kokorozashite], and I cannot grasp who they are referring to. However, the Left’s poem is, still, somewhat superior.
Left (Win).
風寒み今日も霙の降る里は吉野の山の雪げなりけり
| kaze samumi kyō mo mizore no furu sato wa yoshino no yama no yukige narikeri |
A chill breeze brings Sleet, today, Falling as on the ancient estate on Yoshino mountain Did snows fall once… |
517
Right.
嵐吹く木葉こきまぜ霙降りさびしかりける山の奧かな
| arashi fuku konoha kokimaze mizore furi sabishikarikeru yama no oku kana |
The storm wind blows Leaves mixed in with Falling sleet; How lonely it is Here within the mountains… |
518
Neither team finds any fault with the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘Sleet, today, falling as on the ancient estate’ (kyō mo mizore no furu sato wa), preceding ‘on Yoshino mountain did snows fall once’, reflects the conception of ‘Where once I lived, to the mount of Yoshino was so close’ (Furusato Fa yosino no yama si tikakereba) and seems splendid [ito yoroshiku miehabere]. The Right’s ‘How lonely it is here within the mountains’ (sabishikarikeru yama no oku kana) as a final section is most acceptable in terms of style [mottomo shokisubeki no tei], but the initial ‘leaves mixed in’ (konoha kokimaze) sounds as if this had been done with some human hand. Thus, the Left with matched initial and final sections, must win.
Left (Tie).
みよしのは花にうつろふ山なれば春さへみゆき故郷の空
| miyoshino wa hana ni utsurou yama nareba haru sae miyuki furusato no sora |
When fair Yoshino is Filled with fading flowers, All across the mountain, Still thick with spring snows are The skies above my ancient home. |
17
Right
櫻色の庭の春風跡もなしとはゞぞ人の雪とだに見ん
| sakura iro no niwa no haru kaze ato mo nashi towaba zo hito no yuki to dani min |
Cherry blossom hued My garden has the spring breeze stained, With not a dint upon it, Should someone come calling, He would swear snow had fallen. |
18
Left (Tie)
櫻花咲にし日よりよしの山空もひとつにかほる白雲
| sakurabana sakinishi hi yori yoshino yama sora mo hitotsu ni kaoru shirakumo |
The cherry blossom Bloomed, and from that day The mount of Yoshino and The sky above were as one: Fragrant clouds of white. |
13
Right
霞立峰の櫻のあさぼらけくれなゐくゝる天の河浪
| kasumitachi mine no sakura no asaborake kurenai kukuru ama no kawanami |
Veiled in haze Cherries on the peak At dawning: Slipping through scarlet are The whitecaps on the River of Heaven. |
14
Long ago, a man went wandering in the province of Musashi. And, in that province lived a certain lady. Her father thought to match her with a common man, but for her mother, only a man of the highest rank would do. Her father was a man of low rank, but her mother was of the Fujiwara family. Thus it was that she wanted a man of high rank for her daughter. So, she composed a poem and sent it to the man. They lived in the district of Iruma on the Miyoshino estate.
みよし野のたのむの雁もひたふるに君がゝたにぞよると鳴くなる
| miyosino no tanomu no kari mo FitaFuru ni kimi ga kata ni zo yoru to naku naru |
In fair Yoshino, Even the geese upon the rice fields, Alone For you do Yearn and cry. |
The man replied:
わが方によると鳴くなるみよし野のたのむの雁をいつか忘れん
| wa ga kata ni yoru to naku naru miyosino no tanomu no kari wo ituka wasuren |
For me Yearning and crying In fair Yoshino The geese upon the rice fields: Can I ever forget them? |
In the provinces they have still not ceased to do such things.
Departing Geese
たが方に行ともしらずみ吉野の田面の雁の春のわかれは
| ta ga kata ni yuku tomo shirazu miyoshino no tanomo no kari no haru no wakare wa |
To whom They go I know not: In fair Yoshino The geese upon the rice fields, Departing with the springtime. |
憂しとだに岩波高き吉野河よしや世中思ひ捨てゝき
| ushi to dani iwanami takaki yoshinogawa yoshi ya yo no naka omoisuteteki |
‘All is heartless!’, I would say – Waves crashing over the rocks In Yoshino River ? And so, and so, upon this world I’ll think no more! |
On cherry.
錢買て入るやよしのゝ山ざくら
| zeni kaute iru ya yoshino no yamazakura |
I get some change and Head on it to see Yoshino’s Moutain cherry blossoms. |