waka no ura to omou bakari o tanomi nite yado mo sadamenu ama no ko zo uki
At Waka Bay, for my youth Simply do I long; Relying on A homeless Son of fisherfolk is sad, indeed.
Kyō 129
Right (Win)
すみよしのまつことなくていたづらにとしはつもりのうらみをぞする
sumiyoshi no matsu koto nakute itazura ni toshi wa tsumori no urami o zo suru
At Sumiyoshi Pine I do not, but How quickly The years have laid Their despite upon me!
Suehiro 130
The Left, while it does sound truly pitiful, truly could have had something in mind as an outcome of youth at Waka Bay. As for the Right, simply that ‘The years have laid / Their despite’ without pining, I know only too well, so I can say that the Right wins.
miya’ishite iku yo henuramu sumiyoshi no matsu fuku kaze mo kamisabinikeri
Since He manifested here How many ages might have passed? At Sumiyoshi The wind gusting through the pines, too, Is touched with divinity…
Tsunemasa 127
Right
よのなかをいとふこころはさきだちていつまでとまるうきみなるらむ
yo no naka o itou kokoro wa sakidachite itsu made tomaru ukimi naruramu
This mundane world My heart does despise and Would depart, but How long will I remain, Suffering as I am?
Nakatsuna 128
Both Left and Right are expressions of grievance, but the Left is merely concerned with ‘Since He manifested here / How many ages might have passed?’, while the Right simply wonders ‘How long will I remain’ while despising the mundane world. I cannot really say that either is superior in the emotions they express, yet due to its reference to the deity, I should say that the Left wins.
ware mo ikade yo ni nagaraete sumiyoshi no matsu no chitose no yukusue mo mimu
Somehow, I, too, Would endure in this world, that Sumiyoshi’s Pine’s thousand years End I would see!
Masahira 125
Right
たとへけむなみはわがみにあらはれぬこぎゆくふねのあとはほかかは
tatoekemu nami wa wagami ni arawarenu kogiyuku fune no ato wa hoka ka wa
Might I compare The waves, which on my sorry self Have made their mark, with A boat rowing out, leaving A wake, or if not that then what? [1]
Chikashige 126
The Left seems to be imagining something very unrealistic. The Right has the poem ‘To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking’ in mind, and appears to have the charming conception of sorrowing over the face of Grand Duke Jiang appearing in the waves on the Wei River, but ‘if not that then what?’ sounds a bit overblown. With that being said, the Left feels like a plea for good fortune, and the Right evokes impermanence. The matters are only distantly connected, and thus in terms of faults and merits they are equal.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 世の中をなににたとへむあさぼらけこぎゆく舟のあとのしら浪 yo no naka o / nani ni tatoemu / asaborake / kogiyuku fune no / ato no shiranami ‘This mundane world: / To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking, / A boat rows out / Whitecaps in its wake.’ Novice Mansei (SIS XX: 1327)
honoka nite aru ka naki ka ni suguru mi ya namima ni magau ama no isaribi
Faintly, Uncertain if I’m here or not Do I pass through? Entangled between the waves, A fisherman’s torch.
Lord Suetsune 123
Right
すみよしのなをたのみこししるしありてかへるみやこにおもひいでもがな
sumiyoshi no na o tanomikoshi shirushi arite kaeru miyako ni omoi’ide mogana
In Sumiyoshi’s Name did I place my trust— Had it some effect then On returning to the capital Happy memories, I would have!
Takanobu 124
The Left appears to have pleasant configuration and diction, saying ‘Entangled between the waves, / A fisherman’s torch’. Using ‘faintly’ and then concluding with ‘fisherman’s torch’ is extremely charming, but I do wonder about describing a person’s passage through the world as ‘faint’. The Right sounds elegant in style, but saying, ‘On returning to the capital / Happy memories, I would have!’ could be saying that the memories are of the return to the capital itself, and I don’t feel this matches with the initial part of the poem. In addition, is the conception of wanting the deity’s aid for the return? This sounds rather capricious. The Left has a pleasant configuration, and thus it should win.
nezameshite uki yo o omoi awasureba madoromu yume ni kawarazarikeri
When I awake, with This cruel world my thoughts Occupying, The dream that filled my doze Differed not at all…
Hyōenokami 121
Right (Win)
すみのえのうきにおひたるしをれあしをなみひきたてよかみのめぐみに
suminoe no uki ni oitaru shiore’ashi o nami hikitateyo kami no megumi ni
In Suminoe’s Muddy waters grows, Languishing, a reed: O, waves, lift it upright! To receive the deity’s blessing…
Lord Michichika 122
The poem of the Left appears to have an elegant sequence, saying, ‘This cruel world my thoughts / Occupying’, but the speaker does not appear to be particularly thinking of themselves—they are simply reflecting on the transience of this world and that’s how it is. The poem of the Right begins with ‘In Suminoe’ and then has ‘Muddy waters grows’, linking the particular shore with the content. The Right should win.
kasoureba yatose henikeri aware wa ga shizumishi koto wa kinō to omou ni
When I count them up, Many years have passed, but Sadness Overcomes me for the events Of yesterday, I feel…
Lord Sanesada 119
Right
いたづらにふりぬるみをもすみよしのまつはさりともあはれしるらむ
itazura ni furinuru mi o mo sumiyoshi no matsu wa sari tomo aware shiruramu
How quickly Age has come upon my flesh, too— Sumiyoshi’s Pines must that Sadness know too well…
Lord Toshinari 120
The poem of the Left: these are not matters which could be understood by just anyone, yet even a superficial glance at it reveals that its conception and configuration display and exceptional sadness. How true it is that off all the myriad things in our lives it is the events of yesterday and today that we recall, and this is how we pass through the years and months, so how difficult, indeed, it is to supress the configuration of ‘When I count them up, / Many years have passed’! As for the Right’s poem, well, the conception of the initial section is pedestrian at best, although the latter section does seem to have some conception to it in places and shows some signs of thought. It is the poor composition of the judge, who is into his dotage. Once more, therefore, I have not rendered judgement, however, I feel that the deity would determine in favour of the Left.
itou tomo naki mono yue ni yo no naka no aware o sasu ga uchinagekitsutsu
With despite I regard it not, yet This mundane world Has such sadness, that Ever am I grief-stricken…
Lord Sanefusa 117
Right (Win)
いたづらにとしもつもりのうらにおふるまつぞわがみのたぐひなりける
itazura ni toshi mo tsumori no ura ni ouru matsu zo wa ga mi no tagui narikeru
How quickly The years have piled up; on Tsumori Shore grow Pines – my sorry self, indeed, Do they resemble!
Lord Yorimasa 118
The poem of the Left has a configuration which directly expresses a single emotion. Its conception sounds in keeping with this. The poem of the Right begins with ‘The years have piled up; on Tsumori / Shore grow’ and continues with ‘Pines – my sorry self, indeed’ which appears very pleasant. Thus, the Right wins.
yo no naka o umiwataritsutsu toshi henuru koto wa tsumori no kami ya tasukemu
In this mundane world, An endless sea of suffering, Have my years gone by; Might Tsumori’s Deity save me, I wonder?
Dharma Master Shun’e 115
Right (Win)
いへのかぜわがみのうへにすずしかれかみのしるしをあふぐとならば
ie no kaze wa ga mi no ue ni suzushikare kami no shirushi o augu to naraba
My house’s breeze of fortune To my sorry self I would bring cool, if For a sign from the God I were to seek…
Lord Sanekuni 116
The Left’s conception is charming, beginning with ‘An endless sea of suffering’ and following this with ‘Might Tsumori’s / Deity save me, I wonder?’, but ‘endless sea of suffering’ does not sound like acceptable diction. The Right’s conception of ‘For a sign from the God / I were to seek’ sounds charming, so I make it the winner.
wa ga sakari yayo izukata e yukinikemu shiranu okina ni mi oba yuzurite
My glory days, O, where have they Gone? An unfamiliar old man Has taken my place…
Lord Kiyosuke 113
Right
いかなればわがひとつらのかかるらむうらやましきはあきのかりがね
ika nareba wa ga hitotsura no kakaruramu urayamashiki wa aki no kari ga ne
What has happened, that My brothers, one and all, Should go so far? How I envy The cries of autumn geese…
Lord Sanetsuna 114
Both of these poems of the Left and Right are, once again, suited to their poets. The Left appears to have a charming conception, looking back on more prosperous times which have now gone—just as anyone would. This is certainly something to resent and yet, in his glory days he was a man of high renown, or someone with great responsibilities among lower officialdom, or even in the Inner Palace Guards or Great Council of State—to hear a man recollecting this and asking ‘where have my glory days gone’—speaking of such things sounds charming, in the end. Truly charming. The poem of the Right finds fault with ‘What has happened, that /My brothers, one and all’ and the poet says ‘How I envy / The cries of autumn geese’. The line of geese in the autumn appears unmistakably to refer to the ordering of brothers—perhaps that order has been disrupted? If so, this, too, is extremely charming. To the extent that these, too, express the writer’s troubles, for the moment, I make them a tie.
nanigoto o akenu kurenu to isoguramu hakanaki yume no yo to wa shirushiru
What is it that makes Dawn and dusk Come so fast? A fleeting dream is This world—that I know so well.
Lord Shigenori 111
Right (Win)
かずならぬみをうきくさとおもへどもなぞよとともにしづむなるらむ
kazu naranu mi o ukikusa to omoedomo nazo yo to tomo ni shizumu naruramu
Not even numbered among folk, so Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed Am I, I feel yet, Why, over such a time Should I sink into the depths?
Lord Morikata 112
The Left’s poem expresses grief over the nature of the mundane world and finds a reason for this in the realisation that all is lost within a fleeting dream. The configuration of the Right poem’s ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is not particularly elegant, yet placing ‘Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed’ first and then following this with ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is charming, I have to say. The Right should win.
