Round Six

Left (Tie)

さくらばな風にしちらぬものならばおもふことなき春にぞあらまし

sakurabana kaze ni shi chiranu mono naraba omou koto naki haru ni zo aramashi

Did the cherry blossom With the breeze not scatter Then, There would be no gloomy thoughts In springtime, surely!

Yoshinobu
12[i]

Right

さくらばないろみるほどによをしへば歳のゆくをもしらでやみなん

sakurabana iro miru hodo ni yo o shi heba toshi no yuku o mo shirade yaminan

While upon the cherry blossoms’ Hues I gaze, Passing through this world, That the years go by I feel not, no, not at all![ii]

Kanemori
13

Both Left and Right are well presented. Thus, they tie.

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[i] This poem was included in Shikashū (I: 36).

[ii] Kanemori’s poem here can be viewed as a response to the emotions expressed by Ono no Komachi in her famous composition: Topic unknown. 花の色はうつりにけりないたづらにわが身世にふるながめせしまに hana no iro wa / utsurinikeri na / itazura ni / wa ga mi yo ni furu / nagameseshi ma ni ‘The colour of this flower / Has already faded away, / While in idle thoughts / My life goes by, / As I watch the long rains fall.’ (Kokinshū II: 113) (Hagitani and Taniyama 1965, 81)