Summer I: 21

Left.

をちこちにながめやかはす鵜飼舟闇を光の篝火の影

ochikochi ni
nagame ya kawasu
ukaibune
yami o hikari no
kagaribi no kage
Near and far
My gaze goes back and forth;
Cormorant boats
Light the darkness with
Fishing-fires’ glow.

Lord Sada’ie.

221

Right (Win).

鵜飼舟あはれとぞ見るものゝふの八十宇治川の夕闇の空

ukaibune
aware to zo miru
mononofu no
yaso ujigawa no
yūyami no sora
The cormorant boats
Seem so keen!
Warriors,
Eighty in all, on Uji River,
Beneath the darkening evening sky…

Nobusada.

222

The Right comment that, ‘In the Left’s poem, “light the darkness” (yami o hikari) does not seem that elegant an expression,’ while the Left can find no fault with the Right’s poem.

Shunzei agrees: ‘“Light the darkness with fishing-fires’ glow” (yami o hikari no kagaribi no kage) does not seem particularly satisfactory in sense. The Right’s “Eighty in all, on Uji River, beneath the darkening evening sky” (yaso ujigawa no yūyami no sora) is especially fine. There is no question but that it wins.’

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