Left (Win).
聞わたる契りも深き縁あらば末も絶せじ中河の水
kikiwataru
chigiri mo fukaki
enishi araba
sue mo taeseji
nakagawa no mizu |
Word reaches me
Of a bond whose depth
Reaches the life before – should it be so
Then it will endure to the very end,
As do the waters of the Naka River! |
Kenshō.
627
Right.
見るめなき磯間隱れに寄る浪の音ばかりにも袖濡らせとや
mirume naki
isoma gakure ni
yoru nami no
oto bakari ni mo
sode nurase to ya |
No algae grows
Hidden on this rocky shore
Where the breakers fall;
Is it their sound alone
That tells me to soak my sleeves? |
Ietaka.
628
The Gentlemen of both Left and Right state: the other team’s poem lacks thought.
Shunzei’s judgement: Both are most poetic examples of examples of verses using the imagery of waves and waters, and there appears to be very little pointless space between them, but rather than being told to ‘soak one’s sleeves’ with no sight of the lady, the ‘deep bond’ of the ‘waters of the Naka River’ seems superior.
Left.
氷ゐるみるめなぎさのたぐひかな上堰く袖の下のさゞ浪
kōri iru
mirume nagisa no
tagui kana
ue seku sode no
shita no sazanami |
As ice-bound
Algae on the beach
Am I:
The surface stopped up, but my sleeves
Conceal a confusion of waves… |
Lord Sada’ie.
621
Right.
我とはと思ふにかゝる涙こそ抑ふる袖の下になりぬれ
ware to wa to
omou ni kakaru
namida koso
osauru sode no
shita ni narinure |
I should say nothing,
I feel, and yet
My tears,
Held down by my sleeves,
Do flow beneath them… |
Nobusada.
622
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left do not seem to be expressing enough. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial line of the Right’s poem is difficult to pronounce. In addition, it is difficult to understand.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s ‘the surface stopped up, but my sleeves’ (ue seku sode no) and the Right’s ‘held down by my sleeves’ (osauru sode no) are both elegant in form [yū naru sama], but no matter how much I ponder them I find them difficult to comprehend, so again, there is no clear winner or loser this round.
Topic unknown.
みるめかるかたやいづくぞさほさしてわれにをしへよあまのつり舟
mirume karu
kata ya izuku zo
sao sashite
ware ni oshieyo
ama no tsuribune |
Gathering algae
In the inlet, where do they lie?
Thrust out your pole, and plainly
Tell me, where are
The divers’ fishing boats? |
Narihira
業平
In the conception of ‘love for someone unknown’.
あまのかるみるめをなみにまがへつゝなぐさのはまをたづねわびぬる
ama no karu
mirume o nami ni
magaetsutsu
nagusa no hama o
tazune wabinuru |
The fisher-folk harvest
Algae from the waves-avoiding others eyes
I roam-sometimes lost to view;
To the beach at Nagusa-what is your name?
I ask-I pay a call, in my sorrow. |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari
藤原俊成
'Simply moving and elegant'