When a lady had dropped her hair-tie, I picked it up and passed it back to her.
あさねがみもとゆひそめししるしありてとけてみゆるをこころともがな
| asanegami motoyui someshi shirushi arite tokete miyuru o kokoro to mogana | That your morning bed-hair You had started to do up Is this a sign, but I would see you loosen it Together with your heart! |
Fujiwara no Sane’ie (1145-1193)
Silver grass
Left (Tie)
はなすすきほにいづるをのはしらくものあさゐるとのみあやまたれけり
| hanasusuki ho ni izuru ono wa shirakumo no asa iru to nomi ayamatarekeri | Silver grass Fronds appear upon the plains For clouds of white Spreading through the morning, simply Have I mistaken them. |
Ariwara no Suetaka
15
Right
はなすすきほのくれがたのつゆけきはうきよのなかをそよとしればか
| hanasusuki ho no kuregata no tsuyukeki wa ukiyo no naka o soyo to shireba ka | The silver grass Fronds at twilight Are dew-drenched— That this cruel world Is so, I wonder if they know? |
Fujiwara no Aritoki
16
Round Eleven
Left
しら雲の朝たつ山のからにしき枝に一むら春風ぞ吹く
| shirakumo no asa tatsu yama no karanishiki eda ni hito mura harukaze zo fuku | Clouds of white Arising with the morning on the mountain: Cathay brocade In a single bunch upon the branch Blown by the breeze of spring! [1] |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
21
Right (Win)
かづらきや嶺の桜のさきしより心の空にかかるしら雲
| kazuragi ya mine no sakura no sakishi yori kokoro no sora ni kakaru shirakumo | Upon Kazuragi Peak, the cherries Have bloomed and ever since The heavens of my heart are Draped with clouds of white. |
Lord Nobunari
22
The Left’s poem has ‘Arising with the morning on the mountain: Cathay brocade in a single bunch upon the branch’ and, while it mentions spring breezes in its final section and does not fail to reflect the surface appearance of its source poem, conveys a feeling of scarlet leaves without mentioning blossom or cherry, which I have to say is something of a fault. The Right’s poem does not seem poor and lacks any faults worth mentioning, so it should win.
[1] An allusive variation on SIS IV: 220.
Round Eight
Left (Win)
朝まだきたつや霞の波まより昨日はみえし淡路島山
| asa madaki tatsu ya kasumi no namima yori kinō mieshi awajishima yama | Early in the morning, Breaking, haze From between the waves, rather than Yesterday’s sight of The mountains of Awaji Isle… |
Fujiwara no Tomoshige
15
Right
さえ残る雪げの春の朝霞かすむ名のみや空に立つらん
| saenokoru yukige no haru no asagasumi kasumu na nomi sora ni tatsuran | Do chilly remnants of Snowmelt in spring Make morning haze’s Blur in name alone Drift into the skies? |
Dharma Master Zenshin
16
The Left’s ‘Yesterday’s sight of the mountains of Awaji Isle’ sounds pleasant. The Right’s ‘Blur in name alone drift into the skies’ does not sound bad, but thinking of the conception of the topic, haze in name only is a bit inferior, isn’t it? Thus, the Left wins.
Left (Tie)
山のはに有明の月の残らずは霞にあくる空をみましや
| yama no ha ni ariake no tsuki no nokorazu wa kasumi ni akuru sora o mimashi ya | Upon the mountains’ edge Had the moon at dawn Not lingered, then On the brightening, hazy Sky would I have turned my gaze? |
Shō
11
Right
朝戸あけてながめなれたる明ぼのの霞ばかりに春を知るかな
| asa to akete nagamenaretaru akebono no kasumi baraki ni haru o shiru kana | With morn, opening my door, and Accustomed to gazing At the dawn The haze is all that Tells me ‘tis spring![1] |
Nagatsuna, Ranked without Office
12
The Left’s poem has ‘would I wish to see the skies brightening with haze’, which does not seem bad, but the initial line drop ‘dawn’ and the latter part ‘brightening with haze’ which is a bit dubious; the Right’s poem really has nothing special about it. The poems are comparable and tie.
[1] An allusive variation on GSS V: 249.
On the same conception.
あさとあけてながめやすらんたなばたはあかぬ別のそらをこひつつ
| asa to akete nagame ya suran tanabata Fa akanu wakare no sora wo koFitutu | With the morn, does she open up her door And gaze out? The Weaver Maid, Unsated, her parting in the Skies does ever deeply feel… |
Tsurayuki
On autumn mornings, kōshin Fourth Month, Kenpo 5.
をぐら山しぐるるころのあさなあさな昨日はうすき四方のもみぢば
| ogurayama shigururu koro no asana asana kinō wa usuki yomo no momijiba | On gloomy Ogura Mountain When the showers fall Each and every morning, How faded are yesterday’s Scarlet leaves, all around. |
Former Middle Counsellor Sada’ie
Marlberry
Left
あさごとにきりはふれどもあしひきのやまたち花はいろもかはらず
| asa goto ni kiri wa furedomo ashihiki no yamatachibana wa iro mo kawarazu | With every morning The mist rolls down, yet on The leg-wearying Mountains, the marlberry’s Hues remain unchanged. |
13
Right
みねだにやすみうくならんあしひきのやまたち花のみやまゐをせる
| mine dani ya sumi’ukunaran ashihiki no yamatachibana no miyamai o seru | Does even the peak Seem so hard to dwell upon? The leg-wearying Mountain marlberry has Turned the hidden spring a darker hue. |
14
