Left (Win)
あはれにぞ鳴あかすなる蛬われのみしぼる袖かと思ふに
aware ni zo
nakiakasunaru
kirigirisu
ware nomi shiboru
sode ka to omou ni |
How sad it is –
Crying with the dawn is
The cricket, though
I alone am wringing
Out my sleeves, I feel. |
Lord Suetsune
1075
Right
露深きあはれを思へきりぎりす枕の下の秋の夕暮
tsuyu fukaki
aware o omoe
kirigirisu
makura no shita no
aki no yūgure |
Deep in dew and
Sad, I wish you were,
O, cricket,
Beneath my pillow
On this autumn evening… |
Nobusada
1076
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults we can mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: our feelings are the same as those of the Right
In judgement: both Left and Right are on ‘crickets’ (kirigirisu) and their configuration and diction sound equally elegantly beautiful. I feel that the Right, with ‘deep in dew and sad, I wish you were’ (tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe), is somewhat lacking in the conception of the poet’s own love, but the Left, with ‘I alone am wringing out my sleeves, I feel’ (ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni), has an excellent conception of love, so I must state that the Left is the winner.