Round Two
Left
鶯は春をしりてもなきぬなる我が身は春をしらでこそなけ
uguisu wa haru o shiritemo nakinunaru wa ga mi wa haru o shirade koso nake The warbler
Masashige
Right (Win)
杣人よをののおとしばしとどめなん谷の鶯はつねなくなり
somabito yo ono no oto shibashi todomenan tani no uguisu hatsune nakunari O, woodcutter,
Kenshō
The Left’s poem, too, is smooth; the Right poem’s diction is halting, but its conception does not sound bad. It should win, I’d say.
Sages’ Dwellings 仙宮
我もいざたづね入りなんをののえのくちけん山の跡をしのびて
ware mo iza I, too, somehow
Higo
Left (Win)
ono no e o An axe haft –
Kenshō
Right
asamashi ya How surprising!
Lord Takanobu
Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: For the Left, I wonder how long a ‘brief love’ (shibashi no koi ) lasts? For one’s sleeves to have rotted, surely a certain amount of time must have passed, but in configuration the poem is certainly elegant. The Right’s woodcutter (yamabito ) sounds like he is saying rather too much about himself. The Left should win.
Sent to the Lady Jijū , when I had gone to the Biwa Mansion .
おぼつかな夢路のをのゝたよりにやなをざりなりし宵の稲妻
obotukanayumedi no wono no
Half-glimpsed,
'Simply moving and elegant'
