Katsura 桂
人しれずけふをしまつと風はやみかつらの枝を折りもよわらず
hito shirezu kyō o shimatsu to kaze hayami katsura no eda o ori mo yowarazu | Unknown to all For today have I made ready – Amid the rushing wind The katsura branches will I break without hesitation! |
Toshiyori
A party of ladies on their way home from Shiga came into the precincts of the Kazan temple and stood for a while beneath the wisteria; when they had gone, he composed this and sent it to them.
よそに見てかへらん人にふぢの花はひまつはれよ枝はおるとも
yoso ni mite kaFeran Fito ni Fudi no Fana FaFimatuFare yo eda Fa oru tomo | A casual glance, and Then those girls are gone; O, wisteria blooms, Twine around and hold them here, Though your branches break… |
Archbishop Henjō
Left (Win)
うかりける我み山木の契かな連なる枝もありとこそ聞け
ukarikeru wa ga mi yamagi no chigiri kana tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike |
In despair Am I: hidden among the mountain trees Is my love; Though once branches lay atop each other I did hear… |
Lord Suetsune
1039
Right
涙には憂き深山木も朽ちぬべし沖つ小嶋のひさきならねど
namida ni wa uki fukayamagi mo kuchinubeshi oki tsu kojima no hisaki naranedo |
Among my tears, Drift, despairing, trees from the mountain deeps, Rotting all away, though On islets in the offing On bush-covered beaches, they are not… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1040
Both Left and Right state: we find no faults.
In judgement: both Left and Right use the image of ‘trees from the mountain deeps’ (fukayamagi), and neither is superior, or inferior, to the other in this, but I would have to say that the Left’s ‘though once branches lay atop each other I did hear…’ (tsuranaru eda mo ari to koso kike) is somewhat better than the Right’s ‘on bush-covered beaches, they are not…’ (hisaki naranedo).
Left
相思ふ中には枝も交しけり君が梢はいやおちにして
ai’omou naka ni wa eda mo kawashikeri kimi ga kozue wa iya’ochi ni shite |
Joined in love Branches meet and Twine together, they say, yet As the treetops, you fail to come Again, and yet again. |
Kenshō
1033
Right (Win)
人しれぬ心に君を楢柴のしばしもよそに思はずもがな
hito shirenu kokoro ni kimi o narashiba no shibashi mo yoso ni omowasu mogana |
Unknown to all My heart to you Inclines among the oaks; For just a while, as a stranger I would you not think of me… |
Lord Takanobu
1034
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘again, and yet again’ (iya’ochi) does not sound pleasant. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem, having the conception of intertwined branches is pleasant, but ‘treetops at my house’ (yado no kozue) would be normal, so I wonder about ‘as the treetops, you fail to come’ (kimi ga kozue)? In the Right’s poem, although ‘among the oaks; for just a while’ (narashiba no shibashi) is commonplace, it is still more elegant than ‘again and yet again’.
Left (Tie).
涙せく袖のよそめは竝べどもわすれずやともいふひまぞなき
namida seku sode no yosome wa narabedomo wasurezu ya to mo iu hima zo naki |
Tears are dammed upon My sleeves, and within eyesight Does she sit arrayed, but ‘Have you not forgotten me?’ – To ask that, I have no chance! |
Lord Sada’ie
883
Right.
梅が枝の末越す中の垣根より思ふ心や色に見えまし
ume ga e no sue kosu naka no kakine yori omou kokoro ya iro ni miemashi |
The plum branches’ Tips cross beyond Her fence, so Will the love within my heart Appear plain before her? |
Jakuren
884
Both teams state there are no faults with their opponent’s poem.
In judgement: the Gentlemen of both Left and Right have stated that there are no faults with the style of either poem. I accept that and will make this round a tie.