Left
うき舟に一夜ばかりの契だになどありがたき我身なるらむ
ukifune ni
hitoyo bakari no
chigiri dani
nado arigataki
wa ga mi naruramu | In a drifting boat
A single night’s
Brief bond – even that:
Why so rarely
Do I get it? |
Lord Suetsune
1145
Right (Win)
誰となきうき寢を忍ぶ海人の子も思へば淺き恨み也けり
tare to naki
ukine o shinobu
ama no ko mo
omoeba asaki
urami narikeri | Knowing not with whom
She’ll briefly sleep, and regret
Is my diving girl:
But considering, little
Will it trouble her! |
Ietaka
1146
The Right state: ‘drifting boat’ (ukifune) fails to link properly with ‘single night’ (hitoyo). The Left state: although ‘diving girl’ (ama no ko) is used in the source poem in the section on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, we wonder about the appropriateness of simply using it to mean pleasure girl.
In judgement: there is no need to critique whether or not ‘drifting boat’ links with ‘single night’. In the final section ‘why so rarely’ (nado arigataki), though, makes me wonder why this should be the case! On the matter of the Right’s use of ‘diving girl’, our predecessors, including Lord Kintō, have provided poems on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, and who, indeed, would not utilize this? Furthermore, ‘knowing not with whom she’ll briefly sleep, and regret’ (tare to naki ukine o shinobu) certainly sounds like a pleasure girl! Thus, the Right must win over a pleasure girl finding it hard to get custom.
