Left (Win)
はるのよのちよをひとよになしてしかあくやあかずやねでこころみむ
| haru no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni nashiteshika aku ya akazu ya nede kokoromimu | Spring nights By the thousand, into a single night Have been made— Am I satisfied or not, Sleepless, how will I know? |
25
Right
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこひなればわがみなれどももてぞわづらふ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu koi nakereba wagami naredomo mote zo wazurau | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My yearning, but without it My sorry self would yet Suffer from your treatment! |
26
Love on Meeting
Left
ゆめのごとなどかよるのみきみをみんくるるまつまもさだめなきよを
| yume no goto nadoka yoru nomi kimi o min kururu matsu ma mo sadame naki yo o | In every dream Why at night, alone Might I see you? Time spent pining for the dark Is so uncertain… |
23[i]
Right (Win)
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこころかないくちよねてかこひはさむらむ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu kokoro kana iku chiyo nete ka koi wa samuramu | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My heart! How many thousand nights of sleep Might restore my love to what it was? |
24
[i] An almost identical poem is included in Saigū nyōgo kishi joō uta’awase (23). The same poem is also included in Shūishū (XII: 734), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote ‘From a poetry match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’, and also in Shūishō (VII: 264) as an anonymous poem with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.
Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
Bamboo and Felicitations.
竹の葉にふりおほふ雪のうれをおもみしたにも千世の色はかくれず
| take no ha ni furi’ōu yuki no ure o omomi shita ni mo chiyo no iro wa kakurezu | The bamboo leaves Are covered with fallen snow, Tips so heavy, but Beneath, a thousand ages Hue cannot be concealed.[i] |
664
[i] See: Topic unknown. ささのはにふりつむ雪のうれをおもみ本くだちゆくわがさかりはも sasa no ha ni / furitsumu yuki no / ure o omomi / moto kudachiyuku / wa ga sakari wa mo ‘The dwarf bamboo leave are / Piled with fallen snow, / Tips so heavy that / They droop down to the roots— / So, too, my prosperity!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 891)
[One of] two poems composed to express his grief and sorrow by Kawabe no Miyahito when he saw the coffin of a young girl in the pine groves of Himeshima in Wadō 4 [711].
妹之名者 千代尓将流 姫嶋之 子松之末尓 蘿生万代尓
いもがなは ちよにながれむ ひめしまの こまつがうれに こけむすまでに
| imo ga na pa tiyo ni nagaremu pimesima no komatu ga ure ni kokemusu made ni | This maiden’s name Will drift down a thousand ages Until Himeshima’s Pine seedling shoots are Choked with hanging moss. |
Kawabe no Miyahito
Round Five
Left
君がよはながゐのうらのはまかぜにたつしらなみのかずもしられず
| kimi ga yo wa nagai no ura no hamakaze ni tatsu shiranami no kazu mo shirarezu | My Lord’s reign: At Nagai Bay The beach breezes Rouse the whitecaps In number entirely unknown. |
Controller’s Graduate
65
Right
きみがよをまつちのやまのこまつばらちよのけしきを見るぞうれしき
| kimi ga yo o matsuchi no yama no komatsubara chiyo no keshiki o miru zo ureshiki | My Lord’s reign Awaiting upon Matsuchi Mountain The pine seedling groves The sight for a thousand ages Joyfully will see! |
Kerin’in Graduate
66
It’s impossible to decide on a winner or loser between the Left and the Right here in terms of conception, diction and overall style. To put it in general terms, I must make this round a further tie.
Neither Left nor Right is remarkable, but nor do they have any faults to mention. I’d make this round a tie.
