Round Twenty-Eight
Left
わぎもこをかたまつよひの秋風はをぎのうはばをよきてふかなん
| wagimoko o kata matsu yoi no akikaze wa ogi no uwaba o yokite fukanan | For my darling girl I wait filled with longing, tonight I would the autumn wind The cogon grass fronds Pass by in its blowing! |
Shun’e
55
Right (Win)
朝夕におつる涙や恋草のしげみにすがる露と成るらん
| asayū ni otsuru namida ya koigusa no shigemi ni sugaru tsuyu to naruran | Morn and eve My falling tears to Love’s grasses Lush do cling and Turn to dewdrops. |
Atsuyori
56
The Right poem’s use of diction and expression has nothing wrong with it and is entirely appropriate.
Composed on the conception of the Song of the Everlasting Woe.
おもひかねわかれし野べをきてみればあさぢが原に秋かぜぞふく
| omoFikane wakaresi nobe wo kitemireba asadi ga hara ni akikaze zo Fuku | Unable to bear my longing To the meadows where we parted Have I come and fixed my gaze, but Across the cogon grass upon the plain Indeed, the autumn wind is blowing. |
Minamoto no Michinari
[One of] Five love poems in a Twenty Poem Sequence composed in his retreat in Kenryaku 2 [1212].
あらち山やた野の浅茅色付きぬ人の心の峰の淡雪
| arachiyama yatano no asaji irozukinu hito no kokoro no mine no awayuki | By Arachi Mountain, In Yata meadow the cogon grass Has taken on passion’s hues, but My lady’s heart is A peak covered in snow-spume. |
Ietaka
Topic unknown.
秋かぜになびくあさぢのすゑごとにおくしら露のあはれ世中
| akikaze ni nabiku asaji no sue goto ni oku shiratsuyu no aware yo no naka | In the autumn breeze The cogon grass trails back and forth; On every single frond Drop silver dewdrops— So sad is this mundane world of ours. |
Semimaru
Composed as an autumn poem.
ゆふさればをののあさぢふ玉ちりてこころくだくる風の音かな
| yuFu sareba wono no asadiFu tama tirite kokoro kudakuru kaze no oto kana | When the evening comes All across the cogon-grass plain Scatter gemstones— Heart-tangling is The sound of wind! |
The Regent and Former Minister of the Right
Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき
| karakuni no tora fusu nobe ni iru yori mo madou koiji no sue zo ayauki |
In far Cathay are Meadows where tigers lie, But rather than entering there, The confusing paths of love Are, at the end, more dangerous… |
Lord Ari’ie
1063
Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず
| wa ga yado wa hito mo kareno no asajiwara kayoishi koma no ato mo todomezu |
At my home Is only a withered field Of cogon grass; The mount who once did cross it Has left no lingering tracks… |
Ietaka
1064
The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.
