Left
うちさめてこひしきひとをおもふよはわがたましひもゆきてつげなん
| uchisamete koishiki hito o omou yo wa wa ga tamashii mo yukite tsugenan | Awaking when My darling girl Filled my thoughts all night, Even my soul Has gone to let her know! |
15
Right
よはにおきてこひぞわびぬるはるのよはゆめにみえつるひとのなければ
| yowa ni okite koi zo wabinuru haru no yo wa yume ni mietsuru hito no nakereba | Arising at midnight, and Suffering love’s fire On a night in spring, For in my dreams I saw My girl, though she’s not here now… |
16
Round Two
Left (T – Tie)
口惜しや雲ゐがくれにすむたつもおもふ人にはみえけるものを
| kuchi oshi ya kumoigakure ni sumu tatsu mo omou hito ni wa miekeru mono o | How bitter am I! Hidden ‘mongst the clouds Dwell dragons—even they To one thinking fondly of them Do appear, yet… |
Lord Toshiyori
51
Right (M – Win)
かつみれど猶ぞ恋しきわぎもこがゆつのつまぐしいかでささまし
| katsu miredo nao zo koishiki wagimoko ga yutsu no tsumagushi ikade sasamashi | I have seen her once, yet Even more desirable is My darling girl— As a fine comb How would I wear her in my hair? |
Lord Mototoshi
52
Toshiyori states: the first poem is one which appears to be incomprehensible to a particularly limitless extent. In the second poem, the ‘fine comb’ referred to is the one which Susanoo transformed Princess Inada and placed in his divine locks upon their first meeting. This poem has ‘I have seen her once’ and thus appears to have a conception that they have already met. The final section has ‘How would I wear her in my hair?’, which makes it seem that the comb has yet to be placed there. This appears to differ from the original tale. One could ask the poet whether he has mistaken this ancient tale—perhaps he has simply remembered it wrong? It’s not possible to decide upon a winner or loser.
[N.B.: Mototoshi mistakes Toshiyori’s use of tatsu (‘dragon’) for tazu (crane)—the two words were written identically. Toshiyori didn’t bother to correct him at the time of the match, but when Tadamichi asked for judges’ thoughts in writing after the event, he simply wrote, ‘It’s not a crane, but a dragon!’]
Mototoshi states: composing ‘how bitter am I’ and suchlike is something which I have yet to encounter in a poem in a poetry match. Someone said long ago that in both the poems of Yamato and Cathay one should select diction as fruit develop from blossom, and bearing that in mind, well, I have never seen such diction used in many personal collections and poetry matches and, it goes without saying, certainly not in the initial section. On the matter of ‘hidden ‘mongst the clouds dwell cranes’: this is something which has yet to appear in poetry. I wonder whether it appears in texts from Cathay? Possibly composed on the conception of ‘cranes crying beneath the sun’ in the Account of the World? The subsequent line should be ‘clouds spread broadly blue I see cranes so white’. It seems to be saying ‘flying hidden in the clouds’—meaning that cranes should live in the clouds. The cocks of Huainan entered the clouds—again, maybe that is a reference to cranes? Moreover, in Master Fu Qiu’s Classic on the Aspect of Cranes it states that cranes, at the age of one hundred and eighty years, come together as males and females for mating—if that is the case, then how does this relate to human beings? Furthermore, I feel the poem is illogical in the absence of a location where they could live, hidden in the clouds. Overall, this poem has an inappropriate conception and diction, too. The poem of the Right has no errors of diction and its tone is not that bad, so perhaps it would not be mistaken to say it’s a little superior.
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.
わぎもこがひもゆふぐれのきくなればあかずぞはなのいろはみえける
| wagimoko ga hi mo yūgure no kiku nareba akazu zo hana no iro wa miekeru | My darling girl Both day and eve is As a chrysanthemum, so Never sated am I with this flower’s Hues I see. |
Korenori
5
きくのはなふゆののかぜにちりもせでけふまでとてやしもはおくらん
| kiku no hana fuyu no kaze ni chiri mo sede kyō made tote ya shimo wa okuran | Chrysanthemum blooms In the winter wind Scatter not; Is it that up to today is when Frost is said to fall? |
Korenori
6
かげさへやこよひはにほふきくのはなあまてるつきにかのそはるらん
| kage sae ya koyoi wa niou kiku no hana ama teru tsuki ni ka no sowaruran | Even their shape Fills tonight with a scented glow; Chrysanthemum blooms To the heaven-shining moon Seem to add their fragrance. |
Korenori
7
From the Poetry Match held by the Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor.
かつみれど猶ぞ恋しきわぎもこがゆつのつまぐしいかがささまし
| katsu miredo nao zo koishiki wagimoko ga yutsu no tsumagushi ikaga sasamashi | At last did I see her, yet All the more do I love My darling girl, so Should I turn her to a sacred slender comb And wear her in my hair? |
Mototoshi
The end of the Sixth Month.
わぎもこがあせにそほつるねよりがみなつのひるまはうとしとやおもふ
| wagimoko ga ase ni soFoturu neyorigami natu no Firuma Fa utosi to ya omoFu | My darling girl Has sweat-soaked Sleep-tangled hair Daytime in summer is So troublesome, I feel! |
Sone no Yoshitada
Composed at a place called Higurashino, when he was in attendance upon the former Teishi Emperor who had gone to view Miyataki.
ひぐらしのゆきすぎぬともかひもあらじひもとくいももまたじとおもへば
| higurashino yukisuginu tomo kai mo araji himo toku imo mo mataji to omoeba | Sundown at Higurashino Has passed, yet ‘Tis pointless, for My darling girl to undo her belt Has waited not, I fear… |
Major Counsellor Noboru
Fulling cloth late at night (深夜擣衣)
Left
わぎもこがうつ唐衣さよふけてほのかにきこゆいづこなるらん
| wagimoko ga utsu karakoromo sayo fukete honoka ni kikoyu izuko naruran | My darling girl Is fulling my Cathay robe; As brief night breaks Faintly I hear The echoes from somewhere. |
Ki no Sukezane
29
Right
手もたゆく成りやゆくらんさ夜ふかみ衣しでうつ音ののどけさ
| ta mo tayuku nari ya yukuran sayo fukami koromo shideutsu oto no nodokesa | Is it that her hands so weary Have become? Late on a brief night Fulling clothing— How faint that sound… |
Taira no Sadamoto
30
