Left (Tie)
かけてのみみつつぞしのぶむらさきにいくしほそめしふぢのはなぞも
| kakete nomi mitsutsu zo shinobu murasaki ni iku shiosomeshi fuji no hana zo mo | Hanging there do I Ever gaze with wonder on Their violet hues— How many dippings dyed The wisteria blossom so? |
Mitsune
33
Right
みなそこにしづめるはなのかげみればはるのふかくもなりにけるかな
| minasoko ni shizumeru hana no kage mireba haru no fukaku mo narinikeru kana | When in the water’s depths Sunken blossoms’ Shapes I see, How deep the springtime Has become! |
Korenori
34
Love on Meeting
Left (Win)
人ごころいまはかぎりになりぬればみるこそみぬにおとらざりけれ
| hitogokoro ima wa kagiri ni narinureba miru koso minu ni otorazarikere | My human heart Now has its bound Reached, so Seeing you compared to not Is no worse! |
31
Right
わかれてはのちぞかなしきにごりえのそこともしらぬありかとおもへは
| wakarete wa nochi zo kanashiki nigorie no soko to mo shiranu arika to omoeba | Parting does Later bring such sadness: A muddy inlet’s Depths leave me unknowing Of where she is, so… |
Mitsune
32
Left
おもひつつひるはかくてもなぐさめつ夜こそ涙つきずながるる
| omoitsutsu hiru wa kakute mo nagusametsu yoru koso namida tukizu nagaruru | Ever thinking of you My day is thus Consoled, but At night, indeed, my tears Never do run dry… |
178
Right
かぎりなく深きおもひを忍ぶれば身をころすにもおとらざりけり
| kagirinaku fukaki omoi o shinobureba mi o korosu ni mo otorazarikeri | Endless Depths has the love That I conceal, so That it will kill my flesh Is no exaggeration. |
179
Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮
| kono koro no kokoro no soko o yoso ni miba shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure |
Of late Of the depths of my heart Were you to catch a distant glimpse: A stag belling in the meadow On an autumn evening… |
A Servant Girl
1067
Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也
| kurekakaru susono no tsuyu ni shika nakite hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari |
Twilight Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts, With a stag’s sad cry; Awaiting him, my sleeves, too, Are wet with tears. |
Nobusada
1068
Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.
From the pond at Ōsawa in Saga. From this point on, poems refer to flowers on the suhama.
人本と思ひしものを大沢の池の底にも誰か植ゑけむ
| Fitomoto to omoFisi mono wo oFosaFa no ike no soko ni mo tare ka uwekemu | A single bloom Did I think it was, but In Ōsawa Pond’s depths Who might have planted it there? |
Tomonori
2
A variant of this poem occurs in Kokinshū (V:275).
Left.
鯨取るさかしき海の底までも君だに住まば浪路しのがん
| kujira toru sakashiki umi no soko made mo kimi dani sumaba namij shinoga |
The whale-hunting Savage sea’s Depths: even there, Should it be your dwelling, Would I endure the waves… |
Kenshō.
973
Right (Win).
石見潟千尋の底もたとふれば淺き瀬になる身の恨かな
| iwamigata chihiro no soko mo tatoureba asaki se ni naru mi o urami kana |
Iwamigata: Your thousand fathom depths I take as A shallow shoal For my despite. |
Jakuren.
974
The Right state: the Left’s poem leaves a fearsome impression, does it not? The Left state: we find no fault with the Right’s poem.
In judgement: The Left’s ‘whale hunting’ (kujira toran) I remember occurring in the Man’yōshū, but among many of that collection’s oddly-styled poems. However, it does sound extremely fearsome. When Emperor Qin Shihuang sought Mount Penglai, although he said to ‘shoot’ (iyo) great fish, I have not heard that he went so far as to ‘hunt’ (tore) them. Generally speaking, poems should evoke delicacy and charm, and what purpose is served, for the way of poetry, or for the individual, by frightening people deliberately? The Right’s Iwamigata and ‘For my despite’ (mi no urami kana) recalls an official complaining over being passed over for promotion. However, I cannot accept the Left’s poem. Thus, the Right wins.