nezameshite uki yo o omoi awasureba madoromu yume ni kawarazarikeri
When I awake, with This cruel world my thoughts Occupying, The dream that filled my doze Differed not at all…
Hyōenokami 121
Right (Win)
すみのえのうきにおひたるしをれあしをなみひきたてよかみのめぐみに
suminoe no uki ni oitaru shiore’ashi o nami hikitateyo kami no megumi ni
In Suminoe’s Muddy waters grows, Languishing, a reed: O, waves, lift it upright! To receive the deity’s blessing…
Lord Michichika 122
The poem of the Left appears to have an elegant sequence, saying, ‘This cruel world my thoughts / Occupying’, but the speaker does not appear to be particularly thinking of themselves—they are simply reflecting on the transience of this world and that’s how it is. The poem of the Right begins with ‘In Suminoe’ and then has ‘Muddy waters grows’, linking the particular shore with the content. The Right should win.
nanigoto o akenu kurenu to isoguramu hakanaki yume no yo to wa shirushiru
What is it that makes Dawn and dusk Come so fast? A fleeting dream is This world—that I know so well.
Lord Shigenori 111
Right (Win)
かずならぬみをうきくさとおもへどもなぞよとともにしづむなるらむ
kazu naranu mi o ukikusa to omoedomo nazo yo to tomo ni shizumu naruramu
Not even numbered among folk, so Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed Am I, I feel yet, Why, over such a time Should I sink into the depths?
Lord Morikata 112
The Left’s poem expresses grief over the nature of the mundane world and finds a reason for this in the realisation that all is lost within a fleeting dream. The configuration of the Right poem’s ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is not particularly elegant, yet placing ‘Pitiful am I—a floating duckweed’ first and then following this with ‘Should I sink into the depths?’ is charming, I have to say. The Right should win.
When the Minamoto Minister had visited her, but then lately had not come to call, she caught a faint glimpse of him through a hole in the wall of her chamber, and sent him this.
まどろまぬかべにも人を見つるかなまさしからなん春の夜の夢
madoromanu kabe ni mo Fito wo mituru kana masasikaranan Faru no yo no yume
Unable to sleep, Through my wall him I did glimpse! O, how I wish were true My dream this brief spring night…
