A further poem, from the same gentleman.
つらさには思ひ絶えなんとおもへどもかなはぬ物はなみだなりけり
| tsurasa ni wa omoi’oenan to omoedomo kanawanu mono wa namida narikeri | Your cruelty You might wish to cease, I thought, yet Entirely matchless are My tears. |
The Consultant
11
In reply.
うけひかぬあまの小船のつなで縄たゆとて何か苦しかるらん
| ukehikanu ama no obune no tsunade nawa tayu tote nanika kurushikaruran | You’ll not draw in A fisher-girl’s skiff with A rope that’s Snapped, I think, and what Might be painful about that? |
Higo, from the Palace
12
ながれ出づるしづくに袖は朽ちはてておそふる方もなきぞかなしき
| nagare’izuru shizuku ni sode wa kuchihatete osouru kata mo naki zo kanashiki | Flowing out These droplets my sleeves Have completely rotted, and That I have no way to halt them Makes me sad, indeed. |
The Major Controller of the Left
7
おく網のうけもひかれぬものゆゑに何かはあまの袖のくつらん
| oku tsuna no uke mo hikarenu mono yue ni nani ka wa ama no sode no kutsuran | Cast out, your line’s Floats, she’ll not draw in, So Why would a fisher-girl Have rotten sleeves, I wonder? |
Yurika, from the Hall of the Junior Consort
8
Left (Win)
潮風の吹こす海人の苫ひさし下に思ひのくゆる頃かな
| shiokaze no fukikosu ama no toma hisashi shita ni omoi no kuyuru koro kana | The tidewinds Blow across the fisher girl’s Rush-woven roof; Below, in fires of passion Does she smoulder… |
A Servant Girl
1165
Right
みさごゐる磯良が崎にあさりする海士もみるめを猶求めけり
| misago iru isora ga saki ni asarisuru ama mo mirume o nao motomekeri | Ospreys hunt Along the strand at Isora; Digging for clams, The fisherman, a seaweed-strewn chance at love Is seeking still… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1166
Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘blow across the fisher girl’s rush-woven roof’ (fukikosu ama no toma hisashi) is certainly elegant. The Right’s ‘ospreys hunt along the strand at Isora’ (misago iru isora ga saki) seems a kind of overblown style, yet the Left seems particularly pleasant in form. I make it the winner.