Left (Win)
笛竹の聲のかぎりをつくしても猶憂きふしやよゝに殘らん
fuetake no
koe no kagiri o
tsukushitemo
nao ukifushi ya
yoyo ni nokoruran |
My bamboo flute’s
Voice beyond its limits
Might I push, and yet
Still, would this sorrow
Remain – even to the world to come? |
A Servant Girl
1091
Right
わが戀はまだ吹き馴れぬ横笛の音に立つれども逢かたもなし
wa ga koi wa
mada fukinarenu
yokobue no
ne ni tatsuredomo
au kata mo nashi |
My love: like
An unpractised
Set of pipes
Gives out discordant sounds, yet
No chance is there to meet… |
Lord Takanobu
1092
Left and Right together state: no faults.
In judgement: the Right’s pipes would seem to sound very youthful, indeed! As for the Left, although I feel I have heard such a conception before, because for the life of me I cannot recall where, the style seems tasteful. The Left wins.
Left
笛竹のただ人ふしを契とてよよの恨を残せとや思ふ
fuetake no
tada hitofushi o
chigiri tote
yoyo no urami o
nokose to ya omou |
A bamboo flute has
But a single joint – and for but one night
Did we join together, so
Night after night of despair
Did you think to leave behind? |
Lord Sada’ie
1089
Right (Win)
はるばると浪路分来る笛竹をわが恋妻と思はましかば
harubaru to
namiji wakekuru
fuetake o
wa ga koizuma to
omowamashikaba |
Along the distant
Sea-lanes, forging, came
A bamboo flute:
My own true love –
If only I could think it that! |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1090
The Right state: the Left’s poem lacks any faults to mention. The Left state: the Right’s poem has not faults to point out.
In judgement: ‘night after night of despair’ (yoyo no urami o) in the Left’s poem sounds profound, but in actual fact is quite prosaic. In the Right’s poem, ‘sea-lanes, forging, came a bamboo flute’ (namiji wakekuru takefue o) has, I think, the contemporary conception of ‘it has come forging through many waves’. It seems evocative. Thus, the Right must win.
'Simply moving and elegant'