Round Thirty-One
Left
露すがる庭の萩原色付きぬいかなる人の思ひそむらん
| tsuyu sugaru niwa no hagiwara irozukinu ika naru hito no omoisomuran | All clung with dew, The bush clover grove in the grounds Has taken on such hues, that I wonder who it is Might have just fallen into passion’s flames? |
Chikanari
61
Right (Win)
おく露は秋のならひの萩が枝にあまるや雁の涙なるらん
| oku tsuyu wa aki no narai no hagi ga e ni amaru ya kari no namida naruran | Dewdrops falling is Autumn’s custom for The bush clover branches, but Added to them are the goose Tears, perhaps?[1] |
Ie’kiyo
62
The Left’s poem has a person’s feelings being dyed by the bush-clover, but I cannot think why this should be? The Right’s poem seems particularly pleasant. Thus, it wins.
[1] An allusive variation on: Composed on the occasion of a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋の夜のつゆをばつゆとおきながらかりの涙やのべをそむらむ aki no yo no / tsuyu oba tsuyu to / okinagara / kari no namida ya / nobe o somuran ‘On Autumn nights / The dew as dewdrops / Falls, but, / Perhaps goose tears / Stain the fields?’ Mibu no Tadamine (KKS V: 258)
Round Thirty
Left (Tie)
玉をぬく真野の糸萩かたよりにおのれみだるる秋の夕暮
| tama o nuku mano no itohagi katayori ni onore midaruru aki no yūgure | Strung with gems The bush-clover twigs at Mano All align together In their own tangles On an autumn evening. |
Shō
59
Right
待ちわたる時や来ぬらん白露の玉しく庭の秋はぎの花
| machiwataru toki ya konuran shiratsuyu no tama shiku niwa no akihagi no hana | Has that long-awaited Time arrived, perhaps? When silver dewdrop Pearls will spread o’er the grounds From the autumn bush clover blooms… |
Nagatsuna
60
The poems of Left and Right have different diction, but the same configuration.
Round Twenty-Nine
Left (Win)
宮城のの木下風や過ぎぬらん露におくるる秋萩の花
| miyagino no ko no shitakaze ya suginuran tsuyu ni okururu akihagi no hana | On Miyagi Plain has The breeze beneath the trees Passed by? For Missing the dewfall are The autumn bush clover blooms… |
Takasuke
57
Right
物おもふやどの物とてながむれば露にをれふす庭の萩原
| mono’omou yado no mono tote nagamureba tsuyu ni orefusu niwa no hagiwara | Sunk in gloomy thought is The one who dwells here, I feel, When I gaze upon, Broken and tangled among the dewdrops, The bush clover grove in the grounds… |
Shimotsuke
58
The Left poem’s ‘Missing the dewfall are the autumn bush clover’ sounds pleasant. The Right poem has no faults either, yet the Left should win.
Round Three
Left (T – Win)
時雨には色ならぬ身の袖笠もぬるればかをる物にぞ有りける
| shigure ni wa iro naranu mi no sodegasa mo nurureba kaoru mono ni zo arikeru | When, amidst a shower My colourless Umbrella of sleeves Is soaked, something scented Does it become! |
Lady Shōshō
5
Right (M – Win)
冬くれば散りしく庭のならの葉に時雨音なふみ山べのさと
| fuyu kureba chirishiku niwa no nara no ha ni shigure oto nau miyamabe no sato | When the winter comes Scattered and spread across the grounds Are oak leaves, Sounding among the showers On this deep mountain estate… |
Lord Masakane
6
Toshiyori states: the first poem has ‘my colourless’—does this mean that the garment the poet is wearing is white? Or that the speaker is lacking in passion? If the garment is white, then it’s difficult to say that it changes colours, while if one is lacking in passion, it’s also difficult to see the connection with an umbrella of sleeves being scented. In general, though, the poem’s style is lacking in fault. The second poem appears to have replicated all the faults of an earlier work. While one can certainly say ‘Oak leaves / Scattered and spread’, saying ‘Scattered and spread / Oak leaves’ gives one the feeling that something is out of sequence. This is a bit unreasonable, but because it’s difficult to avoid the faults of its earlier model, I still feel it should lose.
Mototoshi states: one really wants to know what sort of lack there is. The poem says ‘soaked, something scented’, but doesn’t reference an earlier work which, for example, mentions plum blossom. Still, I feel that ‘Sounding among the showers / On this deep mountain’ is conspicuously good.
