Round Five

Left (T – Tie)

時雨には菅の小笠も水もりて遠の旅人ぬれやしぬらん

shigure ni wa suga no ogasa mo mizu morite ochi no tabibito nure ya shinuran

In such a shower A little hat of woven sedge, too, Drips with water; A distant traveller Is drenched, no doubt…

Lady Kazusa
9

Right (M – Win)

霜さえて枯行くをのの岡べなるならの朽葉にしぐれ降るなり

shimo saete kareyuku ono no okabe naru nara no kuchiba ni shigure furu nari

Chill the frost upon The sere meadows on The hillside where Upon the withered oak leaves A shower is falling.

Lord Mototoshi
10

Toshiyori states: In the first poem, ‘drips with water’ is vague. In the second poem, ‘hillside where’ lacks smoothness. What are we to make of ‘withered oak leaves’? If leaves have withered away, then they wouldn’t make any sound, would they. Is this even possible?

Mototoshi states: the diction of ‘In such a shower / A little umbrella of woven sedge, too, / Drips with water’ is something which lacks any prior precedent. ‘Dripping with water’ give the impression of a painted pot with a crack in it, so what kind of shower can this be? It would be more normal to refer to having to shelter beneath one’s sleeves. While it is lacking in any superlative features, I feel that the sound of a shower on withered oak leaves is somewhat more commonplace.