Left (Win).
都にて馴れにし物をひとり寢の片敷く袖は何かさびしき
miyako nite
narenishi mono o
hitori ne no
katashiku sode wa
nani ka sabishiki
In the capital
I grew accustomed to it, but
Sleeping alone
With only a single sleeve spread out
Is somehow sad…
Lord Suetsune
891
Right.
妹だにも待つとし聞かば小余綾のいそぐ舟路も嬉しからまし
imo dani mo
matsu to shi kikaba
koyurugi no
isogu funaji mo
ureshikaramashi
That girl of yours
Awaits you – were I to hear that,
From Koyurugi’s
Rocky shore in haste I’d go, even
The sea-lanes filled with joy!
The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office .
892
The Right state: the Left’s poem lacks the essence of love on a journey, and even the sense of sorrow seems insufficient. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no particular faults.
In judgement: what do the Right mean by saying the Left ‘lack the essence of love on a journey’? And is it really right that ‘is somehow sad’ (nani ka sabishiki) is insufficient? The poem is composed to give an impression of someone fooling themselves. The Right’s ‘Koyurugi’ is certainly not an expression which I have not come across. However, the Left should win.
Topic unknown.
思ひかね妹狩り行けば冬の夜の河風さむみ千鳥鳴くなり
omoFikane
imogari yukeba
Fuyu no yo no
kaFa kaze samumi
tidori nakunari Unable to bear this love I set out for my darling, On a winter’s night, when The chill wind from off the river Carries the plovers’ cries.
Tsurayuki
妹と我が同じ木の根の鳥ならば逢はぬ嘆きになきすゑてまし
imo to wa ga
onaji ko no ne no
tori naraba
awanu nageki ni
nakisuetemashi
Were my love and I
On the same tree root
Birds to be,
This sorrow at not meeting
We could sing out and away…
Minamoto no Yorimasa
源頼政
Three Envoys.
あをによし奈良にある妹が高々に待つらむ心しかにはあらじか
awoniyosi
nara ni naru imo ga
takataka ni
maturamu kokoro
sika ni arazi ka
As good blue-black clay,
Nara is where your darling
Eagerly
Awaits you; her heart
Will not always be so, will it?
人言は夏野の草の繁くとも妹と我れとし携はり寝ば
pitogoto pa
natu no nogusa no
sigekutomo
imo to are to si
tadusaparineba
Folk’s gossip is as
Summer meadow grasses:
Ever flourishing, yet
If you, my love and I
Just sleep hand-in-hand…
Composed in the conception of travel, when he presented a hundred poem sequence.
東路の野島が埼の浜風に我が紐ゆひし妹がかほのみ面影に見ゆ
azumadi no
nozima ga saki no
Famakaze ni
wa ga Fimo yuFisi
imo ga kaFo nomi
omokage ni miyu
On Eastern roads
At Nojima Point
In the breeze from off the beach:
My belt was tied
By my darling, her face,
A vision, appears before me…
Master of the Left Capital Office, Akisuke
左京大夫顕輔
Left.
拂ひつる夜床は咎もなき物を來ぬ人ゆへにうとく成ぬる
haraitsuru
yodoko wa toga mo
naki mono o
konu hito yue ni
utoku narinuru
I swept clean
My bed tonight, and faults
Has it none, but
Because he has failed to come
I hate it now!
Kenshō .
829
Right.
戀かぬる我をばをきて誰にさは枕かはして妹が寢ぬらん
koi kanuru
ware o ba okite
tare ni sa wa
makura kawashite
imo ga nenuran
Unable to bear this love
Am I, abandoned;
With whom, I wonder,
Does she swap pillows,
When my darling sleeps now?
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office .
830
The Right state: we wonder about the use of ‘faults’ (toga ). The Left state: this style of poem is commonplace.
In judgement: both Left and Right are the same level, and there is no difference between them.
天霧の夕ゐる雲にとぢられて妹まどはせる何おふ背の山
amagiri no
yuFu wiru kumo ni
todirarete
imo madoFaseru
nani oFu se no yama
Heaven-hazing
Clouds at the fall of evening
Do shut her in:
My darling, confused, wonders
What conceals Se-no-yama!
Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼
On fresh growth by creepers: meeting at a meagre hut.
いも植て門は葎のわか葉哉
imo uete
kado wa mugura no
wakaba kana
Potatoes planted, and
By the door the creepers’
Leaves are everywhere.
(1688)
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