Interrupted by a single night.
いもせ山なかにおひたるたまざさの一よのへだてさもぞ露けき
| imose yama naka ni oitaru tamazasa no hito yo no hedate samo zo tsuyukeki | Upon Imose Mountain Grows Dwarf bamboo, begemmed, With all but a single joint Completely drenched with dew. |
Fujiwara no Nobuzane
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.