The Empress Dowager’s reply:
みづのえのかたみとおもへどうぐひすの花のくしげはあけてだにみず
| midu no e no katami to omoFedo uguFisu no Fana no kusige Fa akete dani mizu | By the waters’ edge A keepsake, I thought this was, yet The warbler’s Comb box of blossom on Opening, I see not within… |
The Shichijō Empress
A poem from the Poetry Contest held at the Palace of Former Emperor Uda.
さくら花ちりぬるかぜのなごりには水なき空に浪ぞたちける
| sakurabana tirinuru kaze no nagori ni Fa midu naki sora ni nami zo tatikeru | Cherry blossoms Scattered, the wind Leaves a keepsake In the waterless sky of A wave of broken petals. |
Tsurayuki
A poem from a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period.
梅が香を袖にうつしてとどめてば春は過ぐとも形見ならまし
| mume ga ka wo sode ni utusite todometeba Faru Fa sugutomo katami naramasi | If only the plums’ scent Would shift to my sleeves and Stay there, then Even when spring is past and gone A keepsake would it be… |
Anonymous
In return.
何にかは袖の濡るらん白浪の名残有りげも見えぬ心を
| nani ni ka Fa sode no nururan siranami no nagori arige mo mienu kokoro wo |
For what Should my sleeves seem so wet? The whitecaps Must have left a keepsake Unseen, in my heart… |
Taiyu
大輔
Blankets
あれはてて空しき床のかた見にはふるきふすまのむつましきかな
| arehatete munashiki toko no katami ni wa furuki fusuma no mutsumashiki kana | From a disheveled Meagre bed For a keepsake I have A threadbare blanket; How close we are! |
Higo, from the Residence of the Kyōgoku Regent
京極関白家肥後
池の辺の小槻の下の小竹な刈りそねそれをだに君が形見に見つつ偲はむ
| ike no pe no wotuki no sita no sino na kari so ne sore wo dani kimi ga katami ni mitutu sinopamu |
Beside the pond, Beneath the young zelkova tree, Reap not the arrow bamboo! For that, alone, Is my keepsake of you, and I would gaze on it and remember what is gone… |
Hitomaro kashū
人麻呂歌集
Lingering Heat (残暑)
かたみにはあつさばかりを残しおきて秋にもあはむ夏はいぬめり
| katami ni wa atsusa bakari o nokoshiokite aki ni mo awamu natsu wa inumeri | For a keepsake Just the heat Has been left behind; Might I meet with autumn, As summer seems to leave… |
Kanemasa
源兼昌
Left (Win).
戀詫びて我と眺めし夕暮も馴るれば人の形見がほなる
| koiwabite ware to nagameshi yūgure mo narureba hito no katamigao naru |
Suffering with love I have gazed Upon the evening dark, So used to it that it Has become your keepsake! |
Lord Sada’ie.
827
Right.
明ぼののあはればかりは忍ぶれど今日をば出でず春の夕暮
| akebono no aware bakari wa shinoburedo kyō oba idezu haru no yūgure |
The dawn’s Sadness, I do just Bear, but, oh, Today, it will never come – The evening in springtime! |
Nobusada.
828
The Right state: when one understands the purport of the Left’s poem, it comes as a revelation. The Left state: in the Right’s poem we are unable to grasp the sense of ‘it will never come’ (idezu). In addition, the conception of Love seems lacking.
In judgement: both poems ‘evenings’ are support by little diction, yet the conception of Love is profound, indeed, such that my own shallow knowledge finds it difficult to grasp. However, the Right’s ‘Today, it will never come’ (kyō oba idezu) certainly does seem difficult to comprehend. I would have to say that the Left’s ‘So used to it that it’ (narureba hito no) is marginally superior.
[One of] twenty-four poems sent by Lady Kasa to Lord Ōtomo no Yakamochi.
わが形見見つつ偲はせあらたまの年の緒長くわれも思はむ
| wa ga katami mitutu sinopase aratama no tosi no wo nagaku ware mo omopamu |
On a keepsake of me Gaze and think of me; Fresh-jewelled as The years’ long thread Will my thoughts follow you. |
Left.
何か我今朝名残を歎かまし帰る程なく暮るる日ならば
| nani ka ware kesa nagori o nagekamashi kaenu hodo naku kururu hi naraba |
Why should I This morning for my keepsake Have only grief? If but a while from leaving The sun sets once again… |
711
Right (Win).
しばしなる今朝の別に見つる哉心がはりの行末の夢
| shibashinaru kesa no wakare ni mitsuru kana kokoro gawari no yukusue no yume |
For just a while At this morning’s parting Did I see it: Your change of heart In a prescient dream… |
712
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem is entirely in the conception of a morning after poem. This does not match the conception of this topic. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the sense of the Right’s poem is difficult to grasp. The use of ‘dream’ (yume) does not fit with the remainder of the poem’s contents.
Shunzei’s judgement: in terms of the Left’s poem, the morning after is also a parting. What fault can be found in this? However, the Right’s ‘change of heart in a prescient dream’ sounds charming. Thus, the Right wins.