Love and blinds.
つのくにのこやのまろやの蘆すだれまどほに成りぬ行きあはずして
| tsu no kuni no koya no maroya no ashisudare madō ni narinu yukiawazushite | In the land of Tsu, At Koya is a crude hut, Hung with reed-blinds, Slats lost and desolate, Never meeting… |
545

Round Twenty-Five
Left
うちしぐれものさびしかるあしのやのこやのねざめにみやここひしも
| uchishigure mono sabishikaru ashi no ya no koya no nezame ni miyako koishi mo | A slight shower is All the more lonely In a reed-roofed Hut in Koya, starting awake and Longing for the capital more… |
Lord Sanesada
99
Right
あはれにもよはにすぐなるしぐれかななれもやたびのそらにいでつる
| aware ni mo yowa ni sugu naru shigure kana nare mo ya tabi no sora ni idetsuru | How sad is At midnight a passing Shower! Have you, too, on a journey Into the skies departed? |
Lord Toshinari
100
The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning with ‘All the more lonely’ and concluding with ‘Longing for the capital more’, has already penetrated the boundaries of mystery and depth. It sounds particularly pleasant. The poem of the Right is the judge’s own meagre work. Thus, in accordance with precedent I shall refrain from rendering a judgement.




Round Eighteen
Left (Tie)
なにはがたあしのまろやのたびねにはしぐれはのきのしづくにぞしる
| naniwagata ashi no maroya no tabine ni wa shigure wa noki no shizuku ni zo shiru | In Naniwa’s tidelands, In a reed-roofed hut, Dozing on my travels— A shower by the eaves Dripping droplets is revealed! |
Lord Tsunemori
85
Right
つのくにのこやのたびねにしぐれしてなにかはもらむあしのやへぶき
| tsu no kuni no koya no tabine ni shigureshite nani ka wa moramu ashi no yaebuki | In the land of Tsu In Koya, in a hut dozing on my travels During a shower— Will anything drip through My roof’s eightfold thatch? |
Lord Yorisuke
86
Both Left and Right are set in a traveller’s lodge in Sesshū province, but the Left appears to lack configuration and conception, it has long been said that using four of the character in a poem in a poetry match is a fault, but it does not sound to me as if the four uses of no here are a particular problem. With that being said, starting with ‘dozing on my travels’ [tabine ni wa]and then having ‘a shower by the eaves’ [shigure ni wa] uses wa twice and this seems to sound a bit discordant. The Right, while it refers to the same sort of shower from a cloudless sky, starts with ‘during a shower’ and follows this with ‘will anything drip through?’, which seems to sound a bit contradictory. I can’t help but feel it would have been better had it been ‘even though it showers’ and then had ‘will anything’. However, both poems are about reed roofed huts during a shower and it really is difficult to distinguish between them. Thus, I make this a tie.


Round Six
Left (Tie)
たびねするこやのしのやのひまをなみもらぬしぐれにぬるるそでかな
| tabinesuru koya no shinoya no hima o nami moranu shigure ni nururu sode kana | Dozing on my journey In Koya, beneath dwarf-bamboo thatch, No gaps has it, so No drips fall from the showers, yet Still my sleeves are soaked! |
Kunisuke
61
Right
しぐれつつものぞかなしきわすれぐさまくらにむすぶきしのたびねは
| shiguretsutsu mono zo kanashiki wasuregusa makura ni musubu kishi no tabine wa | In the ever-falling showers, I am sad, indeed, so Of forgetful day-lily My pillow will I weave, Napping on my travels by the coast… |
Horikawa
62
The Left’s poem is not bad in configuration and diction, but I would have preferred it had it said ‘no drips fall from the showers, too, yet’. As for the Right, saying that one is napping on one’s travels on the coast at Sumiyoshi, having woven a pillow from forgetful day-lilies does, indeed, sound evocative, but it would have been more so had there been a reason for the reference to day-lilies earlier in the poem. These tie, don’t they.


Left (Tie).
津の國のこやのわたりのながめには遊ぶ糸さへひまなかりけり
| tsu no kuni no koya no watari no nagame ni wa asobu ito sae hima nakarikeri |
In the land of Tsu, When out from Koya I turn my gaze, Even the wavering hazes Seem to take no rest. |
97
Right (Tie).
春來ればなびく柳のともがほに空にまがふや遊ぶいとゆふ
| haru kureba nabiku yanagi no tomogao ni sora ni magau ya asobu ito yū |
When the spring is come, Fluttering willow fronds’ Like, In the skies can be perceived: Wavering hazes. |
98
The Right say that the Left’s poem, ‘suggests heat haze only occurs at Koya in Tsu,’ while the Left say, ‘what are we to make of phrasing such as “like” (tomogao ni)?’, obliquely suggesting that it’s inappropriate poetic diction.
Shunzei says simply that, ‘the purport of both sides’ comments about both poems is apposite,’ and makes the round a tie.
Topic unknown.
津國のこやとも人をいふべきに隙こそなけれ蘆の八重葺
| tu no kuni no koya to mo Fito wo iFubeki ni Fima koso nakere asi no yaFebuki |
‘In the Land of Tsu Is Koya-come on!’ Is what folk Should say, I think, yet There’s not a moment free between The many layers of reed-thatch. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部