Left (Tie)
一夜のみ宿かる人の契とて露結び置く草枕かな
hitoyo nomi
yado karu hito no
chigiri tote
tsuyu musubioku
kusamakura kana | For just a single night
Will he rent my lodging and
Make a brief bond of love;
Dewdrops tangled with
My grassy pillow… |
A Servant Girl
1163
Right
結びけん契もつらし草枕待つ夕暮も宿を頼みて
musubiken
chigiri mo tsurashi
kusamakura
matsu yūgure mo
yado o tanomite | Tangled
Brief bonds are chill;
With a grassy pillow
She awaits the evening and
A request for lodging. |
Takanobu
1164
Left and Right state together: both poems have only a faint conception of entertainers.
In judgement: both Left and Right have a ‘grassy pillow’ (kusamakura) and a faint conception of entertainers, as the Gentlemen have already stated. They seem to me to somehow resemble the poem by the Left in Round Nine. The Left’s ‘dewfall drops tangled’ (tsuyu musubioku) and the Right’s ‘brief bonds are chill’ (chigiri mo tsurashi) are both elegant. Once again, I make this a tie.
Left
うかれめの浮かれて歩く旅やかた住みつきがたき恋もする哉
ukareme no
ukarete ariku
tabiyakata
sumitsukigataki
koi mo suru kana | Player girls do
Drift around
The inn-houses;
As unsettled
Is the love they make… |
Lord Suetsune
1157
Right (Win)
東路やゆききの人にうちとけて宿かりそめの契すらしも
azumaji ya
yukiki no hito ni
uchitokete
yado karisome no
chigiri sura shimo | Along the Eastern Roads
Folk go back and forth, and
To relieve them, the girls
Find brief lodging and even make brief
Vows of love… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1158
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no matters we can criticize. The Left state: the conception of Love in the Right’s poem is vague.
In judgement: The Left’s poem seem certainly to capture the conceptions of both Love and player-girls. ‘Even’ (sura shimo) in the Right’s final section, sounds rather abrupt and portentous, but the initial section is certainly elegant. Thus, the Right should win.
Falling Leaves
紅葉ばの散る木のもとに宿借りて旅寝の床に錦をぞ敷く
momijiba no
chiru ko no moto ni
yado karite
tabine no toko ni
nishiki o zo shiku |
Scarlet leaves
Fall at the tree’s foot where
I find my lodging;
My traveller’s bed is
Scattered all with brocade! |
Daishin
'Simply moving and elegant'