Left (Win)
笛竹の聲のかぎりをつくしても猶憂きふしやよゝに殘らん
fuetake no
koe no kagiri o
tsukushitemo
nao ukifushi ya
yoyo ni nokoruran |
My bamboo flute’s
Voice beyond its limits
Might I push, and yet
Still, would this sorrow
Remain – even to the world to come? |
A Servant Girl
1091
Right
わが戀はまだ吹き馴れぬ横笛の音に立つれども逢かたもなし
wa ga koi wa
mada fukinarenu
yokobue no
ne ni tatsuredomo
au kata mo nashi |
My love: like
An unpractised
Set of pipes
Gives out discordant sounds, yet
No chance is there to meet… |
Lord Takanobu
1092
Left and Right together state: no faults.
In judgement: the Right’s pipes would seem to sound very youthful, indeed! As for the Left, although I feel I have heard such a conception before, because for the life of me I cannot recall where, the style seems tasteful. The Left wins.
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.
Left (Tie)
うらやましわがりこちくと笛の音を頼むる中の人は聞くらん
urayamashi
wagari kochiku to
fue no ne o
tanomuru naka no
hito wa kikuran |
O, how I envious I am!
To my house comes, a bamboo
Flute’s strains – from
A trustworthy, loving
Man, it sounds… |
Lord Suetsune
1087
Right
より竹の君によりけんことぞ憂き一夜のふしに音のみ泣かれて
yoritake no
kimi ni yoriken
koto zo uki
hitoyo no fushi ni
ne nomi nakarete |
Bamboo flotsam –
That you should draw near
Is cruel, indeed, for
A single night together, brings
Only the sound of weeping… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1088
‘Flotsam of bamboo’ (yoritake) and ‘comes, a bamboo’ (kochiku) are equally unsatisfying.
In judgement: ‘Flotsam of bamboo’ and ‘comes, a bamboo’ are of equal quality.
Left (Win)
さらぬだに身にしむ夜はの笛の音を憂き人ゆへに聞き明かしつる
saranu dani
mi ni shimu yowa no
fue no ne o
ukibito yue ni
kiki akashitsuru |
Even were I not so in love,
On a night that chills the soul
The strains of a flute
For that cruel one
Drift to me ‘til the dawn… |
Lord Kanemune
1085
Right
我ゆへに思はぬ夜はの笛の音も藻に棲む虫と袖は濡れけり
ware yue ni
omowanu yowa no
fue no ne mo
mo ni sumu mushi to
sode wa nurekeri |
For my sake
I did not think this night
The flute’s strains –
A shrimp among the seaweed –
Soak the sleeves. |
Jakuren
1086
The Right state: the Left’s poem is overly lacking in thought. The Left state: no faults.
In judgement: the Left has ‘for that cruel one’ (ukibito yue ni) – does this mean perhaps that one is unable to sleep as a result of someone’s cruelty? The reference to ‘a shrimp among the seaweed’ (mo ni sumu mushi) in the Right’s latter section feels overly abrupt and sounds lacking in connection to anything else in the poem. ‘That cruel one’ sounds somewhat insufficient, but it certainly has no faults. Thus, the Left wins.
Left (Tie)
よそにのみ隣の笛を聞き来しに我身の上に音こそ絶えせね
yoso ni nomi
tonari no fue o
kikikoshi ni
wa ga mi no ue ni
ne koso taesene |
Simply a stranger to me is
The flute from next door
Drifting to my ear, but
Upon me fall
Nothing but endless cries. |
Lord Ari’ie
1083
Right
夜もすがらよそに聞きつる笛の音の片敷く袖に移りぬる哉
yomosugara
yoso ni kikitsuru
fue no ne no
katashiku sode ni
utsurinuru kana |
All through the night
I heard a strange
Flute’s strains;
On a single spread sleeve
Have they come to rest… |
Nobusada
1084
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of the sound of a flute coming to rest on sleeves?
In judgement: both poems are about the ‘sounds of a flute’, with the Left having them ‘upon me fall’ (wa ga mi no ue ni) endlessly, and the Right resting ‘on a single spread sleeve’ (katashiku sode ni). Neither has a conception of love which is greater or lesser than the other. I must make this round a tie.
Left
独寝を今は何にかになぐさめん隣の笛も吹やみぬなり
hitorine o
ima wa nani ni ka
nagusamen
tonari no fue mo
fukiyaminu nari |
Sleeping solo,
Now, how can I
Console myself?
For the flute next door
Has ceased to play… |
Kenshō
1081
Right (Win)
よなよなは枕になれし笛竹のいかなる床にふしかはるらん
yonayona wa
makura ni nareshi
fuetake no
ikanaru toko ni
fushi kawaruran |
Night after night
By my pillow used to be
A flute, but
What bed is it that
He has gone to lie in now? |
Ietaka
1082
The Right state: the Left’s poem is mundane. The Left state: what does it mean that a flute is used to lying by a pillow?
In judgement: the Left’s poem has ‘for the flute next door has ceased to play’ (tonari no fue mo fukiyaminu nari), but I wonder if this should not be ‘for the flute next door will cease to play’ (tonari no fue mo fukiyamu). In the rhapsody which Xiang Xu wrote on thinking of times long gone, he says this about a neighbour playing an old flute, ‘Next door, there is a man who plays the flute. The sound emerges, echoing clear,’ without any suggestion that he has stopped playing, so I wonder how appropriate it is in this poem to say that the playing has stopped. The diction of the Right’s poem, ‘by my pillow use to be’ (makura ni nareshi) seems fine. Thus, the Right wins.
'Simply moving and elegant'