Love on Meeting
Left
ゆめのごとなどかよるのみきみをみんくるるまつまもさだめなきよを
| yume no goto nadoka yoru nomi kimi o min kururu matsu ma mo sadame naki yo o | In every dream Why at night, alone Might I see you? Time spent pining for the dark Is so uncertain… |
23[i]
Right (Win)
あひみてもなほなぐさまぬこころかないくちよねてかこひはさむらむ
| ai mite mo nao nagusamanu kokoro kana iku chiyo nete ka koi wa samuramu | Seeing and meeting you Has not eased My heart! How many thousand nights of sleep Might restore my love to what it was? |
24
[i] An almost identical poem is included in Saigū nyōgo kishi joō uta’awase (23). The same poem is also included in Shūishū (XII: 734), attributed to Tadami, with the headnote ‘From a poetry match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’, and also in Shūishō (VII: 264) as an anonymous poem with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor’.
Left
こひわぶるひとにあふよのしののめにはわかるといかでみぬよしもがな
| koi waburu hito ni au yo no shinonome ni wa wakaru to ikade minu yoshi mogana | Suffering with love’s fire, After a night with her At the edge of dawn Parting—somehow ‘Twould have been better to have seen her not! |
38
Right
なげきつつおもひにあかぬあかつきはこころもゆかぬわかれをぞする
| nagekitsutsu omoi ni akanu akatsuki wa kokoro mo yukanu wakare o zo suru | Ever grieving, and With my passion’s fire unslaked, At dawn, My heart unsatisfied With our parting! |
39
Round Eighteen
Left
蘭きてみる人もなき宿に恋すてふ名のいかで立ちけん
| fujibakama kitemiru hito mo naki yado ni koisu chō na no ikade tachiken | My violet asters To come to see no one is There at my house, so Why has a rumour of love Arisen here? |
Chikafusa
35
Right
わが恋ふる人もきてみぬ蘭何とてつゆの染めておくらん
| wa ga kouru hito mo kiteminu fujibakama nani tote tsuyu no somete’okuran | I love him, yet That man has not come to see you O, asters, so Why does the dewfall Dye you in its falling? |
The Head’s Daughter
36
The Left’s overall impression is not bad, but I am curious about why a rumour of love should darken the door of a house, if it’s one where ‘no one comes to see’. Then, the Right uses ‘Why does the dewfall / Dye you in its falling?’—this seems like an excessive use of diction and the sequencing doesn’t sound smooth, so these seem of about the same standard.
Left
きみをわれおきてしゆけばあさつゆのきえかへりてもあはむとぞおもふ
| kimi o ware okiteshi yukeba asatsuyu no kiekaerite mo awamu to zo omou | With you, my love, I Having risen and departed With the morning dew, Vanishing away, only To meet once more, I feel. |
28
Right
あさぼらけあかぬわかれをわびつつもゆふぐれをこそなぐさめにすれ
| asaborake akanu wakare o wabitsutsu mo yūgure o koso nagusame ni sure | At the pale edge of dawn, Unsatisfied, parting Leaves me ever desolate— The evening is sure to be My consolation! |
29
Left
うちさめてこひしきひとをおもふよはわがたましひもゆきてつげなん
| uchisamete koishiki hito o omou yo wa wa ga tamashii mo yukite tsugenan | Awaking when My darling girl Filled my thoughts all night, Even my soul Has gone to let her know! |
15
Right
よはにおきてこひぞわびぬるはるのよはゆめにみえつるひとのなければ
| yowa ni okite koi zo wabinuru haru no yo wa yume ni mietsuru hito no nakereba | Arising at midnight, and Suffering love’s fire On a night in spring, For in my dreams I saw My girl, though she’s not here now… |
16
Love
Left
淡く濃く染めはじめたるもみぢ葉になどわが恋をおもひそむらむ
| usuku koku somehajimetaru momijiba ni nado wa ga koi o omoisomuramu | Both lightly and deeply Have begun to colour The scarlet leaves, so Why should my love Seem to occupy my thought so? |
25
Right
白露のおきてわかれし朝より消えかへりても恋ひわたるかな
| shiratsuyu no okite wakareshi ashita yori kiekaeritemo koiwataru kana | Silver dewdrops Fell as we parted— With the morning They may vanish, yet My love for you continues on! |
26
