hagi ga hana wakeyuku hodo wa furusato e kaeranu hito mo nishiki o zo kiru
When through the bush-clover blooms He forges his way, To his ancient home Never to return—that man, too, Wears a fine brocade!
Minamoto no Arifusa, Minor Captain in the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division
13
Right
声たてて鳴くむしよりも女郎花いはぬ色こそ身にはしみけれ
koe tatete naku mushi yori mo ominaeshi iwanu iro koso mi ni wa shimikere
They lift their songs in Plaintive cries, but far more than the insects ‘Tis the maidenflower’s Wordless hue that truly Pierce my soul!
Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs Sadanaga 14
The Left is well-composed, but what is the Right’s ‘wordless hue’? Are we supposed to imagine that the expression means ‘silent yellow’? This is difficult to grasp, isn’t it. Whatever way you look at it, the Left seems to win.
He had paid a visit to the house of an acquaintance where there was a plum tree. ‘When it blooms, I will certainly invite you to come,’ he was told, but when no letter arrived…
梅花今は盛りになりぬらんたのめし人のをとづれもせぬ
mume no Fana ima Fa sakarini narinuran tanomesi Fito no wotodure mo senu
The plum blossom Is now profusely Blooming, it seems, but From the man I trusted Comes no note, at all…
The Suzakuin Prince and Minister for War [Atsukata/Atsumoto]
