Left (Tie)
をしとおもふ心ぞふかき天の河ながれて秋のとまるなるらん
| oshi to omou kokoro zo fukaki ama no kawa nagarete aki no tomaru naruran | Feelings of regret Lie deep upon my heart; The River of Heaven’s Flow autumn Does seem to halt. |
13
Right
いづくへかあきはゆくらんつのくにのながらへゆくときかばたのまん
| izuku e ka aki wa yukuran tsu no kuni no nagara e yuku to kikaba tanoman | Where might it be that Autumn does go? To the land of Tsu, To Nagara it goes— If you hear that, then put your trust in it! |
14
Left
つのくにのながらへゆかばわすれなくいまもみまくのほりえなるらむ
| tsu no kuni no nagara e yukaba wasurenaku ima mo mimaku no horie naruramu | If, into the land of Tsu To Nagara I go, I’ll forget you not, and Now to see you More is what I want! |
37
Right (Win)
ひさかたのくもゐはるかにありしよりそらにこころのなりにしものを
| hisakata no kumoi haruka ni arishi yori sora ni kokoro no narinishi mono o | The eternal Clouds distant Ever were—so In the skies, my heart With them did dwell. |
38
Left.
われが身や長柄の橋の橋柱恋に朽ちなん名をば残して
| ware ga mi ya nagara no hashi no hashibashira koi ni kuchinan na o ba nokoshite |
Is my body as The broken bridge at Nagara’s Bridge pillars? Eaten away by love Is all they’ll say when I am gone… |
Lord Kanemune
1015
Right (Win).
崩れゆく板田の橋もさもあらばあれ我を恋ふべき妹ならばこそ
| kuzureyuku itada no hashi mo sa mo araba are ware o koubeki imo naraba koso |
Collapsing is The bridge at Itada: Should that be, then Love for me from My darling will do the same! |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress Household Office
1016
The Right state: clichéd from beginning to end. The Left state: the style of the Right’s poem is unattractive.
In judgement: the second and third lines are certainly old-fashioned. I also cannot call the poem tasteful, because the initial line of it is unattractive. The style of the Right’s poem is not particularly elegant, but the Left is old-fashioned, so the Right wins.
Left.
かくこそは長柄の橋も絶えしかど柱ばかりは名殘やはなき
| kaku koso wa nagara no hashi mo taeshikado hashira bakari wa nagori ya wa naki |
And so it is that The bridge at Nagara Has ceased to be, yet Are there not even pillars In remembrance of what’s gone? |
Lord Ari’ie
1013
Right (Win).
今も猶長柄の橋は作りてんつれなき戀は跡だにもなし
| ima mo nao nagara no hashi wa tsukuriten tsurenaki koi wa ato dani mo nashi |
Even now is The bridge at Nagara Being built? Of this cruel love Not even a trace remains… |
Nobusada
1014
The Right state: it is certainly possible to say that the ‘bridge at Nagara’ has ‘rotted’ (kutsu), but there are, we think, no other examples of it ‘ceasing’ (tayu). The Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of saying ‘love not a trace’ (koi ni ato nashi).
In judgement: both poems refer to ‘the bridge at Nagara’ and, as has been mentioned by the Gentlemen of the Right in their criticism, the Left uses ‘has ceased to be, yet’ (taeshikado); there are many poems using ‘rotted’, because this is what happens to the pillars of bridges. After this bridge ceased to be, the pillars would still be rotting away. If you have the bridge ‘being built’ (tsukuru nari), why would you not then have it ‘ceasing’? That being said, I am only accustomed to hearing ‘bridge pillars’ (hashibashira), and having only ‘pillars’ (hashira) sounds completely lacking in logic. The Right’s poem uses ‘love not a trace’ (koi ato nashi): it is entirely natural for a variety of different things not to leave a trace. The current criticism must be due to there not being a prior example of this usage, but it is particularly difficult to say this about the initial section of the poem. The Right wins.
When he went to Tennōji and, while at Nagara heard someone say that there used to be a bridge here.
行末を思へばかなし津の國のながらの橋も名が殘りけり
| yukusuwe wo omoFeba kanasi tu no kuni no nagara no Fasi mo na ga nokorikeri |
What has befallen – When I think on it, it is so sad that In the province of Tsu The bridge of Nagara Has left behind its name, alone… |
Minamoto no Shunrai
源俊頼
Composed at the bridge at Nagara.
橋柱ながらましかば流れての名をこそ聞かめ跡を見ましや
| Fasibasira nagaramasikaba nagarete no na wo koso kikame ato wo mimasi ya |
These bridge pillars Were there not at Nagara, Should the current of the world Bring the name to one’s ears, Would one even see its traces? |
Former Major Councillor Kintō
前大納言公任