The Path Across the Shiga Mountains (志賀山越)
春がすみたなびく山の山の井にかけみるさへもあさましきかな
| harugasumi tanabiku yama no yama no i ni kage miru sae mo asamashiki kana | Spring hazes Trail across the peaks, where In a mountain spring I glimpse a human form – How startling! |
Nakazane
夏山の峰の梢し高ければ空にぞ蟬の声も聞ゆる
| natuyama no mine no kozuwe si takakereba sora ni zo semi no kowe mo kikoyuru |
Summer mountain Tree-topped peaks Are so high that, Out among the skies the cicadas’ Song I hear. |
Left.
思ひこそ千島の奥を隔てねどえぞ通はさぬ壺の碑
| omoi koso chishima no oku o hedatenedo ezo kayowasanu tsubo no ishibumi |
My love Has not the Thousand Islands Barring it, yet The barbarians cannot pass The Stone at Tsubo – nor can I write to you! |
Kenshō
871
Right (Win).
思ひやる心幾重の峰越えて信夫の奧を尋ね入るらん
| omoiyaru kokoro ikue no mine koete shinobu no oku o tazuneiruran |
Dwelling on you, My heart numberless Peaks will cross To the depths of Shinobu, Perhaps to visit someone hidden there? |
Ietaka
872
As the previous round.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘Thousand Islands’ (chishima) is a familiar expression from the past, but I do not recall it being used in poetry. I am familiar with the Right’s ‘depths of Shinobu’ (shinobu no oku), so that is better. Again, the Right wins.
Left (Tie).
行通ふ心の戀をしるべにてまだ見ぬ峰を幾重越ゆらん
| yukikayou kokoro no koi o shirube nite mada minu mine o ikue koyuran |
Crossing distances, with Our hearts’ love As a guide; How many unseen peaks Must I yet cross… |
Lord Ari’ie.
865
Right.
尋ぬべき程を聞くにもいとゞしく心の道ぞまづ迷ひぬる
| tazunubeki hodo o kiku ni mo itodoshiku kokoro no michi zo mazu mayoinuru |
The distance I must travel: When I ask how far it is, More and more Does my heart upon the path Begin by wandering lost. |
Lord Takanobu.
866
The Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of the expression ‘our hearts’ love’ (kokoro no koi)? The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘our hearts’ love’ is something I am completely unaccustomed to hearing. The Right’s poem does have ‘my heart upon the path’ (kokoro no michi), but the use of ‘more and more’ (itodoshiku) means it is difficult to make it a winner. The round should tie.
峯つづき花に心のとまりつつ雪もやられず志賀の山越
| mine tsuzuki hana ni kokoro no tomaritsutsu yuki mo yararezu shiga no yamagoe |
All along the peaks The blossoms in my heart Do rest, and There is no snow at all On the path across the Shiga Mountains. |
高松のこの峰も狭に笠立てて満ち盛りたる秋の香のよさ
| takamatu no kono mine mo se ni kasa tatete mitisakaritaru akinoka no yosa |
In Takamatsu Upon the narrow peaks I hold my umbrella high, Surrounded by a bounty Of gorgeous matsutake! |
Anonymous
Left (Win).
洩らすなよ雲ゐる嶺の初時雨木の葉は下に色變るとも
| morasunayo kumoiru mine no hatsu shigure ko no ha wa shita ni iro kawarutomo |
O, let it not leak out! Though the cloud-capped peaks’ First shower of rain, On the leaves’ underside Has left a change of hue… |
613
Right.
閨のうちは涙の雨に朽ち果てゝしのぶは茂る妻にぞ有ける
| neya no uchi wa namida no ame ni kuchihatete shinobu wa shigeru tsuma ni zo arikeru |
Within my bedchamber A rain of tears Has rotted all, so The weeping ferns secretly grow thick Around the edges… |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
614
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no defects worth criticising. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial and final sections of the Right’s poem lack connection with each other. Does the poem have a conception of hiddenness?
Shunzei’s judgement: The conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘cloud-capped peaks’ first shower of rain’ (kumoiru mine no hatsu shigure) seems charming [kokoro sugata okashiku mie]. On that basis, it should win.
A travel poem, included in a hundred poem sequence sent to be read by the Monk En’i.
岩根ふみ峰の椎柴折りしきて雲に宿かるゆふぐれの空
| iFane Fumi mine no siFisiba worisikite kumo ni yadokaru yuFugure no sora |
Treading ‘cross the deep-rooted crags From brushwood on the peak I break branches and spread them Making my lodging beneath the clouds Gazing at the evening skies… |
Jakuren
Left.
山里の寂しさ思ふ煙ゆへ絶え絶え立てる峯の椎柴
| yamazato no sabishisa omou keburi yue taedae tateru mine no shiishiba |
That mountain dwelling’s Loneliness feeling, The smoke, Rising in sporadic strands: The brushwood on the peak… |
565
Right (Win).
冬籠る草の戸ざしは霜枯れてま近き山の峯の椎柴
| fuyugomoru kusa no tozashi wa shimogarete majikaki yama no mine no shiishiba |
Sealed in winter The blockading grasses are Seared by frost, and How much closer is the mountain Peak’s brushwood. |
566
Both teams say that the conceptions of the two poems resemble each other closely [kokoro hōfutsu].
Shuzei’s judgement: The Left, by starting, ‘That mountain dwelling’s loneliness feeling, the smoke’ (yamazato no sabishisa omou keburi yue) sounds as if it is the brushwood itself which has some sensitivity to the situation, and are rising up from time to time. I wonder about that. The Right’s evergreen groves ‘nearing the mountain’ (majikaki yama) is what should win.
Left (Win).
清水もる谷の戸ぼそも閉ぢはてゝ氷を叩く嶺の松風
| shimizu moru tani no toboso mo tojihatete kōri o tataku mine no matsukaze |
Where spring waters flow From out the valley mouth Is stopped; Against the ice strikes The wind from off the pine-filled peaks. |
563
Right.
梢にも夜半の白雪積もるらし音弱り行嶺の松風
| kozue ni mo yowa no shirayuki tsumorurashi oto yowariyuku mine no matsukaze |
The treetops, too, Within the snows tonight Are buried, it seems: The sounds have softened of The wind from off the pine-filled peaks. |
564
Neither Left nor Right find any fault.
Shunzei’s judgement: The phrasing of both poems, such as ‘wind from off the pine-filled peaks’ (mine no matsukaze), ‘Against the ice strikes’ (kōri o tataku) and ‘sounds have softened’ (oto yowariyuku), has not particular strong or weak points [kōotsu nakuhaberedo], but still, ‘against the ice strikes’ seems a little superior.