Round Four
Left (Win)
あけぬるか霞の衣たちかへり猶君が代の春をまつかな
akenuru ka
kasumi no koromo
tachikaeri
nao kimi ga yo no
haru o matsu kana | Is it the breaking dawn that
Hazy raiment
Casts back?
Ever for my Lord’s reign’s
Springtime do I pine! |
Novice Dōchin
7
Right
天の戸のあけゆく空はうれしきを猶はれやらず立つ霞かな
ama no to no
akeyuku sora wa
ureshiki o
nao hareyarazu
tatsu kasumi kana | That Heaven’s door
Opens to brighten the sky—
What joy, but
Still, never clearing is
The rising haze! |
Dharma Master Nyogan
8
The Left poem’s links with celebration are certainly not something praiseworthy, but I am unable to accept the Right’s ‘joy’. Thus, the Left wins.
Round Three
Left (Win)
春の夜のあくる霞の立田山これや神代の衣なるらん
haru no yo no
akuru kasumi no
tatsutayama
kore ya kamiyo no
koromo naruran | At a spring night’s
Dawn the haze around
Tatsuta Mountain—
Is this how in the age of gods
Raiment might have been? |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
5
Right
朝霞雲居をかけて見わたせばいたりいたらぬ山の端もなし
asagasumi
kumoi o kakete
miwataseba
itari itaranu
yama no ha mo nashi | When, upon the morning haze
Draping from the clouds,
I turn my gaze, it
Spread out, and fails to reach,
Not a single mountain’s edge. |
Nobunari, Senior Third Rank
6
Both Left and Right are difficult to tell apart, yet the Left’s ‘clothing of the Age of Gods’ would seem to be superior.
Summer Garb (夏衣)
夏ごともいみがみけしのあやなれやうらなきさへぞ下にきまうき
natsugoromo
imo ga mikeshi no
ayanare ya
uranaki sae zo
shita ni kimauki |
Summer garb:
My darling’s raiment
Has such a pattern to it!
There is no underside at all,
For her to wear beneath! |
Minamoto no Shunrai
'Simply moving and elegant'
