Clouds 雲
白雲は雨やみてこそかへりけれはなぞめならばかからましやは
shirakumo wa ame yamite koso kaerikere hanazome naraba kakaramashi ya wa | From the clouds so white The rain has ceased, and Headed home! Were they but light indigo, then Would they be like this? |
Tadafusa
Clouds 雲
白雲は雨やみてこそかへりけれはなぞめならばかからましやは
shirakumo wa ame yamite koso kaerikere hanazome naraba kakaramashi ya wa | From the clouds so white The rain has ceased, and Headed home! Were they but light indigo, then Would they be like this? |
Tadafusa
Left (Win)
忘らるゝ人に軒端の忍ぶ草涙の雨ぞ露けかりける
wasuraruru hito ni nokiba no shinobugusa namida no ame zo tsuyukekarikeru |
Forgotten by Him, beneath my eaves The ferns bring back memories; A rain of tears Leaves them dew-drenched. |
Lord Kanemune
1021
Right
戀づまのやがて軒端になり行けばいとど忍ぶの草ぞ茂れる
koizuma no yagate nokiba ni nariyukeba itodo shinobu no kusa zo shigereru |
My man is Far away; beneath my eaves Are the signs: How many memories and Ferns grow thickly… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1022
Both Left and Right state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: both poems refer to ‘memory ferns’ (shinobugusa), and there is not a great deal of difference in quality between them, but the Left’s ‘rain of tears’ (namida no ame), with its association of dew, is slightly better than the Right’s ‘ferns grow thickly’ (kusa zo shigereru), and so should win.
A poem by Ōtomo no sukune Katami.
石上降るとも雨につつまめや妹に逢はむと言ひてしものを
isonokami puru tomo ame ni tutumame ya imo ni apamu to ipitesi mono wo |
At Isonokami in Furu, the rain may fall But will it interfere? For to meet my darling Have I said I would… |
Ōtomo no Katami
大伴像見
三島江の入江の真菰雨降ればいとど萎れて刈る人もなし
misimae no irie no makomo ame Fureba itodo siworete karu Fito mo nasi |
Upon Mishima Bay’s Wild rice in the inlets, Rain does fall, and It is cast down all the more With no one to reap it… |
Minamoto no Tsunenobu
源経信
Sleet
あめのしたふるとはすれどはかなきは庭にたまらぬみぞれなりけり
ame no shita furu to wa suredo hakanaki wa niwa ni tamaranu mizore narikeri | Beneath the rain, It falls, yet Even briefly Upon the grounds settles not – The sleet. |
Daishin
A poem from Michinoku.
みさぶらひ御笠と申せ宮木野の木の下露は雨にまされり
misaburaFi mikasa to mause miyagino no ko no sita tuyu Fa ame ni masareri |
O Attendant! “A umbrella, my Lord?” do say, for On Miyagi plain Beneath the trees, the dew Far exceeds the rain! |
Oaks 柞
柞原露のしらはひさしつるは時雨のあめぞうはぞめはする
hahasowara tsuyu no shirahai sashitsuru wa shigure no ame zo uwazome wa suru | The oaks with The dew’s white ash Are covered; A shower of rain Does over-dye it. |
Fujiwara no Nakazane
藤原仲実
細く降る弥生の雨やいとならむ水にあやおる広沢の池
hosuku furu yayoi no ame ya ito naramu mizu ni aya oru hirosawa no ike |
Thinly falls, The Third Month rain: Does it thread become To weave a crest upon The pond at Hirosawa? |
Kodaishin, from the Residence of the Hanazono Minister of the Left
花園左大臣家小大進
いかにして真菰を刈らむ五月雨に高瀬の淀も水まさりけり
ika ni shite makomo o karamu samidare ni takase no yodo mo mizu masarikeri |
What am I to do? I would reap rushes In the rain Where the Yodo meets Takase, But the waters have risen high… |
Minamoto no Morotoki
源師時
Left (Win).
さはらずは今宵ぞ君を頼むべき袖には雨の時わかねども
sawarazu wa koyoi zo kimi o tanomubeki sode ni wa ame no toki wakanedomo |
If you were unhindered On this night, then, my love, In you I could trust; But on my sleeves the rain Falls without surcease… |
Lord Sada’ie.
945
Right.
來ぬ人を待つ夜更け行秋の雨は袖にのみ降る心地こそすれ
konu hito o matsu yo fukeyuku aki no ame wa sode ni nomi furu kokochi koso sure |
When a man who fails to come Is awaited and the night grows late, The autumn rain Falls on my sleeves, alone – That is what I feel! |
Ietaka.
946
The Right state: the phrase ‘if you were unhindered’ (sawarazu wa) sounds poor. The Left state: the Right have simply composed a poem just like Lord Yorimasa’s君戀ふとながめあかせる夜の雨は袖にしも降る心地こそすれ kimi kou to / nagame akaseru / yoru no ame wa / sode ni shimo furu / kokochi koso sure ‘That you love me / I have heard enough / This night when the rain / Upon my sleeves especially does fall – / That is what I feel!’.
In judgement: the Left are said to have a poor-sounding phrase, and the Right to have referred to Yorimasa’s poem. That it is difficult to entirely avoid to referring poems outside of the anthologies is something which people still seem to be unable to remember, but the Gentlemen of the Left have recalled this well. The final section of the Right’s poem does bear an uncanny resemblance to Yorimasa’s poem. If there should be a prior example of a phrase’s use, then while it maybe poor-sounding, the Left should win.