Preparing Tribute 貢調
いやしきや民のいとなく道もせにつきせず運ぶみつぎ物かな
| iyashiki ya tami no itonaku michi mo se ni tsukisezu hakobu mitsukimono kana | How humble are The folk busily On every single road Ceaselessly transporting Their tributes! |
Daishin
Left (Tie)
いかにしてつれなき中を渡るべき足の音もせぬ駒のありとも
| ika ni shite tsurenaki naka o watarubeki ashi no oto mo senu koma no aritomo |
How, indeed, To one so heartless Can I make my way across? Even a silent-footed Steed had I to ride… |
Lord Suetsune
1059
Right (Win)
道遠み妹がりがりいそぐその駒に草取り飼はんなづみもぞする
| michi tōmi imogari isogu sono koma ni kusa torikawan nazumi mo zo suru |
Long is the road To go swiftly seek my darling, so For my steed I’ll go gather grasses That he not tire along the way… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1060
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of making one’s way across when there is no ‘bridge’? The Gentlemen of the Left state: there are no faults to indicate in the Right’s poem.
In judgement: the gentleman of the Left has composed his poem referring to the conception of the Man’yō poem ‘A silent-footed / Colt I’d have: / In Kashitsuka, / The clapper bridge at Mama / To ceaselessly traverse!’, but must have misplaced the bridge somewhere. Truly, I do wonder how it is possible to make one’s way across in the absence of a bridge. Although to say ‘for my steed I’ll go gather grasses’ (sono koma ni kusa torikawan) is something commonplace, doing it to prevent one’s mount getting tired, despite the length of the journey, seems better than lacking a bridge.
Composed when he had gone to Michinoku, and saw the flowers blooming at the barrier of Nakoso.
吹く風を勿来の関と思へども道もせに散る山桜かな
| Fuku kaze wo nakoso no seki to omoFedomo mitimose ni tiru yamazakura kana |
The gusting wind Comes not to the barrier of Nakoso, I thought, yet The road is blocked with fallen Mountain cherry blossom. |
Minamoto no Yoshi’ie (1039-1106)
源義家
Left (Win).
玉ほこの道行き人も心ありて來んと頼めよこの夕卜には
| tamahoko no michi yukibito mo kokoro arite kon to tanomeyo kono yūke ni wa |
Jewelled spear straight The road for this traveller: If he longs for me, Let it say, ‘Come with me!’, This evening’s fortune! |
Lord Kanemune.
819
Right.
逢ことを頼むる暮と思せば入相の鐘も嬉しからまし
| au koto o tanomuru kure to omoiseba iriai no kane mo ureshikaramashi |
‘We will meet, On that you can rely, at dusk,’ He made me think, so The sunset bell, too, Does seem full of joy! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
820
The Right state: evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are different things. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.
In judgement: both evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are conducted in the evening, and with either one could wish ‘Let it say, “Come with me!”’ (kon to tanomeyo), so this does not seem to be a mistake does it? The Right has the fault of having both ‘We will meet’ (au koto o) and ‘sunset bell, too’ (iriai no kane mo). The Left should win.