[One of] five poems composed when dropping anchor at Nagadojima in Aki province.
石走る瀧もとどろに鳴く蝉の声をし聞けば都し思ほゆ
| ipabasiru taki mo todoro ni naku semi no kowe o si kikeba miyako si omopoyu |
Running o’er the rocks Cataracts resound – When the singing cicadas Song I hear The capital comes to my thoughts. |
Ōishi no Minomaro
大石蓑麻呂
Left (Tie).
象潟や妹戀ひしらにさ寢る夜の磯の寢覺に月傾きぬ
| kisakata ya koishirani sanuru yo no iso no nezame ni tsuki katabukinu |
In Kisakata and In love; I sleep the night away, and Awaking on the rocky shore Behold the moon descending. |
Kenshō
897
Right.
清見潟岩敷く袖の浪の上に思ふもわびし君が面影
| kiyomigata iwa shiku sode no nami no ue ni omou mo wabishi kimi ga omokage |
At Kiyomigata Sleeves spread atop the rocks, Waves breaking atop them; Heart filled with pain At the memory of your face… |
Jakuren
898
Left and Right both state that the opposing poem is pretentious.
In judgement: the Left’s poem seems well-constructed in its initial and final sections. However, as in Mototoshi’s poem long ago, ‘breaking a stem of miscanthus on the beach at Ise’, this seems to be a case of poetic allusion. The Right’s ‘Sleeves spread atop the rocks, waves breaking atop them’ (iwa shiku sode no nami no ue) seems to have been newly composed and seems elegant, but the final section is somewhat inferior. The Left has beginning and end matching. The Right has a superior initial section, but an inferior final one. Thus, the round ties.
戸無瀬河岩間に立たむ筏師や浪に濡れても暮を待つらん
| tonasegawa iwama ni tatamu ikadashi ya nami ni nuretemo kure o matsuran |
At the river Tonase Bursting from between the rocks The raftsman If he would be wet with waves Should surely wait for evening? |
Fujiwara no Toshinari
From ‘The Hundred Poem Sequence Composed at the House of the Minister of the Right’ (1172)
