Tag Archives: rocky shore

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 37

Round Twelve

Left

しぐれにはいほりもささじくさまくらおときくとてもぬれぬそでかは

shigure ni wa
iori mo sasaji
kusamakura
oto kiku tote mo
nurenu sode ka wa
Caught in a shower,
I’d not erect my hut, for
Upon a grassy pillow
Listening to the sound, still
Would my sleeves be soaked!

Tsunemasa
73

Right (Win)

たまもふくいそやがしたにもるしぐれたびねのそでもしほたれよとや

tamamo fuku
isoya ga shita ni
moru shigure
tabine no sode mo
shiotareyo to ya
Thatched with gemweed is
My roof upon the rocky shore, beneath it
Drips a shower, so
My sleeves, as I doze upon my travels,
Wet with the salty tides – should I say that?

Nakatsuna
74

The Left wonders whether his sleeves would be soaked, listening to the sound of a shower after abandoning all thought of a hut and grassy pillow—this seems extremely charming, but the configuration and sequencing of the Right, beginning with ‘thatched with gemweed’ and continuing with ‘my sleeves, as I doze upon my travels, / Wet with salty tides’, is extremely moving, isn’t it! Thus I have to award a win, once more, to the poem of the Right.

Love VII: 9

Left (Win).
思ヘどもまだ見ぬ程は滿つ潮に入りぬる磯のためしだになし

omoedomo
mada minu hodo wa
mitsu shio ni
irinuru iso no
tameshi dani nashi
I love her, yet
Have not caught a glimpse;
The rising tide
Flooding the rocky shore –
There’s not even a case of that!

Lord Kanemune.
977

Right.
岩根打つ荒磯浪の高きこそまだよそながら袖は濡るなれ

iwane utsu
ara’iso nami no
takaki koso
mada yosonagara
sode wa nuru nare
Crashing on the crags by
The rocky shore, the waves
Are high, indeed;
Distant, perhaps, but
Still my sleeves are soaked…

Lord Takanobu.
978

Both Left and Right state that the opposing poem lacks a strong conception of the sea.

In judgement: I wonder whether the suggestion by both Left and Right that the poems lack a strong conception of the sea is correct. The Left has ‘the rising tide flooding the rocky shore’ (mitsu shio ni irinuru iso), while the Right has ‘crashing on the crags by the rocky shore’ (iwane utsu ara’iso). If these expressions do not strongly convey the conception of the sea, then I ask you, what would? I wonder, though, how one’s sleeves can get soaked if the waves, though high, are distant. The final section of the Left’s poem is elegant. It wins.