Left
ひとしれずねざめのこひはよぶこどりよぶかきこゑはきくひともなし
| hito shirezu nezame no koi wa yobukodori yobukaki koe wa kiku hito mo nashi | Unknown to all I awake and yearn: A songbird Late at night sings With no one listening at all. |
3
Right
おもひやるこころしゆかばさよふけておきゐてこふとつぐべきものを
| omoiyaru kokoro shi yukaba sayo fukete oki’ite kou to tsugubeki mono o | If, steadfast, My heart but was, then As brief night wore on I’d arise and my love Be able to announce, but… |
4
Round Five
Left
ほととぎすはなたちばなにやどるともなのらざりせばいかでしらまし
| hototogisu hanatachibana ni yadoru to mo nanorazariseba ikade shiramashi | The cuckoo Among the orange blossom May make his lodging, but If he fails to announce himself How would one ever know? |
Controller’s Graduate
23
Right
さよなかにみふねの山のほととぎすほのかになきてすぎぬなるかな
| sayo naka ni mifune no yama no hototogisu honoka ni nakite suginu naru kana | In the midst of a night so brief Upon Mifune Mountain, A cuckoo, Faintly crying, Has passed his time! |
Kerin’in Graduate
24
It is entirely impossible to decide between these two poems.
Neither of these poems is particularly bad. The Left flows smoothly and is elegant; the Right starts with ‘Mifune Mountain’ and then continues with ‘faintly’, which certainly does not lack skill. Thus, I would say that these should tie, although this will doubtless be a source of some dissatisfaction to the writer of the Right.
Round Twenty-Four
Left (Tie)
覚束なたれきけとてか時鳥さよふけ方の雲に鳴くらん
| obotsukana tare kike tote ka hototogisu sayo fukegata no kumo ni nakuran | I do not understand— Who is it that you demand hears you, O, cuckoo? Toward brief night’s dawn, Calling from within the clouds… |
Tomoshige
47
Right
待ちかねしよはも昔にかはらねばことしもつらし山時鳥
| machikaneshi yowa mo mukashi ni kawaraneba kotoshi mo tsurashi yamahototogisu | Eagerly awaiting Midnight, to find—as long before— It all unchanged, so This year, too, how cruel is The mountain cuckoo! |
Dharma Master Zenshin
48
Both Left and Right sound suitable. So, they should tie.
Round Four
Left (Tie)
たびねするあれたるやどのしぐれにはなみだもともにもるにぞありける
| tabinesuru aretaru yado no shigure ni wa namida mo tomo ni moru ni zo arikeru | Sleeping on my travels In a ruined hut, The showers And my tears, both, Do leave me drenched! |
Minamoto no Munenaga
(formerly Michikiyo)
57
Right
ちぎらねどさよのねざめにおとづれてしぐれぞたびのともとなりける
| chigiranedo sayo no nezame ni otozurete shigure zo tabi no tomo to narikeru | It made no vow, yet On awaking from a brief night’s sleep, I am visited by the sound Of showers—my journey’s Companion, have they become. |
Fujiwara no Noritsune
58
The Left conception and configuration appear pleasant, but after saying that one is ‘sleeping on my travels’ to then have ‘a ruined hut’—this does not really sound like somewhere a person would take lodging on their journey. As for the Right, it seems like the only reason the poet has begun with ‘it made no vow, yet’ is because he wished to use ‘companion’, but these pieces of diction are too far apart. Still, it does seem to have some conception, so I make these a tie.
