au koto wa katano no nobe no fujibakama tare kitemiyo to tsuyu no okuran
Our meeting, so hard: In the hillside meadows grow Violet asters— Who should to come to see them Amongst the fallen dew?
Nakafusa, Former Governor of Awaji 33
Right
色もかもよそへてぞみる蘭ねずりの衣馴れしかたみに
iro mo ka mo yosoete zo miru fujibakama nezuri no koromo nareshi katami ni
Both scent and hue Do I imagine seeing Among the violet asters, Of his patterned robe, So familiar, a reminder they are…
Hyōenokami 34
These poems, both Left and Right, appear to be of about the same quality, but while I am familiar with robes patterned with purple gromwell, I do wonder what it is that is patterning the robes here. Is the poet composing on asters imagining them to be gromwell? Even if that’s the case, the conception is not particularly apparent, so I have to say that the Left is better.
shigaraki no toyama no sue no hototogisu ta ga sato chikaki hatsune naruran
In Shigaraki At the foothills’ end A cuckoo By whose estate Might let out his first cry?
Takasuke 41
Right
橘のにほひを空に尋ねきて山時鳥なかぬ日ぞなき
tachibana no nioi o sora ni tazunekite yamahototogisu nakanu hi zo naki
Orange blossom’s familiar Scent within the skies I seek out, while The mountain cuckoo Fails to sing on not a single day…
Shimotsuke 42
The Left poem’s ‘near whose estate does it first call’ does not sound bad. The Right’s poem, too, seems to have no faults to mention, yet the Left still wins by a hair.
