Topic unknown.
さざなみや志賀のからさき風さえてひらのたかねに霰ふるなり
| sazanami ya shiga no karasaki kaze saete hira no takane ni arare furunari | Wavelets wash Karasaki in Shiga, and The wind is chill, so On the high peaks of Hira The hail must be falling. |
The Hosshōji Lay Priest, former Chancellor and Palace Minister [Fujiwara no Tadamichi]
Left (Tie)
よそにやは釣する志賀の海人を見ん枕の下を知らせだにせば
| yoso ni ya wa tsuri suru shiga no ama o min makura no shita o shirase dani seba | Unconnected with Fishing diver-girls At Shiga would I seem? When what lies beneath my pillow Is revealed… |
Lord Ari’ie
1173
Right
潮たるる袖にあはれの深きより心に浮ぶ海人の釣舟
| shio taruru sode ni aware no fukaki yori kokoro ni ukabu ama no tsuribune | Tide-spattered Sleeves: my sorrow is So deep that Floating upon my heart is A diver-girl’s fishing boat! |
Nobusada
1174
Left and Right together state: no faults.
In judgement: the poem of the Left has ‘unconnected with fishing diver-girls at Shiga would I seem?’ (yoso ni ya wa tsuri suru shiga no ama o min) and the poem of the Right has ‘floating upon my heart is a diver-girl’s fishing boat!’ (kokoro ni ukabu ama no tsuribune): both have profound conception and their diction sounds pleasant, so it is difficult to divide them into superior and inferior works. Thus, I make this a tie.
Left (Win)
さざ浪や志賀津の海士になりにけりみるめはなくて袖のしほるる
| sazanami ya shigatsu no ama ni narinikeri mirume wa nakute sode no shioruru | Rocked by wavelets A fisherman at Shiga Bay Have I become! Glimpsing no seaweed, How my sleeves are soaked… |
Lord Suetsune
1171
Right
伊勢の海の底までかづく海人なれやみるめに人を思ふ心は
| ise no umi no soko made kazuku ama nare ya mirume ni hito o omou kokoro wa | At Ise, to the sea Bed dive Fisher-girls: Am I one, too? A seaweed-tangled glimpse of you Lodging in my heart… |
Jakuren
1172
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: neither beginning nor end is sufficiently forcefully expressed.
In judgement: the conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘fisherman at Shiga Bay’ (shigatsu no ama) certainly seem splendid. That is really all there is to say about this poem. To make a deliberate point of seeking out elements which sound difficult is a pointless activity for the Way of Poetry and an individual poet. As for the Right’s poem, diving ‘to the sea bed’ (soko made) is just something that fisher-girls do. The Left must win.
Composed as a poem on blossom.
桜咲く比良の山風吹くままに花になりゆく志賀の浦浪
| sakura saku Fira no yamakaze Fuku mama ni Fana ni nariyuku siga no uranami |
Cherries flower on Hira Mountain while Breezes blow All turned to blossom are The waves on Shiga’s shore. |
Middle Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, Left Division, [Fujiwara no] Yoshitsune
左近中将良経
Left (Win).
君ゆへにいとふも悲し鐘の聲やがて我世もふけにし物を
| kimi yue ni itou mo kanashi kane no koe yagate wa ga yo mo fukenishi mono o |
For lack of you, I am In sorrow and despite; The tolling of the bell reveals That so swiftly has my life Reached its eventide… |
A Servant Girl.
847
Right.
玉箒手にとる程も思きやかりにも戀を滋賀の山人
| tamahōki te ni toru hodo mo omoiki ya kari ni mo koi o shiga no yamabito |
A jewelled broom I’ll take in hand now, Could that have been my thought? Briefly in love now as The old man of Shiga Mountain! |
Ietaka.
848
The Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘swiftly’ (yagate). The Left state: should one mention a monk in a poem about Love?
In judgement: the configuration of the Left’s ‘In sorrow and despite; the tolling of the bell’ (itou mo kanashi kane no koe) sounds pleasant, so ‘swiftly’ does not seem unsuited. The Left wins.
Left (Win).
浪ぞ寄る来てもみるめはなき物を浦見馴れたる志賀の里人
| nami zo yoru kitemo mirume wa naki mono o urami naretaru shiga no satobito |
The waves roll in, Approaching yet, seaweed Have I none And accustomed to despair am I Like one dwelling in Shiga… |
A Servant Girl.
761
Right.
君故に涙の川に揺らさるるみをつくしともなり果てねとや
| kimi yue ni namida no kawa ni yurusaruru miotsukushi tomo narihatene to ya |
For your sake In a river of tears I am afloat; Though I am not a channel buoy, Is that how I am to reach my end? |
Lord Tsune’ie
762
The Right state: the Left’s initial line is unsatisfactory. The Left state: the Right’s central line is also unsatisfactory.
In judgement: it is not just that the Right’s central line is unsatisfactory. A channel buoy, planted in a river and rotting away is quite a commonplace occurrence. For something to be ‘afloat’ (yurasaru), you would need to refer to flotsam, either of wood or bamboo. The Left should win.