uchishigure mono sabishikaru ashi no ya no koya no nezame ni miyako koishi mo
A slight shower is All the more lonely In a reed-roofed Hut in Koya, starting awake and Longing for the capital more…
Lord Sanesada 99
Right
あはれにもよはにすぐなるしぐれかななれもやたびのそらにいでつる
aware ni mo yowa ni sugu naru shigure kana nare mo ya tabi no sora ni idetsuru
How sad is At midnight a passing Shower! Have you, too, on a journey Into the skies departed?
Lord Toshinari 100
The configuration of the Left’s poem, beginning with ‘All the more lonely’ and concluding with ‘Longing for the capital more’, has already penetrated the boundaries of mystery and depth. It sounds particularly pleasant. The poem of the Right is the judge’s own meagre work. Thus, in accordance with precedent I shall refrain from rendering a judgement.
kaze no oto ni waki zo kanemashi matsu ga ne no makura ni moranu shigure nariseba
The gusts of wind I cannot tell apart from The rustle of the pines roots For my pillow should no drips From the shower fall…
Lord Sanefusa 97
Right
たびのいほはあらしにたぐふよこしぐれしばのかこひにとまらざりけり
tabi no io wa arashi ni taguu yoko shigure shiba no kakoi ni tomarazarikeri
My traveller’s hut Is lashed by the storm wind’s Sideways showers— The brushwood walls Halt it not at all.
Lord Yorimasa 98
The conception and configuration of the poem of the Left, starting ‘I cannot tell apart from / The rustle of the pines’ and continuing ‘For my pillow should no drips / From the shower fall’ is, once again, truly exceptional! As for the poem of the Right, while it appears to have a charming style and use of diction, even if it is the case that ‘sideways showers’ are a genuine phenomenon, it fails to sound particularly elegant, doesn’t it. In addition, the latter section of the poem, ‘the brushwood walls’, feels slightly lacking in conception. Thus, I make the Left the winner.
kakikumori tabine no io ni shigureshite tsuyukesa masaru kusamakura kana
Clouds claw in above The hut where I doze upon my travels, and Showers fall— Dew-drenched, above all, is My grassy pillow!
Lord Shigenori 91
Right
まばらなるいほよりもりてむらしぐれをりしくならのはにぞおとする
mabara naru io yori morite murashigure orishiku nara no ha ni zo otosuru
Leaky is My hut, so dripping through come The cloudbursts; Plucked and spread the oak Leaves make such a sound!
Lord Morikata 92
The Left sounds very straightforward. The Right appears heart-rendingly desolate, but I wonder if it isn’t a bit excessive to go so far as the poet reclining on spread oak leaves which are making a sound due to the shower dripping through the hut’s roof? Then again, the Left’s latter section appears to contain little feeling, so comparing the two poems’ together, they should tie, I feel.
naniwagata ashi no maroya no tabine ni wa shigure wa noki no shizuku ni zo shiru
In Naniwa’s tidelands, In a reed-roofed hut, Dozing on my travels— A shower by the eaves Dripping droplets is revealed!
Lord Tsunemori 85
Right
つのくにのこやのたびねにしぐれしてなにかはもらむあしのやへぶき
tsu no kuni no koya no tabine ni shigureshite nani ka wa moramu ashi no yaebuki
In the land of Tsu In Koya, in a hut dozing on my travels During a shower— Will anything drip through My roof’s eightfold thatch?
Lord Yorisuke 86
Both Left and Right are set in a traveller’s lodge in Sesshū province, but the Left appears to lack configuration and conception, it has long been said that using four of the character in a poem in a poetry match is a fault, but it does not sound to me as if the four uses of no here are a particular problem. With that being said, starting with ‘dozing on my travels’ [tabine ni wa]and then having ‘a shower by the eaves’ [shigure ni wa] uses wa twice and this seems to sound a bit discordant. The Right, while it refers to the same sort of shower from a cloudless sky, starts with ‘during a shower’ and follows this with ‘will anything drip through?’, which seems to sound a bit contradictory. I can’t help but feel it would have been better had it been ‘even though it showers’ and then had ‘will anything’. However, both poems are about reed roofed huts during a shower and it really is difficult to distinguish between them. Thus, I make this a tie.
koyoi shimo ayaniku ni furu shigure kana mabara ni saseru shiba no iori ni
Of all nights How unfortunate it is that falls A shower! Upon my crudely erected Brushwood hut!
Lord Kinshige 83
Right
くさまくらつゆけきたびのくれはとりあやにくにまたしぐれふるなり
kusamakura tsuyukeki tabi no kurehatori akaniku ni mata shigure furu nari
My grassy pillow is Dew-drenched on my travels At Kurehatori—the weaver’s town! How warped that still A shower falls here!
Enjitsu 84
Both Left and Right have their showers falling unfortunately, and the poem of the Right starts with ‘Kurehatori’ and continues with ‘warped’ which sounds charming, but to mention ‘dew-drenched travels’ and follow this with Kurehatori give a somewhat unexpected impression. The Left lacks anything as individual as Kurehatori’s warp, but ‘crudely erected’ is a direct description and, thus I could make the Left the winner.
kusamakura tabine sabishiki yamakage ni ko no ha sasoite shigure furunari
On a grassy pillow, Dozing on my travels, lonely In a mountain’s shade, The rustling of the leaves invites A shower to fall.
Hyōenosuke 81
Right (Win)
すみのえのまつがはひねをまくらにてなみうちそふるしぐれをぞきく
suminoe no matsu ga haine o makura nite nami uchisouru shigure o zo kiku
At Suminoe Upon the crawling pine roots Have I made my pillow, while Laced with the breaking waves I listen to the showers.
Lord Naganori 82
The Left’s configuration of ‘the rustling of the leaves invites’, while dozing on one’s journey in the shadow of a mountain, sounds pleasant. While I do wonder about the Right’s diction—concluding with ‘listen to the showers’—in addition to ‘laced with the breaking waves’ sounding pleasant, it also adds the conception of waves beneath ‘the pines of Suminoe’, doesn’t it. I make the Right the winner.
michishiba no tsuyu wakekitsuru tabigoromo shigururu yowa wa hoshi zo wazurau
Through the roadside grasses Dew have I come forging— My traveller’s garb In a midnight shower I’d dry—what trouble ‘tis, indeed!
Hyōenokami 79
Right (Win)
しぐれするおとにいくたびねざめしてくさのまくらにあかしかぬらむ
shiguresuru oto ni iku tabi nezameshite kusa no makura ni akashikanuramu
The showers’ Sound, so many times Has wakened me, so On my grassy pillow It seems the dawn can never come!
Michichika 80
The Left’s ‘roadside grasses’ have nothing remarkable about them and, what’s more, fail to link to anything. The Right has a charming conception of feeling the dawn will never come to a grassy pillow, but as in the poem ‘On a winter’s night / How many times / Have I awakened, / Deep in thought, my dwelling’s / Door-crack letting in the light?’, it is more charming to refer to the difficulty of greeting the dawn at the end of a winter’s night. This poem has the speaker being woken countless times by the sound of a shower and seems to convey the feeling of dozing on a dew-drenched pillow, doesn’t it. With that being said, the Right does appear to have some genuine emotion behind it. I would say it wins.
kokoro are ya kaki na kurashi so hatsushigure mada sashihatezu shiba no kari’io
Have some sympathy, And bring no darkness, O, first shower! For I have yet to finish putting up My crude brushwood hut…
Lord Suetsune 77
Right (Win)
すみよしのまつがしたねのたびまくらしぐれもかぜにききまがへつつ
sumiyoshi no matsu ga shita ne no tabimakura shigure mo kaze ni kikimagaetsutsu
At Sumiyoshi Beneath the pines, their roots are My journey-pillow, as The shower, too, with the gusting wind I hear blending together.
Takanobu 78
The Left’s latter section, which states that the poet has ‘yet to finish putting up’ his hut, has a truly charming configuration as a poem on the conception of travel, but the phrase ‘have some sympathy’ does not appear to be a conception which has prior precedent. It could be a way of expressing the emotion through the shower. As for the Right, while I do question the sound of ‘journey-pillow’, it is the case that in Cathay-style poems this appears, but what are we do to about the fact that this is not ‘pillow on my journey’, I wonder? The sequencing of ‘the shower, too, with the wind’ is pleasant, isn’t it. Thus, I make the Right the winner.
shigure moru tabine no toko wa hanazome no tamoto zo saki ni mazu kaerikeru
A shower drips upon me As I doze upon my journey-bed; Blossom-dyed, My sleeves, before me, Have first returned to what they were!
Masahira 75
Right (Win)
はなれゆくみやこをおもふひとりねのなみだをさそふはつしぐれかな
hanareyuku miyako o omou hitorine no namida o sasou hatsushigure kana
Distant has grown The capital, but it fills my thoughts, Sleeping solo, My tears invited by The first shower!
Chikashige 76
The configuration of the Left’s poem appears charming, but it would have sounded more so had there been a reason why ‘my sleeves, before’ had returned to the capital on the journey. The diction and conception of the Right’s poem, beginning with ‘distant has grown’ and leading to ‘tears invited’, is extremely pleasant. It seems the Right wins.
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.
