mitinoku no sinobu modizuri tare yuFe ni midaremu to omoFu ware naranaku ni
Distant Michinoku’s Tangled fern-patterned garb: For whose sake might it be, that Secret passion leaves me so distraught? For it is not mine, I know, so…
There was a man who had been secretly conversing with a woman who had a husband. When their relationship cooled, seeing that he had little time for her, the woman sent this to him.
我宿の軒のしのぶにことよせてやがても茂るわすれ草かな
wa ga yado no
noki no sinobu ni
koto yosete
yagate mo sigeru
wasuregusa kana
At my dwelling
Ferns grow beneath the eaves
Is your excuse;
And in the end all that grows lush is
The grass of your forgetfulness!
In judgement: the Left’s ‘Thousand Islands’ (chishima) is a familiar expression from the past, but I do not recall it being used in poetry. I am familiar with the Right’s ‘depths of Shinobu’ (shinobu no oku), so that is better. Again, the Right wins.
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no defects worth criticising. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial and final sections of the Right’s poem lack connection with each other. Does the poem have a conception of hiddenness?
Shunzei’s judgement: The conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘cloud-capped peaks’ first shower of rain’ (kumoiru mine no hatsu shigure) seems charming [kokoro sugata okashiku mie]. On that basis, it should win.