Lakes 水海
近江の海みちくるしほもなきものをたれからさきといひ初めけん
| ōmi no umi michikuru shio mo naki mono o tare karasaki to iihajimeken | The sea at Ōmi Swelling tides Does lack, so Who was that to Karasaki – a pointless point – Did first give the name, I wonder? |
Tadafusa
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)
今はさはあはれと思へ菅の根の長き心の程は見つらん
| ima wa sa wa aware to omoe suga no ne no nagaki kokoro no hodo wa mitsuran |
Now, indeed, let you Think fondly of me! The grasses’ roots run Long, my heart’s Love will you see… |
Lord Suetsune
1023
Right
世とゝもにかはくまもなき我袖や潮干もわかぬ浪の下草
| yo to tomo ni kawaku ma mo naki wa ga sode ya shioi mo wakanu nami no shitagusa |
With the passing time, Not a moment dry Are my sleeves; Low tide does not reveal The seaweed beneath the waves… |
Lord Takanobu
1024
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to indicate. The Left state: the Right’s poem is clichéd.
In judgement: the Right, in addition to being clichéd, can say no more than that love means wet sleeves. The Left’s ‘grasses’ roots’ (suga no ne) is certainly better.
Left (Tie).
雲井まで續きて見ゆわたつ海の行衛知られぬ物思かな
| kumoi made tsuzukite miyu wata tsu umi no yukue shirarenu mono’omoi kana |
Beyond the clouds My gaze goes on and on; The endless sea: What lies beyond is unknown As my gloomy thoughts… |
Lord Suetsune.
979
Right.
伊勢の海の潮瀬にさはぐさざれ石の砕けて物を思ふ比かな
| ise no umi no shiose ni sawagu sazare’ishi no kudakete mono o omou koro kana |
The sea at Ise: Raging rapids with the tides, Where pebbles Shatter, gloom Filling my thoughts these days… |
Ietaka.
980
The Right state: the Left’s poem is clichéd. The Left state: the Right’s poem is that of Shigeyuki.
In judgement: the Left’s poem is clichéd, but in addition to this uses ‘goes on and on’ (tsuzukite), which is not something one should say. The Right’s poem is, indeed, overly close to Shigeyuki’s, so both Left and Right poem are deficient and lacking in any element allowing a win.
Left (Win).
思ヘどもまだ見ぬ程は滿つ潮に入りぬる磯のためしだになし
| omoedomo mada minu hodo wa mitsu shio ni irinuru iso no tameshi dani nashi |
I love her, yet Have not caught a glimpse; The rising tide Flooding the rocky shore – There’s not even a case of that! |
Lord Kanemune.
977
Right.
岩根打つ荒磯浪の高きこそまだよそながら袖は濡るなれ
| iwane utsu ara’iso nami no takaki koso mada yosonagara sode wa nuru nare |
Crashing on the crags by The rocky shore, the waves Are high, indeed; Distant, perhaps, but Still my sleeves are soaked… |
Lord Takanobu.
978
Both Left and Right state that the opposing poem lacks a strong conception of the sea.
In judgement: I wonder whether the suggestion by both Left and Right that the poems lack a strong conception of the sea is correct. The Left has ‘the rising tide flooding the rocky shore’ (mitsu shio ni irinuru iso), while the Right has ‘crashing on the crags by the rocky shore’ (iwane utsu ara’iso). If these expressions do not strongly convey the conception of the sea, then I ask you, what would? I wonder, though, how one’s sleeves can get soaked if the waves, though high, are distant. The final section of the Left’s poem is elegant. It wins.
Left (Tie).
奈呉の海士の塩燒く煙空にのみ我名を立てゝやまんとやする
| nago no ama no shio yaku kemuri sora ni nomi wa ga na wo tatete yaman to ya suru |
At Nago the fisherfolk’s Salt-burning smoke fills The skies; is that all My names is to be? Gossip And then the end? |
Kenshō.
959
Right.
山田守るかひ屋が下の煙こそこがれもやらぬたぐひなりけれ
| yamada moru kaiya ga shita no kemuri koso kogare mo yaranu tagui narikere |
Warding the mountain fields Beneath the heated hut The smoke Smoulders without end – And so do I! |
Jakuren
960
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults. The Left state: we wonder about the usage of ‘beneath the heated hut’ (kaiya ga shita) with ‘warding the mountain fields’ (yamada moru). In reply: in the Man’yōshū ‘heated hut’ (kaiya), is written with characters meaning ‘deer-repelling fire hut’. In addition, in territories where they wish to drive the deer away from their mountain paddies, they take things which smell foul when burnt, such as hair, and burn them, and in order that the fires are not put out by the rain, they build a roof over them. The common folk of these places call these things ‘heated huts’ (kaiya). So, the Man’yōshū’s usage corresponds with actual practice. Again, a further criticism from the Left: the Master of the Crown Prince’s Household Office composed a poem on salting. Atsutaka also includes ‘heated hut’ in the section on mosquito fires. Such are the ideas of our forebears. That ‘heated hut’ is written in Man’yōshū with characters meaning ‘deer-repelling fire’ and ‘scented fire’ is no proof of anything. Might it not have been written this way so that it would be read to mean ‘keep’? One certainly cannot sweepingly say that it means ‘deer-repelling fire’. A further response from the Right: our forebears have presented no definite evidence, and so it is difficult to accept this argument. In addition, has it not long been accepted that ‘morning haze’ can be used to refer to the smoke from deer-repelling fires, when composing on the haze spreading? Furthermore, in the Hitomaroshū, there is the poem ‘On Kogane Mountain / Beneath the heated hut / Frogs call’. Thus, it appears that this composition must refer to mountain fields.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘At Nago the fisherfolk’ (nago no ama) links the initial and latter sections of the poem extremely well. There seems to be have been some discussion from both teams about the Right’s ‘beneath the heated hut the smoke’ (kaiya ga shita no kemuri). Prior to the to and fro about this poem, was there not a similar discussion about heated huts in the final section of spring poems about frogs? With the greatest respect, the discussion here seems little different. However, in regard to the Right’s poem, saying that love smoulders is the normal way of expressing matters. I do wonder about ‘smoulders without end’ (kogare mo yaranu), but this would certainly seem appropriate with the reference to a heated hut. The Left, in addition, with ‘salt burning smoke’ (yaku shio kemuri) lacks any faults to indicate, so with no clear winner or loser, I make this round a tie.