au koto no ima wa katano to narinureba kari ni toikoshi hito mo toikozu
Meeting Now hard as crossing Katano Has become, so he who once Briefly hunted me out Never comes to call.
Lord Michitsune 65
Right (T – Win)
おさふればあまる涙はもる山のなげきにあたる雫なりけり
osaureba amaru namida wa moruyama no nageki ni ataru shizuku narikeri
I hold them in, but, Overflowing, my tears Drip down—on Mount Moru Gathering kindling—grief is plain In every droplet.
Lord Tadataka 66
Toshiyori states: the first poem says ‘hard as crossing Katano has become’, but emphasizes that the lover did come briefly. It’s a mistake to then say that he ‘never comes’. The second poem has ‘Overflowing, my tears / Drip down—on Mount Moru’—it’s certainly not the case that feeling is lacking in the conception here, and it does sound like this is what one feels, so it’s not difficult at all to say this is the winner.
Mototoshi states: neither of these poems has any particular faults or anything outstanding between them, but that there is no one to visit the poet briefly appears, at present, to be slightly more desolate.
ayashiku mo shigure ni kaeru tamoto kana ina no kasawara sashite yukedomo
How strange that From the shower I shelter Beneath my sleeves! Though into the umbrella of the dwarf-bamboo groves of Ina Is where I’m heading…
A Court Lady 3
Right
ぬるれども嬉しくもあるか紅葉ばの色増す雨の雫とおもへば
nuredomo ureshiku mo aru ka momijiba no iro masu ame no shizuku to omoeba
Soaked, yet Happy am I! For the scarlet leaves Take on brighter hues with these rain Drops, I feel…
Lord Akikuni 4
Toshiyori states: The first poem’s section on ‘the umbrella of the dwarf-bamboo groves of Ina’ is well expressed, but then is ‘shower I shelter’ referring to clothing? The second poem can be read as meaning that the speaker is happily being soaked by raindrops standing beneath scarlet leaves on one particular day, but getting drenched by any old shower, even if it’s one which stains leaves scarlet is not something that would make one happy and, sounds tedious. Both poems sound vague, so they should tie.
Mototoshi states: ‘the shower I shelter / Beneath my sleeves’ is better than ‘Happy am I!’
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.
