Left – Dwarf bamboo[i]
たまとのみつゆのみゆるはささがにのいとををにしてぬけばなりけり
| tama to nomi tsuyu no miyuru wa sasagani no ito o o ni shite nukeba narikeri | Simply as jewels Do the dewdrops seem, when Making the tiny crab—the spider’s Web their thread, They are strung upon it… |
4
Right
(Missing)
[i] The topic of this poem is given as ‘Dew’ (Tsuyu 露) in the other text of the match, although the poem is identical. ‘Spider’ (sasgani) contains sasa (‘dwarf bamboo’)/
Composed when I had instructed various people to compose on ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels’.[i]
ささがにの玉ぬくいとのををよわみ風にみだれて露ぞこぼるる
| sasagani no tama nuku ito no o o yowami kaze ni midarete tsuyu zo koboruru | A tiny crab, the spider Strings gems on her web, Threads so fragile, that Confused by the wind The dewdrops scatter. |
[i] A reference to: Composed at a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋ののにおくしらつゆは玉なれやつらぬきかくるくものいとすぢ aki no no ni / oku shiratsuyu wa / tama nare ya / tsuranukikakuru / kumo no itosuji ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels, / Pierced through and strung / On spider webs?’ Fun’ya no Asayasu (KKS IV: 225). Sanetomo has used the initial part of the Kokinshū poem as the topic for composition.
Left
さりともと待べき程の情かは人頼めなる蛛のふるまゐ
| sari tomo to matsubeki hodo no nasake ka wa hito tanomenaru kumo no furumai |
However faint, I thought, Through all my waiting hours Were his feelings, He can be trusted, Says the spider’s spinning! |
Lord Ari’ie
1071
Right (Win)
はかなくぞさもあらましに待たれぬる頼めぬ宵の蜘蛛のふるまゐ
| hakanaku zo sa mo aramashi ni matarenuru tanomenu yoi no kumo no furumai |
Fleeting, but So be it, then, I thought, Awaiting; How unreliable is this night’s Spider’s spinning… |
Lord Takanobu
1072
Left and Right together: both poems are about spiders, and have no faults to mention.
In judgement: both poems seem elegant in their reference to ‘spider’s spinning’ (kumo no furumai). However, the Left’s central section recalls ‘Men are not trees or stone – they have feelings’ – while this is elegant diction in Chinese composition, it does not seem so in our own poetry. The Right’s ‘so be it then, I thought’ (sa mo aramashi) is fine, but ‘unreliable is this night’ (tanomenu yoi) sounds as if the night is already over. Princess Sotōri, too, has ‘must surely come tonight’ (kubeki yoi nari), but then appears to have ‘a certain sign’ (kanete shirushi mo). Still, this is surely describing a situation where one once had doubts, but feel that tonight is reliable. The Right is slightly superior.
When there had been a gale, and someone had called to see how she was, in the silence later, she wrote this and sent it.
荒かりし風の後より絶えするは蜘蛛手にすがく糸にやあるらん
| arakarisi kaze no noti yori taesuru Fa kumode ni sugaku ito ni ya aruran |
Wildly The wind has gone, and Broken are The spider’s spanning Webs – is that how we are to be? |
Sagami
相模
Left (Tie).
隔てける籬の島のわりなきに住む甲斐なしや千賀の塩釜
| hedatekeru magaki no shima no warinasa ni sumu kai nashi ya chika no shiogama |
Barring our way is The fence – Magaki Isle: So unreasonable That living close is pointless, as if We were at Chika’s salt-kilns! |
Kenshō
885
Right.
忍ぶ草竝ぶ軒端の夕暮に思ひをかはすさゝがにの糸
| shinobugusa narabu nokiba no yūgure ni omoi o kawasu sasagani no ito |
A weeping fern lies Between our almost touching eaves; In the evening Love will pass Along the spider’s thread. |
Ietaka
886
The Right state: the Left’s ‘Magaki Isle’ (magaki no shima) and ‘Chika’s salt kiln’s’ (chika no shiogama) do not seem that nearby, do they? They only evoke closeness through wordplay. The Right state: we find no faults to indicated in the Left’s poem.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘Magaki Isle’ and ‘Chika’s salt kilns’, even if they are not that close, do not display a lack of technique in the conception of the current composition. I do wonder what to think about ‘so unreasonable’ (warinasa ni), though. The Right’s weeping ferns, with the spider’s behaviour transmitting the feelings of love, does not seem unreasonable either. This round, too, the poems are comparable and should tie.
Left.
夕まぐれひとつ離れて飛鳥も寢に行く方はありけりと見ゆ
| yūmagure hitotsu hanarete tobu tori mo ne ni yuku kata wa arikeri to miyu |
As the evening comes As a single, distant, Flying bird Going to roost do I seem to be… |
Kenshō.
823
Right.
今は我待たじと思ふ心さへまたかき亂す蜘蛛の振舞
| ima wa ware mataji to omou kokoro sae mata kakimidasu kumo no furumai |
Now, I Will wait no more, I think, and My very heart Is thrown into confusion by The spider spinning… |
Jakuren.
824
Both Left and Right state: we find no faults to remark upon.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘flying bird going’ (tobu tori no yuku kata) and the Right’s ‘spider spinning’ (kumo no furumai) are both certainly not uncharming. I make this round a tie.
To Lady Kojijū, at the palace of the Former Empress.
絶えねとやいかにせよとぞさゝがにのいとかくまでは思はざりしを
| taene to ya ika ni seyo to zo sasagani no ito kaku made Fa omoFazarisi wo |
We’re through – is that it, or What are we to do? As a spider’s Tangled web I did not think to be. |
On seeing a spider spinning a web on the thread laid out on the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month, Ko’ōigimi composed:
織女のもろてにいそぐさゝがにのくもの衣は風や裁つらむ
| tanabata no morote ni isogu sasagani no kumo no koromo Fa kaze ya taturamu |
The Weaver Maid Keeps both hands busy; A tiny crab, The spider’s garb of cloud Might by a breeze be rent. |