Round Seven
Left (Tie)
けさはまたそれともみえず淡路島霞のしたに浦風ぞ吹く
| kesa wa mata sore tomo miezu awajishima kasumi no shita ni urakaze zo fuku | This morning, once again, I cannot that clearly see Awaji Isle, but Beneath the haze The winds are blowing o’er the beach! |
Chikanari, Ranked without Office
13
Right
春霞なびく朝けの塩風にあらぬけぶりや浦に立つらん
| harugasumi nabiku asake no shiokaze ni aranu keburi ya ura ni tatsuran | Spring haze Trails over with the morn— Salt-fire breezes It is not, yet does smoke Seem to rise across the bay? |
Ie’kiyo, Ranked without Office
14
Both Left and Right don’t seem bad. I make them a tie.
Left
さはみづにかはづなくなりやまぶきのうつろふいろやそこにみゆらむ
| sawamizu ni kawazu nakunari yamabuki no utsurou iro ya soko ni miyuramu | Among the marsh waters The frogs are crying; The kerria’s Fading hues—might They see them below the surface there? |
27
Right (Win)
ちりてゆくかたをだにみむはるがすみはなのあたりはたちもさらなむ
| chiriteyuku kata o dani mimu harugasumi hana no atari wa tachi mo sara namu | Scattering off If only I might see them, but The spring haze Around the blossoms is Already rising! |
28
Left (Win)
はるがすみたちしかくせばやまざくらひとしれずこそちりぬべらなれ
| harugasumi tachishi kakuseba yamazakura hito shirezu koso chirinuberanare | If the spring haze Has risen to conceal The mountain cherries, Then, indeed, will no one know When they have seemed to scatter! |
Tsurayuki
9
Right
たのまれぬはなのこころとおもへばやちらぬさきよりうぐひすのなく
| tanomarenu hana no kokoro to omoeba ya chiranu saki yori uguisu no naku | Untrustworthy are The blossoms’ hearts I do think, so While they are unscattered Will the warbler sing. |
Okikaze
10[i]
Both of these are the same—they tie.[ii]
[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XI: 1549), attributed to Okikaze, with the headnote, ‘From Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’. It is also included twice in Kokin rokujō (I: 31) and (VI: 4395): in both cases the poem is attributed to Okikaze, but the first instance lacks a headnote, while the second is classified as a ‘Warbler’ poem. Finally, it is also included in Mandaishū (II: 254), again attributed to Okikaze, but this time with the headnote, ‘Topic unknown’.
[ii] Given that the Left’s poem here is marked as winning, presumably Uda means that both poems are equally worthy of a win—that is, that this is a yoki ji, a ‘tie of quality’.
The End of Spring
Left
をしめどもとどまらなくにはるがすみかへるみちにしたちぬとおもへば
| oshimedomo todomaranaku ni haragasumi kaeru michi nishi tachinu to omoeba | Though sad am I, There’s no stopping it: The spring haze On its homebound path Has departed. |
Motokata
5
Right (Win)
とどむべきものとはなしにはかなくもちるはなごとにたぐふこころか
| todomubeki mono to wa nashi ni hakanaku mo chiru hanagoto ni taguu kokoro ka | That would halt them There is nothing, yet How hopelessly To every scattered flower My heart is drawn. |
Mitsune
6
Left
春がすみあみにはりこめ花ちらばうつろひぬべし鶯とめよ
| harugasumi ami ni harikome hana chiraba utsuroinubeshi uguisu tomeyo | The spring haze Spreads its net to catch The blossom—should they scatter, And then, for sure, decline, O, warbler, tarry a while! |
15[1]
Right
春雨の色はこくしもみえなくに野辺のみどりをいかでそむらん
| harusame no iro wa koku shimo mienaku ni nobe no midori o ikade somuran | The spring rain’s Hue great depths Does not seem to have, but How are the meadows with green So deeply dyed? |
16[2]
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 9; Fubokushō II: 464: ‘Haze’
[2] A minor variant of the poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, and attributed to Ki no Tomonori, appears in Shokusenzaishū (I: 62): 春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん harusame no / iro wa koshi tomo / mienaku ni / nobe no midori o / ikade somuran ‘The spring rain’s / Hue no great depths / Does seem to have, but / How are the meadows with green / So deeply dyed?’
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.
春霞たなびく野べの若菜にもなり見てし哉人も摘むやと
| Farugasumi tanabiku nobe no wakana ni mo narimitesigana Fito mo tumu ya to | Spring haze Drifting through the fields over The new herbs I would become— For then she might pick me, perhaps… |
Fujiwara no Okikaze
