Left (Tie)
ふるさとにかすみとびわけゆくかりはたびのそらにやはるをすぐらむ
furusato ni kasumi tobiwake yuku kari wa tabi no sora ni ya haru o suguramu Above an ancient estate Flying through the parting haze Go the geese: In the skies they journey through, I wonder, will they pass the springtime?
Mitsune
19
Right
ちるはなをぬきしとめねばあをやぎのいとはよるともかひやなからむ
chiru hana o nukishi tomeneba aoyagi no ito wa yoru tomo kai ya nakaramu The scattered blossom Has been pierced, but not stayed, so, The green willow’s Threaded fronds are spun together, yet It useless seems…
20
‘“Sewn but not halted”—it really does seem so.’
客尓為而 妻恋為良思 霍公鳥 神名備山尓 左夜深而鳴
旅にして妻恋すらし霍公鳥神なび山にさ夜更けて鳴く
tabi ni site tuma kopisurasi pototogisu kamunabiyama ni sayo pukete naku On your journey You must love your wife as I O, cuckoo, Upon sacred Kaminabi Mountain That you cry at brief night’s dawn…
Anonymous
On ‘Love and Travel’ at the Sumiyoshi Shrine Poetry Contest in Jōgen 2 [1209].
いかにせんせめては旅の空だのめむなしくまたん夕暮もがな
ika ni sen semete wa tabi no soradanome munashiku matan yūgure mogana O, what am I to do? At least, it’s due to travel’s Unreliable skies that Emptily I would wait This evening—if only that were so!
Iehira, Junior Third Rank 従三位家衡
Geese Left (Win)
わがせこがたびのころもをうちはへてまつかりがねのいまもなかなむ
wa ga seko ga tabi no koromo o uchihaete matsu kari ga ne no ima mo nakanamu My darling man’s Journey garb I will spread out, for The long-awaited goose cries Are now sounding out.
Korenari 9
Right
わぎもこがかけてまつらんたまづさとかきつらねたるはつかりのこゑ
wagimoko ga kakete matsuran tamazusa to kakitsuranetaru hatsu kari no koe My darling girl Does ever seem to wait! Jewelled missives Written with The first goose calls…
10
Left
明けぬ間に箱根の山の時鳥二声とだに鳴き渡るらむ
akenu ma ni
Fakone no yama no
Fototogisu
Futakowe to dani
nakiwataruramu
Before the dawn no
Hakone Mountain
Cuckoos’
Twin calls simply
Seem to sing back and forth
17
Right (Win)
深山出でていづこも旅ぞ時鳥ここにを結べ草の枕は
miyama idete
iduko mo tabi zo
Fototogisu
koko ni wo musube
kusa no makura wa
Emerging from the mountains’ depths
Where does your journey take you,
O, cuckoo?
Here will I twine strands
Of grass for my pillow…
18
取りすがる恋の奴に慕はれて立ち止まりぬる旅衣かな
torisugaru
koFi no yatuko ni
sitaFarete
tatidomarinuru
tabi no koromo kana
Trailing after comes,
Love’s slave,
So sweet that I
Have halted
In my travelling garb!
Shun’e
俊恵
泉川渡り瀬深み我が背子が旅行き衣ひづちなむかも
idumigapa
watarise pukami
wa ga seko ga
tabi yukigoromo
pidutinamu kamo
Upon the River Izumi,
The ford is deep, indeed;
My darling’s
Traveller’s robes
Never will stay dry!
Left (Win).
旅寢する我をば床の主にて枕に宿る小夜の面影
tabinesuru
ware oba toko no
aruji nite
makura ni yadoru
sayo no omokage
When sleeping on my travels
I of my bedding
Am master!
Lodging by my pillow is
A face from a night too brief…
Lord Ari’ie
895
Right.
まどろまぬその夜な夜なを數ふれば夢路も遠き草枕哉
madoromanu
sono yona yona o
kazoureba
yumeji mo tōki
kusamakura kana
Unable to even doze
Night after night
I count them up, and
The path of dreams gets more
Distant from my grassy pillow.
Lord Takanobu
896
The Right state: the Left’s poem seems fine. The Left state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Right’s ‘the path of dreams gets more distant’ (yumeji mo tōki ) sounds elegant, but the Left’s poem has already been assessed as ‘fine’ in the comments by the gentlemen of the Right. This round I will leave the judgement in their hands and make the Left the winner.
On frogs.
草枕旅に物思ひ我が聞けば夕かたまけて鳴くかはづかも
kusa makura
tabi ni monomopi
wa ga kikeba
yupukata makete
naku kawadu kamo
Pillowed on the grass,
In gloomy thought on my travels,
And then I hear,
As if eager for evening,
The frogs calling…
Anonymous
千鳥鳴く与謝のうら浦風心せよ都恋しき旅の寝覚に
chidori naku
yosa no ura kaze
kokoro seyo
miyako koishiki
tabi no nezame ni
Plovers’ cries
On the winds at Yosa shore
Wrench my heart;
How I long for the capital
Starting from sleep on my travels.
Fujiwara no Takanobu
藤原隆信
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