Sent in a letter when one of the lads who was an acolyte of his departed for a distant province, accompanying his father.
わかれぢの草葉をわけむ旅ごろもたつよりかねてぬるるそでかな
| wakaredi no kusaba wo wakemu tabigoromo tatu yori kanete nururu sode kana | Along the path that parts us, Forging through the leafy grasses In your traveller’s garb Since you have left, and before How soaked are my sleeves! |
Dharma Master Yūzen
Round Fifteen
Left
みちしばのつゆわけきつるたびごろもしぐるるよははほしぞわづらふ
| michishiba no tsuyu wakekitsuru tabigoromo shigururu yowa wa hoshi zo wazurau | Through the roadside grasses Dew have I come forging— My traveller’s garb In a midnight shower I’d dry—what trouble ‘tis, indeed! |
Hyōenokami
79
Right (Win)
しぐれするおとにいくたびねざめしてくさのまくらにあかしかぬらむ
| shiguresuru oto ni iku tabi nezameshite kusa no makura ni akashikanuramu | The showers’ Sound, so many times Has wakened me, so On my grassy pillow It seems the dawn can never come! |
Michichika
80
The Left’s ‘roadside grasses’ have nothing remarkable about them and, what’s more, fail to link to anything. The Right has a charming conception of feeling the dawn will never come to a grassy pillow, but as in the poem ‘On a winter’s night / How many times / Have I awakened, / Deep in thought, my dwelling’s / Door-crack letting in the light?’, it is more charming to refer to the difficulty of greeting the dawn at the end of a winter’s night. This poem has the speaker being woken countless times by the sound of a shower and seems to convey the feeling of dozing on a dew-drenched pillow, doesn’t it. With that being said, the Right does appear to have some genuine emotion behind it. I would say it wins.
Round Nine
Left (Win)
うらさむくしぐるるよはのたびごろもきしのはにふにいたくにほひぬ
| ura samuku shigururu yowa no tabigoromo kishi no hanyū ni itaku nioinu | The bay is cold with Midnight showers, as My traveller’s robe With the shore’s ochre clay Is deeply stained. |
Taifu
67
Right
おもへただみやこのうちのねざめだにしぐるるそらはあはれならずや
| omoe tada miyako no uchi no nezame dani shigururu sora wa aware narazu ya | Simply think of me, when Within the capital You start from sleep— A showery sky is Sad, isn’t it? |
Sadanaga
68
While configuration of the Left’s poem, saying ‘With the shore’s ochre clay / Is deeply stained’ feels crude, it does appear to be in the style of the Myriad Leaves. As for the Right’s poem, its conception is good, but starting, ‘Simply think of me’ begs the question of who this is said to. Such diction is used in poetry exchanges or love poems, in particular. The Left’s poem is most likely superior.
Round Eight
Left
しぐれもるかりいほにぬれてほすころもながゐのあまはとりやたがへむ
| shigure moru kari’io ni nurete hosu koromo nagai no ama wa tori ya tagaemu | Drenched by showers, In my crude hut my soaked Robe I dry— Might a fisherman from Nagai Take it by mistake? |
Koretsuna
65
Right (Win)
ひとりねのあはれひまなきたびごろもしぐれはれてもそではぬれけり
| hitorine no aware himanaki tabigoromo shigure haretemo sode wa nurekeri | Sleeping solo with No break from my sorrow, My traveller’s robe, Even should the showers clear, Would have soaking sleeves… |
Suesada
66
The configuration of the Left is extremely charming, but I do wonder about starting with a sorrowful journey in the showers and then taking a robe by mistake! The conception of the Right, starting with endless sorrow and then saying, ‘even should the showers clear’, seems pleasant. It seems that the Right wins.
Round Two
Left (Win)
ならしばのたびのいほりにおとづれてしぐれもいまぞやまめぐりする
| narashiba no tabi no iori ni otozurete shigure mo ima zo yama megurisuru | Oak boughs make My traveller’s hut, where I am visited by the sound of Showers—they, too, now Are on pilgrimage through the mountains.[1] |
Shōkaku
53
Right
たびごろもうらがなしかるあさぢふによはのしぐれよいかにせよとぞ
| tabigoromo uraganashikaru asajū ni yowa no shigure yo ika ni seyo to zo | In my traveller’s garb and Sad at heart among The clumps of cogon grass, O, midnight shower, Tell me, what I am I to do?[2] |
Jakuchō
54
While both Left and Right sound pleasant, I make the Left the winner, because it sounds slightly more moving at present, with a traveller’s hut being visited by showers.
[1]Alluding to: Composed when caught in a shower, while making a pilgrimage to one hundred temples in Higashiyama. もろともに山めぐりするしぐれかなふるにかひなき身とはしらずや morotomo ni / yamamegurisuru / shigure kana / furu ni kainaki / mi to wa shirazu ya ‘Together with me / On my mountain pilgrimage are / The showers! / ‘Tis pointless to fall / On my sorry self, don’t you know!’ Master of the Left Capital Office Michimasa (SKS IV: 149)
[2] Alluding to: 旅ごろもうらがなしさにあかしかね草の枕は夢もむすばず tabigoromo / uraganashisa ni / akashikane / kusa no makura wa / yume mo musubazu ‘In my traveller’s garb / My heart-sickness / I cannot lift, for / My grassy pillow / Brings no dreams, at all…’ Hikaru Genji (Genji monogatari 223)