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 (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.