One of Takekuma’s pines had withered.
たけくまのまつも一本かれにけりかぜにかたぶくこゑのさびしさ
takekuma no matu mo Fito moto karenikeri kaze ni katabuku kowe no sabisisa | At Takekuma A single pine Has withered; Brushed by the breeze Loneliness is given voice… |
On wind, from among His Former Majesty’s Miscellaneous poems.
ひびきくる松のうれより吹きおちて草にこゑやむ山の下風
hibikikuru matsu no ure yori fuki’ochite kusa ni koe yamu yama no shitakaze | Echoes come From the pine-branch tips, as Gusting down and Losing its voice among the grass Is the wind from off the mountains |
His Former Majesty [Fushimi]
Left
夏の日を暮らし侘びぬる蝉のまにわがなきそふるこゑはきこゆや[1]
natsu no hi o kurashiwabinuru semi no ma ni wa ga nakisouru koe wa kikoyu ya | The summer sun They know not how to endure, So with the cicadas My sobbing Voice do you hear? |
59
Right
恨みつつとどむる人のなければや山時鳥うかれでてなく
uramitsutsu todomuru hito no nakereba ya yama hototogisu ukaredete naku | How I constantly despise The one who’s staying here If he were gone, would The mountain cuckoo Have aimlessly left his home to sing? |
60
[1] The phrase semi no (‘the cicadas’) is missing from the text of the contest, but has been suggested by later scholarship.
Left (Win)
笛竹の聲のかぎりをつくしても猶憂きふしやよゝに殘らん
fuetake no koe no kagiri o tsukushitemo nao ukifushi ya yoyo ni nokoruran |
My bamboo flute’s Voice beyond its limits Might I push, and yet Still, would this sorrow Remain – even to the world to come? |
A Servant Girl
1091
Right
わが戀はまだ吹き馴れぬ横笛の音に立つれども逢かたもなし
wa ga koi wa mada fukinarenu yokobue no ne ni tatsuredomo au kata mo nashi |
My love: like An unpractised Set of pipes Gives out discordant sounds, yet No chance is there to meet… |
Lord Takanobu
1092
Left and Right together state: no faults.
In judgement: the Right’s pipes would seem to sound very youthful, indeed! As for the Left, although I feel I have heard such a conception before, because for the life of me I cannot recall where, the style seems tasteful. The Left wins.
Left
鳴くになど驚かるらむ時鳥呼ぶ人毎にありと聞きつつ
naku ni nado odorokaruramu Fototogisu yobu Fito goto ni ari to kikitutu |
Why does your song Startle me so O, cuckoo? All the folk you call Are there, do I ever hear… |
5
Right (Win)
知らねども答へやせまし時鳥元つ人てふ声を哀れと
siranedomo kotaFe ya semasi Fototogisu moto tu Fito teFu kowe wo aFare to |
I know it not, yet I wonder will you reply, O, cuckoo? A familiar friend’s Voice is moving, indeed. |
6