Left (Win)
さざ浪や志賀津の海士になりにけりみるめはなくて袖のしほるる
sazanami ya
shigatsu no ama ni
narinikeri
mirume wa nakute
sode no shioruru | Rocked by wavelets
A fisherman at Shiga Bay
Have I become!
Glimpsing no seaweed,
How my sleeves are soaked… |
Lord Suetsune
1171
Right
伊勢の海の底までかづく海人なれやみるめに人を思ふ心は
ise no umi no
soko made kazuku
ama nare ya
mirume ni hito o
omou kokoro wa | At Ise, to the sea
Bed dive
Fisher-girls: Am I one, too?
A seaweed-tangled glimpse of you
Lodging in my heart… |
Jakuren
1172
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: neither beginning nor end is sufficiently forcefully expressed.
In judgement: the conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘fisherman at Shiga Bay’ (shigatsu no ama) certainly seem splendid. That is really all there is to say about this poem. To make a deliberate point of seeking out elements which sound difficult is a pointless activity for the Way of Poetry and an individual poet. As for the Right’s poem, diving ‘to the sea bed’ (soko made) is just something that fisher-girls do. The Left must win.
Composed on the conception of blossom at a former estate.
ささ浪や志賀の都は荒れにしを昔ながらの山桜かな
sasanami ya
siga no miyako Fa
arenisi wo
mukasi nagara no
yamazakura kana |
Wavelets wash
The capital at Shiga –
All ruined now, but
Just as long ago are
The mountain cherry blooms. |
Anonymous
Left (Tie).
もろ聲にいたくな鳴きそさもこそはうき沼の池のかはづ成とも
morogoe ni
itaku na naki so
samo koso wa
ukinu no ike no
kawazu naritomo |
O, that in such a chorus
They would not sing!
However much
A swamp the pond of
Frogs may be! |
Lord Kanemune.
167
Right (Tie).
夜とゝもに浪の下にて鳴くかはづ何ゆへ深き恨みなるらん
yo to tomo ni
nami no shita nite
naku kawazu
nani yue fukaki
urami naruran |
With nightfall from
Beneath the wavelets
Call the frogs;
For what are such depths
Of despair… |
Lord Takanobu.
168
Once again, neither team has anything special to say this round.
Shunzei’s judgement is, ‘Both poems are similar in expression, mentioning “frogs” (kawazu), “swamp” (ukinu) and “depths of despair” (fukaki urami). The round should tie.’
Left (Win).
雨そゝく池の浮草風こえて浪と露とにかはづ鳴くなり
ame sosoku
ike no ukikusa
kaze koete
nami to tsuyu to ni
kawazu nakunari |
Rain drifts down
Upon the duckweed in the pond,
Driven by the wind
Among wavelets and dewfall
The frogs are calling. |
A Servant Girl.
165
Right.
庭の面はひとつに見ゆる浮草をこゝぞ汀とかはづ鳴なり
niwa no omo wa
hitotsu ni miyuru
ukikusa o
koko zo migiwa to
kawazu nakunari |
The garden’s face
Seems as one
With the duckweed;
‘Here lies the water’s edge,’
The frogs are calling… |
Jakuren.
166
Neither Right nor Left has any particular remarks to make about the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei says, ‘Both poems are splendid in form, but the Left’s ‘among the wavelets and dewfall’ (nami to tsuyu to ni) is particularly pleasing. It must win.
Topic unknown.
川上にゆふだちすらし水屑せく梁瀨のさ波たちさはぐなり
kaFakami ni
yuFudatisurasi
mikudu seku
yanase no sanami
tatisaFagu nari |
Upriver has
Evening come, I’m sure;
Bearing flotsam
To the fish-trapped shallows, the wavelets
Are awash with sound. |
Sone no Yoshitada
曾禰好忠
During the reign of Retired Emperor Horikawa, when he offered a hundred poem sequence, he composed this in the conception of the beginning of Spring.
こほりゐし志賀の唐崎うちとけてさゞ波よする春風ぞふく
koFori wisi
siga no karasaki
utitokete
sazanami yosuru
Faru kaze zo Fuku |
Once ice-locked,
Around Kara Cape in Shiga
There is a melting and
The wavelets lap
With the blowing breeze of Spring. |
Minister of the Treasury [Ōe no] Masafusa
'Simply moving and elegant'