Topic unknown.
山がつのかきねにさける卯の花はたが白妙の衣かけしぞ
| yamagatu no kakine ni sakeru unoFana Fa ta ga sirotaFe no koromo kakesi zo | By the woodcutter’s Brushwood fence a’blooming Deutzia: Whose white mulberry Robes are hung there? |
Anonymous[1]
[1] This poem is a minor variant on Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 11, which is attributed to Ōshikochi no Mitsune.
Composed on a large number of travellers being at mountain retreat surrounded by pine trees.
まれにきて聞くだにかなし山がつの苔のいほりの庭の松風
| mare ni kite kiku dani kanashi yamagatsu no koke no iori no niwa no matsukaze | Rarely do I come, but Even hearing it is so sad— In a woodcutter’s Mossy hut, The pinewinds through the garden.[i] |
589
[i] See: After the death of Sada’ie’s mother, around autumn time he was staying at a temple near her grave and composed this. まれにくる夜はもかなしき松風をたえずやこけのしたにきくらん mare ni kuru / yo wa mo kanashiki / matsu kaze o / taezu ya koke no / shita ni kikuran ‘Rarely did I come / At nights now I sorrowfully / Pine trees in the wind / Unceasingly beneath the moss / I wonder will you hear it?’ Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari (Shinkokinshū VIII: 796)
On ‘And how I long to see the woodcutter’s…’[i]
山がつのかきほにさけるなでしこのはなの心をしる人のなさ
| yamagatsu no kakio ni sakeru nadeshiko no hana no kokoro o shiru hito no nasa | By the woodcutter’s Lattice fence has bloomed A pink— A flower’s heart: There’s no one can understand! |
557
[i] Topic unknown. あなこひし今も見てしか山がつのかきほにさける山となでしこ ana koishi / ima mo miteshika / yamagatsu no / kakio ni sakeru / yamato nadeshiko ‘O, how sweet! / And how I long to see / The woodcutter’s / Lattice fence, where blooms / My darling Yamato pink!’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 695)
Round Two
Left
鶯は春をしりてもなきぬなる我が身は春をしらでこそなけ
| uguisu wa haru o shiritemo nakinunaru wa ga mi wa haru o shirade koso nake | The warbler Knowing of the springtime Cries out, but My sorry self, of spring All unknowing, cries. |
Masashige
3
Right (Win)
杣人よをののおとしばしとどめなん谷の鶯はつねなくなり
| somabito yo ono no oto shibashi todomenan tani no uguisu hatsune nakunari | O, woodcutter, Your axe’s sound, briefly Won’t you stop? For the warbler in the valley Has let out his first call… |
Kenshō
4
The Left’s poem, too, is smooth; the Right poem’s diction is halting, but its conception does not sound bad. It should win, I’d say.
Left (Win)
斧の柄を何かあやしと思けんしばしの恋も袖は朽ちけり
| ono no e o nani ka ayashi to omoiken shibashi no koi mo sode wa kuchikeri | An axe haft – What is there strange in that I wonder? For with this brief love My sleeves have rotted… |
Kenshō
1183
Right
あさましや心をしほる山人も身におふ程の歎きをぞこる
| asamashi ya kokoro o shioru yamabito mo mi ni ou hodo no nageki o zo koru | How surprising! Heartbroken A woodcutter, too, Is burdened by The tree of grief he fells… |
Lord Takanobu
1184
Left and Right together state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: For the Left, I wonder how long a ‘brief love’ (shibashi no koi) lasts? For one’s sleeves to have rotted, surely a certain amount of time must have passed, but in configuration the poem is certainly elegant. The Right’s woodcutter (yamabito) sounds like he is saying rather too much about himself. The Left should win.
