しのぶやました行く水の年をへてわきこそかへれ逢ふよしをなみ
| shinobuyama shita yuku mizu no toshi o hete waki koso kaere au yoshi o nami | At Shinobu Mountain’s Foot flows water Through the years Ever seething, though I have no way to meet her at all… |
477

An old man feeling the sadness of the twilight of the year[i]
しらがといひおいぬるけにやことしあれば年のはやくもおもほゆるかな
| shiraga to ii oinuru ke ni ya koto shi areba toshi no hayaku mo omohoyuru kana | Is it my hair so white That means I have grown old? But now in everything That the years go by so fast, I feel! |
394


Round Fifteen
Left
わかのうらとおもふばかりをたのみにてやどもさだめぬあまのこぞうき
| waka no ura to omou bakari o tanomi nite yado mo sadamenu ama no ko zo uki | At Waka Bay, for my youth Simply do I long; Relying on A homeless Son of fisherfolk is sad, indeed. |
Kyō
129
Right (Win)
すみよしのまつことなくていたづらにとしはつもりのうらみをぞする
| sumiyoshi no matsu koto nakute itazura ni toshi wa tsumori no urami o zo suru | At Sumiyoshi Pine I do not, but How quickly The years have laid Their despite upon me! |
Suehiro
130
The Left, while it does sound truly pitiful, truly could have had something in mind as an outcome of youth at Waka Bay. As for the Right, simply that ‘The years have laid / Their despite’ without pining, I know only too well, so I can say that the Right wins.




Round Ten
Left (Win)
かぞふればやとせへにけりあはれわがしづみしことはきのふとおもふに
| kasoureba yatose henikeri aware wa ga shizumishi koto wa kinō to omou ni | When I count them up, Many years have passed, but Sadness Overcomes me for the events Of yesterday, I feel… |
Lord Sanesada
119
Right
いたづらにふりぬるみをもすみよしのまつはさりともあはれしるらむ
| itazura ni furinuru mi o mo sumiyoshi no matsu wa sari tomo aware shiruramu | How quickly Age has come upon my flesh, too— Sumiyoshi’s Pines must that Sadness know too well… |
Lord Toshinari
120
The poem of the Left: these are not matters which could be understood by just anyone, yet even a superficial glance at it reveals that its conception and configuration display and exceptional sadness. How true it is that off all the myriad things in our lives it is the events of yesterday and today that we recall, and this is how we pass through the years and months, so how difficult, indeed, it is to supress the configuration of ‘When I count them up, / Many years have passed’! As for the Right’s poem, well, the conception of the initial section is pedestrian at best, although the latter section does seem to have some conception to it in places and shows some signs of thought. It is the poor composition of the judge, who is into his dotage. Once more, therefore, I have not rendered judgement, however, I feel that the deity would determine in favour of the Left.



