Topic unknown.
あき風のふきくるよひはきりぎりす草のねごとにこゑみだれけり[1]
| akikaze no fukikuru yoi wa kirigirisu kusa no ne goto ni koe midarekeri | The autumn wind Comes gusting late at night, when The crickets From every single blade of grass Let out confused cries. |
Anonymous
[1] This poem appears in the ‘Poetry Contest held at Prince Koresada’s House’ (Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase (42).
あきのよにたれをまつとかひぐらしのゆふぐれごとになきまさるらん
| aki no yo ni tare o matsu to ka higurashi no yūgure goto ni nakimasaruran | On an autumn night Who is it that you await, I wonder? The sundown cicadas With each evening Cry ever louder… |
41
あき風のふきくるよひはきりぎりす草のねごとにこゑみだれけり[1]
| akikaze no fukikuru yoi wa kirigirisu kusa no ne goto ni koe midarekeri | The autumn wind Comes gusting late at night, when The crickets From every single blade of grass Let out confused cries. |
42
久方の天照る月のにごりなく君が御代をばともにとぞ思ふ
| hisakata no ama teru tsuki no nigorinaku kimi ga miyo oba tomo ni to zo omou | The eternal Heaven-shining moon is So clear that My Lord’s reign Lives together with it in my thoughts! |
9
宵よひに秋の草葉におく露の玉にぬかむととれば消えつつ[1]
| yoiyoi ni aki no kusaba ni oku tsuyu no tama ni nukamu to toreba kietsutsu | Night after night Upon the blades of autumn grass Fall dewdrops; I would thread those jewels, but At a touch, ever do they vanish away… |
10
[1] This poem is also Shinsenzaishū 316, where it is attributed to Ōshikōchi no Mitsune.
すずむしのこゑにぞあかぬたまさかにゆきあふよひのかげをまつにも
| suzumushi no koe ni zo akanu tamasaka ni yukiau yoi no kage o matsu ni mo | Of the bell crickets’ Song, I never tire— Even when a rare Night’s coming together In moonlight I do await… |
Lady Jijū
Topic unknown.
うき雲のいざよふよひの村雨におひ風しるくにほふたちばな
| ukigumo no izayou yoi no murasame ni oikaze shiruku niou tachibana | Drifting clouds Trail through the night Bringing a summer shower and On the pursuing breeze, clearly, The scent of orange blossom. |
Fujiwara no Iemoto
Left
さりともと待べき程の情かは人頼めなる蛛のふるまゐ
| sari tomo to matsubeki hodo no nasake ka wa hito tanomenaru kumo no furumai |
However faint, I thought, Through all my waiting hours Were his feelings, He can be trusted, Says the spider’s spinning! |
Lord Ari’ie
1071
Right (Win)
はかなくぞさもあらましに待たれぬる頼めぬ宵の蜘蛛のふるまゐ
| hakanaku zo sa mo aramashi ni matarenuru tanomenu yoi no kumo no furumai |
Fleeting, but So be it, then, I thought, Awaiting; How unreliable is this night’s Spider’s spinning… |
Lord Takanobu
1072
Left and Right together: both poems are about spiders, and have no faults to mention.
In judgement: both poems seem elegant in their reference to ‘spider’s spinning’ (kumo no furumai). However, the Left’s central section recalls ‘Men are not trees or stone – they have feelings’ – while this is elegant diction in Chinese composition, it does not seem so in our own poetry. The Right’s ‘so be it then, I thought’ (sa mo aramashi) is fine, but ‘unreliable is this night’ (tanomenu yoi) sounds as if the night is already over. Princess Sotōri, too, has ‘must surely come tonight’ (kubeki yoi nari), but then appears to have ‘a certain sign’ (kanete shirushi mo). Still, this is surely describing a situation where one once had doubts, but feel that tonight is reliable. The Right is slightly superior.
Left (Tie)
思ひかねうち寢る宵もありなまし吹だにすさめ庭の松風
| omoikane uchineru yoi mo arinamashi fuki dani susame niwa no matsukaze |
Unable to bear the pains of love, and Dozing through the night – That happens sometimes; O, just blow gently, Breeze through the garden pines! |
A Servant Girl
1043
Right
思ひかねながむれば又夕日さす軒端の岡の松もうらめし
| omoikane nagamureba mata yūhi sasu nokiba no oka no matsu mo urameshi |
Unable to bear the pains of love, When I gaze out, once more The evening sun shines Past my eaves, where on the hillside Even the pines seem resentful… |
Ietaka
1044
Same as the previous round.
In judgement: here we have ‘O, just blow gently’ (fuki dani susame), and the Right has ‘Past my eaves, where on the hillside’ (nokiba no oka no): these recollect the poems ‘in the depths of sleep I tread to you’ (uchinuru naka ni yukikayou) and ‘the beams strike the hillside through the pine needles’ (sasu ya okabe no matsu no ha); both sound elegant. I make this round a tie.
庭に立つ麻布小衾今宵だに妻よしこせぬ麻ち小衾
| niFa ni tatu asade kobusuma koyoFi dani tuma yosikosenu asati kobusuma |
Standing in the grounds, Hemp, turned meagre bedding, but Even on this night My wife will not draw near My hempen bedding! |
Left (Win).
さはらずは今宵ぞ君を頼むべき袖には雨の時わかねども
| sawarazu wa koyoi zo kimi o tanomubeki sode ni wa ame no toki wakanedomo |
If you were unhindered On this night, then, my love, In you I could trust; But on my sleeves the rain Falls without surcease… |
Lord Sada’ie.
945
Right.
來ぬ人を待つ夜更け行秋の雨は袖にのみ降る心地こそすれ
| konu hito o matsu yo fukeyuku aki no ame wa sode ni nomi furu kokochi koso sure |
When a man who fails to come Is awaited and the night grows late, The autumn rain Falls on my sleeves, alone – That is what I feel! |
Ietaka.
946
The Right state: the phrase ‘if you were unhindered’ (sawarazu wa) sounds poor. The Left state: the Right have simply composed a poem just like Lord Yorimasa’s君戀ふとながめあかせる夜の雨は袖にしも降る心地こそすれ kimi kou to / nagame akaseru / yoru no ame wa / sode ni shimo furu / kokochi koso sure ‘That you love me / I have heard enough / This night when the rain / Upon my sleeves especially does fall – / That is what I feel!’.
In judgement: the Left are said to have a poor-sounding phrase, and the Right to have referred to Yorimasa’s poem. That it is difficult to entirely avoid to referring poems outside of the anthologies is something which people still seem to be unable to remember, but the Gentlemen of the Left have recalled this well. The final section of the Right’s poem does bear an uncanny resemblance to Yorimasa’s poem. If there should be a prior example of a phrase’s use, then while it maybe poor-sounding, the Left should win.
On wind.
泊瀬風かく吹く宵はいつまでか衣片敷き我がひとり寝む
| patuse kaze kaku puku yopi pa itu made ka koromo katasiki wa ga pitori nemu |
The winds at Hatsuse Blow so tonight: How long will it last? A single spread robe Where I sleep alone… |
Anonymous