Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
Cranes in a garden (庭上鶴馴)
Left
庭の面に人になれたるあしたづはよはひをきみにゆづるなるべし
| niwa no omo ni hito ni naretaru ashitazu wa yowai o kimi ni yuzurunarubeshi | Upon this garden’s face stands, Accustomed to folk, A crane; His years to my Lord Will he bestow, no doubt! |
A Court Lady
31
Right
千とせふるやどのけしきやしるからん汀のたづのなれにけるかな
| chitose furu yado no keshiki ya shirukaran migiwa no tazu no narenikeru kana | Is it that a thousand years old This dwelling does appear? For to the muddy Water’s edge the cranes Have become accustomed! |
A Court Lady
32
Pine seedlings on the Day of the Rat (子日小松)
Left
ねの日する松の葉ごとにかぞふれば猶ぞつきせぬきみが千とせは
| ne no hi suru matsu no ha goto ni kazoureba nao zo tsukisenu kimi ga chitose wa | On this Day of the Rat Every single pine needle I count, but Still the number would not exhaust The millennia of my Lord… |
A Court Lady
1
Right
はるかなる君がよはひにくらべむと子日の松をけふは引くかな
| harukanaru kimi ga yowai ni kurabemu to ne no hi no matsu o kyō wa hiku kana | Distant is My Lord’s age: To what might it compare? Why The Rat Day pines that We pick today! |
A Court Lady
2
Left (Tie).
年を經て遂に逢べき中ならば齢ばかりを歎かざらまし
| toshi o hete tsui ni aubeki naka naraba yowai bakari o nagekazaramashi |
If the years go by, and Finally, that we meet Should come to pass, Just our youth Should not be a source of grief! |
Lord Suetsune.
859
Right.
比べ來し振分髪のそのかみも終の思やなを遊びけん
| kurabekoshi furiwakegami no sono kami mo tsui no omoi ya nao asobiken |
We did match Our hair, bunched on either side: Back then, That, at last, our passions would Join – I wonder, did we know it? |
Nobusada.
860
The Right state: the conception of youth is lacking. The Left state: the initial part simply resembles the original poem.
In judgement: the Left’s poem, from beginning to end, uses nothing but commonplace diction. The Right’s poem, too, really says nothing beyond the sense of its origin poem. The poems are of the same quality.