Ivy
太山木の色かへぬ枝も見えぬまでかかれる蔦は紅葉しにけり
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miyamagi no iro kaenu e mo mienu made kakareru tsuta wa momijishinikeri | Deep within the mountains, trees’ Hues have changed, so even the boughs Are gone from view; The dangling ivy Has turned completely scarlet. |
Minamoto no Akinaka
源顕仲
Left
君ゆへにわれさへうとく成はてゝ塵のみゐたる床のさむしろ
| kimi yue ni ware sae utoku narihatete chiri nomi itaru toko no samushiro |
For him So distant have I Become; Dust alone gathers On the matting of my bed. |
Lord Ari’ie
1131
Right (Win)
さむしろも哀とや思ふあらましに來ぬ君待つとうち拂ふをば
| samushiro mo aware to ya omou aramashi ni konu kimi matsu to uchiharau o ba |
Does my matting, too, Feel pity, I wonder? As waiting for one who never comes I sweep it clean… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1132
The Right state: the Left’s poem is not bad. The Left state: the final section of the Right’s poem is unsatisfactory.
In judgement: Both poems use ‘matting’ (samushiro), and the Left’s is not bad in form, but the theme of a person who has grown to hate their own bed so much that dust alone gathers there is completely different from that of the previous round – what sort of lover might they have had, one wonders! Although I wonder about the final section of the Right’s poem, it does not seem to regret the overall conception of love and so wins the round.
Left (Tie)
出にける君が夜床の狭筵にひとり寝してや肌を触れまし
| idenikeru kimi ga yodoko no samushiro ni hitorineshite ya hada o furemashi |
Departed Is he from our bed tonight, so On his blanket Should I sleep alone, Might I touch his skin? |
Kenshō
1129
Right
綾むしろ立ち寄る人はなけれどもあらましにのみ敷きてこそ待て
| ayamushiro tachiyoru hito wa nakeredomo aramashi ni nomi shikite koso mate |
To my patterned blanket He has not Drawn near, yet In simple longing Will I spread it and await him… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1130
Both Left and Right together state: this seems somewhat jocular.
In judgement: the Left’s conception of starting with ‘departed’ (idenikeru), as the poem of a woman sleeping alone and finding traces of a the man who has left on the blanket, sounds extremely poor in style. On the other hand, if it is a man’s poem, has he come upon the traces of a woman after she has left? In any case, whichever it is the initial line is not good at all. The Right’s poem, with its ‘to my patterned blanket he has not drawn near, yet’ (ayamushiro tachiyoru hito wa nakeredomo), also appears to be a woman’s poem. The Left’s humour, and the Right’s longing, are both eccentric. The round must tie.