Round Three

Left (Win)

うきよにもはなのさかりになりぬればものおもふ人はあらじとぞ思ふ

ukiyo ni mo hana no sakari ni narinureba mono’omou hito wa araji to zo omou

Even in this cruel world The blossoms in profusion Are, so Folk sunk in gloomy thought Are there likely not a one, I feel!

Retired from the world on Mount Uji
5

Right

ちらざらむことこそはなのかたからめわびてはさてもしばしあらなむ

chirazaramu koto koso hana no katakarame wabite wa sate mo shibashi aranamu

Not to scatter For the blossoms is a thing So hard— It may be painful, but still I would have them stay a while.

Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
6

I fail to understand—at all—why there should be a large number of people for whom the world is cruel. This is deeply unpleasant. In connection with this there’s an older poem which says ‘innumerable, my sorry self alone has caused these woes’.[i] The poem of the Right has ‘It may be painful, but still / I would have them stay a while’—if the blossoms have not yet scattered, then how can this still be painful? I cannot grasp the diction and reasoning of these two poems, so they tie.

The poem of the Left has some conception—it appears to be expressing sentiments that are natural. It’s extremely charming how it links with the conception of the old expression ‘the heart of spring’.[ii] However, the diction ‘feel/think’ [omou] appears in two places. I do feel that in terms of the sequencing of the phrasing, that’s certainly how it is, so it’s not a fault as such, but I would have preferred to see the second usage at the beginning of its line. As for the poem of the Right, from ‘painful’ to the end, it is immature. It doesn’t sound like a poem and resembles prosaic speech. Thus, I have to say the Left is the winner.

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[i] Mototoshi appears to be misremembering this poem: Topic unknown. おほかたのわが身ひとつのうきからになべての世をも怨みつるかな ōkata no / wa ga mi hitotsu no / uki kara ni / nabete no yo o mo / uramitsuru kana ‘In general / My sorry self, alone, / Has caused these woes, but / Still all of this common world / I do despise!’ Tsurayuki (SIS XV: 953).

[ii] Toshiyori is referring to this poem from Kokinshū here: Composed at the Nagisa Palace when he saw the cherries in bloom. 世中にたえてさくらのなかりせば春の心はのどけからまし yo no naka ni / taete sakura no / nakariseba / haru no kokoro wa / nodokekaramashi ‘If, in this world of ours / All the cherry blossom / Disappeared / The heart of spring / Might find peace.’ Ariwara no Narihira (KKS I: 53).