Autumn III: 12

Left (Win).

時分かぬ浪さへ色に泉川柞の杜に嵐吹らし

toki wakanu
nami sae iro ni
izumigawa
hahaso no mori ni
arashi fukurashi
Ever unchanging,
Even the waves have coloured
On Izumi River;
In the oak groves
Have the wild winds blown.

Lord Sada’ie.

443

Right.

秋深き岩田の小野の柞原下葉は草の露や染らん

aki fukaki
iwata no ono no
hahasowara

shitaba wa kusa no
tsuyu ya somuran
Autumn’s deep at
Iwata-no-Ono
In the oak groves
Have the lower leaves by grass
Touched dewfall been dyed?

Ietaka.

444

Neither team has any criticisms to make of the other’s poem.

Shunzei’s judgement: The total effect of the Left’s ‘even the waves have coloured on Izumi River’ (nami sae iro in izumigawa) is most superior [sugata wa yū narubeshi]. However, there does not appear to be any element linked to the final section’s ‘wild winds’ (arashi) in the initial part of the poem. The Right has ‘have the lower leaves by grass touched dewfall been dyed?’ (shitaba wa kusa no tsuyu ya somuran), without, in the initial section having an expression like ‘treetops stained by showers’ (kozue wa shigure somu), and I wonder about having the lower leaves on the trees touched by ‘dewfall on the grass’ (kusa no tsuyu). The Left’s ‘have the wild winds blown’ should win.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *