Left (Tie)
よそにのみ隣の笛を聞き来しに我身の上に音こそ絶えせね
| yoso ni nomi tonari no fue o kikikoshi ni wa ga mi no ue ni ne koso taesene |
Simply a stranger to me is The flute from next door Drifting to my ear, but Upon me fall Nothing but endless cries. |
Lord Ari’ie
1083
Right
夜もすがらよそに聞きつる笛の音の片敷く袖に移りぬる哉
| yomosugara yoso ni kikitsuru fue no ne no katashiku sode ni utsurinuru kana |
All through the night I heard a strange Flute’s strains; On a single spread sleeve Have they come to rest… |
Nobusada
1084
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of the sound of a flute coming to rest on sleeves?
In judgement: both poems are about the ‘sounds of a flute’, with the Left having them ‘upon me fall’ (wa ga mi no ue ni) endlessly, and the Right resting ‘on a single spread sleeve’ (katashiku sode ni). Neither has a conception of love which is greater or lesser than the other. I must make this round a tie.