When he had finally, after great effort, received a letter from a woman who would give him no reply.
跡みれば心なぐさのはまちどり今は声こそきかまほしけれ
| ato mireba kokoro nagusa no Famatidori ima Fa kowe koso kikamaFosikere | Seeing these tracks Does ease my heart Plover on the beach, but Now, it is your voice, indeed, That I long to hear more!’ |
Anonymous
Round Six
Left (Win)
うれしさはおほつのはまにたつなみのかずもしられぬきみがみよかな
| ureshisa wa ōtsu no hama ni tatsu nami no kazu mo shirarenu kimi ga miyo kana | My joy is Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach Break waves In numbers quite unknown, Such is my Lord’s reign most fair! |
Cell of Fragrant Cloud
67
Right
かすがやまみねのしらがしよろづよをきみにといへばかみもいさめず
| kasugayama mine no shiragashi yorozuyo o kimi ni to ieba kami mo isamezu | Kasuga Mountain has White-barked evergreen oaks upon its peak: ‘Ten thousand generations For my Lord!’—should I say that, The God will surely not refuse! |
Cell of Compassionate Light
68
The poem of the Left’s ‘Great, as upon Ōtsu Beach’ and what follows is something that sounds grievously prosaic. With that said, there are many parts of the poem which are not. What is the poem of the Right’s ‘White-barked evergreen oaks on its peak / Ten thousand generations’ linked with in the remainder of the poem? I wonder what it’s composed about… The Left doesn’t contain any errors, so I still say it wins.
The Left’s poem, as I have said in an earlier round, appears to lack smoothness. Is the poem of the Right’s ‘white-barked evergreen oaks’ a long-standing expression? I can’t seem to recall a prior precedent. ‘The God will surely not refuse’ is vague, too. Is it asking the deity’s favour for the speaker? While I am somewhat hesitant, given my appallingly constricted knowledge, I will, fearfully, say that this is inferior.
Round Twelve
Left (T – Win)
わが恋はたかしの浜にゐる田鶴の尋ねてゆかん方もおぼえず
| wa ga koi wa takashi no hama ni iru tazu no tazuneteyukan kata mo oboezu | My love is Upon Takashi Beach A resting crane— He will go a’visting, but Where? No one knows… |
Lord Tamezane
71
Right (M – Win)
あふことのたのむる人のなきときはよをうき物と思ひぬるかな
| au koto no tanomuru hito no naki toki wa yo o uki mono to omoinuru kana | To meet with me Is there no one I can trust— At such times The world is such a cruel place I feel! |
Lord Tokimasa
72
Toshiyori states: the poems of both Left and Right seem to be of about the same standard. The first poem displays slightly better technique, but there’s nothing to point out about it. The later poem doesn’t do anything. I would say ‘A resting crane— / He will go a’visiting’ wins.
Mototoshi states: as for the poem about ‘My love is / Upon Takashi Beach’: it really seems to me that if you mention Takashi – heights – then you need to mention waves. After all, in reply to Tadafusa Tsurayuki composed, ‘The waves offshore / Rise high; on the beach at Takashi’, and while there are many beaches, I recklessly feel its mistaken not to have waves linked with Takashi Beach—although, of course, this may be a failing of my elderly mind. The poem of the Right’s ‘feeling in a cruel place’ seems a bit smoother in the current context.
