yara no saki tsukikage samushi okitsudori kamo to iu fune ukinesurashi mo
Above Yara Point The moonlight is chill above A bird upon the offing, The boat named ‘Duck’ Seems to drift, dozing…[i]
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[i] See: [One of] Ten poems by fishermen from Shiga, in the province of Chikuzen. 奥鳥 鴨云舟者 也良乃崎 多未弖榜来跡 所聞礼許奴可聞 okitsutori / kamo to iu fune wa / yara no saki / tamite kogiku to / kikoekonu kamo ‘As a bird upon the offing / The boat named ‘Duck’ / Around Yara Point / Has come a’rowing— / Won’t someone come to hear…’ (Man’yōshū XVI: 3867)
The Right state: what gives rise to the idea in the Left’s poem? The Gentlemen of the Left state: there are no faults we can find.
In judgement: what sort of bird is it that ‘soaring through the skies gives a single call’ (sora tobu tori no hitogoe)? I wonder if there is a suitable source for this? That being said, I doubt the Gentlemen of the Right’s point is pertinent. It has been stated that the Right’s poem lacks any faults. It must win.
