Topic unknown.
君やこむ我やゆかむのいさよひにまきのいたどもささずねにけり
kimi ya komu ware ya yukamu no isayoFi ni maki no itado mo sasazu nenikeri | Will you come, or Should I go? Caught in hesitation, My door of cedar boards Unbarred, do I fall asleep. |
Anonymous
Left (Tie).
故郷に見し面影も宿りけり不破の関屋の板間洩る月
furusato ni mishi omokage mo yadorikeri fuwa no sekiya no itama moru tsuki |
Back home I saw her face, and It lodges here, At the Barrier House at Fuwa, In the moonlight leaking through the boards. |
A Servant Girl
1007
Right.
人恋ふる我ながめよ思けり須磨の関屋の有明の月
hito kouru ware nagameyo omoikeri suma no sekiya no ariake no tsuki |
Loving you, I will ever gaze, I thought, At the Barrier House at Suma On the dawntime moon. |
Nobusada
1008
The Right state: the Left’s poem is good. The Left state: the Right’s poem lacks any faults to indicate.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘Barrier House at Fuwa’ (fuwa no sekiya) followed by ‘the moonlight leaking through the boards’ (itama moru tsuki) is truly charming. In addition, if one wonders why ‘I saw her face’ (mishi omokage mo) has been used, it is certainly reminiscent of the poem ‘The dawntime moon, too, lodges in the waters clear’, but an improvement on it. It is difficult to say, however, that the Right’s ‘At the Barrier House at Suma on the dawntime moon’ (suma no sekiya no ariake no tsuki) is in any way inferior.
Left.
独のみ寢屋の板間もあはずして雨も涙も所せきまで
hitori nomi neya no itama mo awazushite ame mo namida mo tokoroseki made |
All alone, and The boards above my bedchamber Fail to come together; Until with raindrops and tears both I am excessively… |
Lord Ari’ie.
943
Right (Win).
深き夜の寢覺に何を思けむ窓打ちてすさむ暁の雨
fukaki yo no nezame ni nani o omoikemu mado uchisusamu akatsuki no ame |
Late within the night, I start awake; what Was in my thoughts? Beating against my window is The dawntime rain. |
Jakuren.
944
The Right state: we cannot grasp the sense of the Left’s use of ‘until’ (made). The Left state: the Right’s poem is certainly not easy to understand on hearing.
In judgement: is not the use of ‘until’ (made) simply because it is appropriate to conclude a poem with that syllable? I can see nothing problematic with the use of ‘beating against my window’ (mado uchisusamu) in the Right’s poem. Thus, I make the Right the winner.
Left.
伎倍人のまだら衾は板間より霜置く夜半の名にこそ有けれ
kiehito no madarabusuma wa itama yori shimo oku yowa no na ni koso arikere |
The Kie folk’s Motley-coloured coverlet: From between the boards The falling midnight frost has Given that name to mine! |
583
Right.
冴ゆる夜は天つ乙女もいかならん風もたまらぬ麻手小衾
sayuru yo wa ama tsu otome mo ika naran kaze mo tamaranu asade kobususma |
On this chill, clear night The maidens of the Heavens, too, How must they feel? Unable to avoid the wind, With only a meagre hempen blanket! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
584
The Gentlemen of the Right state: we don’t understand the reference to ‘Kie Folk’ (kiehito). In response, the Gentlemen of the Left state: it occurs in the Man’yōshū. We have nothing more to say than that.
Shunzei’s judgement: although various remarks have been made about ‘Kie Folk’, and it has been said that it occurs in the Man’yōshū, it is not acceptable to simply say that and then say nothing more. It does appear to be something which it is acceptable to extract from the Man’yōshū and compose with, though. The Right’s poem, too, with its conception of frost falling on a ‘meagre hempen blanket’ (asade kobususma) is in a Man’yō style [fūtei]. It is also certainly the case that it is not unreasonable for the Left to have used ‘motley-coloured coverlet’ (madarabususma). The Round should tie.