When His Majesty’s gentlemen were composing poems on love and the wind, during the reign of former emperor Toba.
おひかぜに八重のしほぢをこぐ舟のほのかにだにもあひみてしかな
| oikaze ni yae no shioji o kogu fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshi kana | The pursuing wind Tracks ‘cross eightfold tidal paths To reach the boat a’rowing out, Its sails, so distant, but Even a glimpse of you would do! |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Morotoki
When Cloistered Prince Shukaku ordered him to compose a fifty poem sequence.
たれとしもしらぬ別のかなしきはまつらがおきをいづるふな人
| tare to shimo shiranu wakare no kanashiki wa matsura ga oki o izuru funabito | Who that is I know not, but parting’s Sadness strikes On the offing at Matsura where He departs on his boat… |
Lord Fujiwara no Takanobu
Left (Tie)
あふことのいまはかたほになるふねのかざままつ身はよるかたもなし
| au koto no ima wa katao ni naru fune no kazama matsu mi wa yoru kata mo nashi | Meeting you has made me Now a reef-sailed Boat Awaiting the wind, with No course to set. |
33
Right
ねでまちしはつかのつきのはつかにもあひみしことをいつかわすれむ
| nede machishi hatsuka no tsuki no hatsuka ni mo aimishi koto o itsuka wasuremu | Sleepless I awaited The twentieth night’s moon, when In the dimness We did meet— When might I forget it? |
34
Autumn
Left
秋の夜の有明にみれど久堅の月のかつらはうつろはぬかな
| aki no yo no ariake ni miredo hisakata no tsuki no katsura wa utsurouwanu kana | An autumn night’s Dawn I see, yet The eternal Moon’s silver trees Show no sign of fading! |
13
秋萩の花咲く比の白露は下ばのためとわきて置くべし
| aki hagi no hana saku koro no shiratsuyu wa shitaba no tame to wakite okubeshi | In autumn, the bush clover Flowers bloom—just then Silver dewdrops For the under-leaves Do fall, marking every one. |
14
秋風はいなばもそよとふきつめりかりみる程と成りやしぬらん
| akikaze wa inaba mo soyo to fukitsumeri kari miru hodo to nari ya shinuran | The autumn breeze Seems to rustle the rice stalks As it blows; Seeing if ‘tis time to reap them— Is that what it is, I wonder? |
15
Right
銀河とわたる舟は花薄ほにいづるほどぞかげもみゆべき
| ama no kawa towataru fune wa hanasusuki ho ni izuru hodo zo kage mo miyubeki | Across the River of Heaven A boat goes ferrying: When the silver grass Ears burst into bloom, Can its shape be seen. |
16
女郎花さがの花をば色ながら秋をさかりといはれずもがな
| ominaeshi saga no hana oba iro nagara aki o sakari to iwarezu mogana | Maidenflowers: Blossoms from Saga Reveal their hues, and In autumn are most fine—that Goes without saying! |
17
小男鹿の朝たつ霧にうりふ山嶺の梢は色こかりけり
| saoshika no asa tatsu kiri ni urifuyama mine no kozue wa iro kokarikeri | Stags Within the rising morning mist on Urifu Moutain, where The treetops on the peak Have taken darker hues. |
18
Left (Tie)
舟のうちにさしも浮きたる契までうらやむ程のえにこそ有けれ
| fune no uchi ni sashimo ukitaru chigiri made urayamu hodo no e ni koso arikere | Within a boat Such a brief Bond is formed; yet Do I envy it, I really do! |
Lord Ari’ie
1147
Right
その人と分きて待つらん妻よりもあはれは深き浪の上哉
| sono hito to wakite matsuran tsuma yori mo aware wa fukaki nami no ue kana | There is her, and My waiting Wife: Far fonder am I Upon the waves! |
Nobusada
1148
Left and Right state: neither has any fault.
In judgement: the configuration and diction of both poems sounds pleasant. I must make this a tie.
Left
うき舟に一夜ばかりの契だになどありがたき我身なるらむ
| ukifune ni hitoyo bakari no chigiri dani nado arigataki wa ga mi naruramu | In a drifting boat A single night’s Brief bond – even that: Why so rarely Do I get it? |
Lord Suetsune
1145
Right (Win)
誰となきうき寢を忍ぶ海人の子も思へば淺き恨み也けり
| tare to naki ukine o shinobu ama no ko mo omoeba asaki urami narikeri | Knowing not with whom She’ll briefly sleep, and regret Is my diving girl: But considering, little Will it trouble her! |
Ietaka
1146
The Right state: ‘drifting boat’ (ukifune) fails to link properly with ‘single night’ (hitoyo). The Left state: although ‘diving girl’ (ama no ko) is used in the source poem in the section on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, we wonder about the appropriateness of simply using it to mean pleasure girl.
In judgement: there is no need to critique whether or not ‘drifting boat’ links with ‘single night’. In the final section ‘why so rarely’ (nado arigataki), though, makes me wonder why this should be the case! On the matter of the Right’s use of ‘diving girl’, our predecessors, including Lord Kintō, have provided poems on pleasure girls in the Collection of Poems to Sing, and who, indeed, would not utilize this? Furthermore, ‘knowing not with whom she’ll briefly sleep, and regret’ (tare to naki ukine o shinobu) certainly sounds like a pleasure girl! Thus, the Right must win over a pleasure girl finding it hard to get custom.
Left (Tie).
遠ざかる人の心は海原の沖行く舟の跡の潮風
| tōzakaru hito no kokoro wa unabara no oki yuku funa no ato no shiokaze |
Ever more distant grows His heart: Into the sea-plains of The offing goes a boat, Wake touched by the tidewinds… |
Lord Sada’ie
981
Right.
わたつ海の浪のあなたに人は住む心あらなん風の通ひ路
| wata tsu umi no nami no anata ni hito wa sumu kokoro aranan kaze no kayoiji |
The endless sea: Beyond its waves Does my love live; Had they any pity, The winds would make my path to her! |
Nobusada
982
The Gentlemen of the Right state: there are too many uses of no. Would it not have been better to reduce their number with, for example, ‘o, sea-plains!’ (unabara ya)? We also wonder about the use of ‘wake touched by the tidewinds’ (ato no shiokaze). The Gentlemen of the Left state: ‘does my love live’ (hito wa sumu) is grating on the ear.
In judgement: saying that the Left’s poem has too many identical words is clearly relying upon the long-established hornet-hip or crane-knee faults. In today’s poetry there are countless poems in which these faults can be identified. In addition, ‘into the sea-plains’ (unabara no) and ‘o, sea-plains’ (unabara ya) are the same. I may be wrong here, but it seems to me that in this poem, it has to be ‘into the sea-plains’. Finally, ‘wake touched by the tidewinds’ is elegant. As for the Right’s ‘beyond its waves does my love live’ (nami no anata ni hito wa sumu), this is not grating, is it? It seems that the Gentleman of the Right, being so well-read in Chinese scholarship, has required revisions to the faulty poem of the Left in the absence of the judge. Thus, what can a grand old fool do but make the round a tie.
