Lodging on a journey.
みなと風いたくな吹きそしながどりゐなの水うみに船とむるまで
| minato kaze itaku na fuki so shinagatori ina no mizu’umi ni fune tomuru made | O, harbour breeze Blow not so strongly! Until At waterbird-filled Ina Lake The ferry has made port…[i] |
570
[i] See: 大海尓 荒莫吹 四長鳥 居名之湖尓 舟泊左右手 ōki umi ni/ arashi na fuki so / shinagatori / ina no minato ni / fune hatsuru made ‘Across the sea so wide, / Blow not so, o storm wind! Until / At waterbird-filled / Ina port / My boat has come to rest…’ (Man’yōshū VII: 1189)
The scent of orange blossom incense on the breeze[i]
Left
ふくかぜに花たちばなぞにほふなるむかしのそでにあやまたれつつ
| fuku kaze ni hanatachibana zo niou naru mukashi no sode ni ayamataretsutsu | With the gusting breeze Orange blossom’s Fragrance comes— For those sleeves of bygone days Do I ever mistake it… |
13
Right
つねよりもことにもあるかなけふをまつはなたちばなのかぜのにほひは
| tsune yori mo koto ni mo aru kana kyō o matsu hanatachibana no kaze no nioi wa | More than ever So special it is! For today have I awaited, Orange blossom’s Scented breeze… |
14
In general, orange blossom is scented during early summer showers or has its fragrance carried on the evening breeze, so I wonder about the folk of bygone days: there’s nothing to compare it with, making the Left’s poem as hackneyed as one on Isonokami, yet there’s nothing special about it, like a weed growing under the eaves. The Right’s poem has ‘for today have I awaited’, which I think requires a reference to sweet-flags. My overall impression of both poems is that their conceptions are unclear.
[Judge’s poem missing]
[i] Rōkitsu bōfū 盧橘芳風
Round Twenty-Nine
Left (Win)
宮城のの木下風や過ぎぬらん露におくるる秋萩の花
| miyagino no ko no shitakaze ya suginuran tsuyu ni okururu akihagi no hana | On Miyagi Plain has The breeze beneath the trees Passed by? For Missing the dewfall are The autumn bush clover blooms… |
Takasuke
57
Right
物おもふやどの物とてながむれば露にをれふす庭の萩原
| mono’omou yado no mono tote nagamureba tsuyu ni orefusu niwa no hagiwara | Sunk in gloomy thought is The one who dwells here, I feel, When I gaze upon, Broken and tangled among the dewdrops, The bush clover grove in the grounds… |
Shimotsuke
58
The Left poem’s ‘Missing the dewfall are the autumn bush clover’ sounds pleasant. The Right poem has no faults either, yet the Left should win.
Round Twenty-Six
Left
秋萩の露もよすがのさがり葉も風吹きたつる色ぞ身にしむ
| akihagi no tsuyu mo yosuga no sagariba mo kaze fukitatsuru iro zo mi ni shimu | On the autumn bush clover Dewdrops rest upon The dangling leaves, Whipped up by the wind, Their hues sharply sink into my flesh. |
The Former Minister of the Centre
51
Right (Win)
さだめなき風を待つ間もうつろひぬもとあらの萩にむすぶ白露
| sadamenaki kaze o matsu ma mo utsuroinu motoara no hagi ni musubu shiratsuyu | While the unsettled Breeze they do await, Faded from The sparse bush clover have The clinging dewdrops.[1] |
Kozaishō
52
The Left poem’s ‘rest upon the dangling leaves, whipped up by the wind’ seems a novel style, and yet, even though everything about dangling leaves is contained in the Ancient and Modern, it does not sound particularly evocative. The Right lacks even a small fault and appears gorgeous, so it should win.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 宮木野のもとあらの小萩つゆをおもみ風をまつごと君をこそまつ miyagino no / motoara no kohagi / tsuyu o omomi / kaze o matsu goto / kimi o koso matsu ‘On Miyagi Plain / The sparse bush clover / Weighed down with dewdrops / Awaits the wind, just as / I do wait for you…’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 694)