Topic unknown.
もろこしのよしのの山にこもるともおくれむと思ふ我ならなくに
| morokosi no yosino no yama ni komoru tomo okuremu to omoFu ware naranaku ni | Even in Cathay’s Yoshino Mountains Should you be trapped, Thinking to abandon you— No, that is not I… |
The Minister of the Left
Autumn
Round Seven
Left
秋山はからくれなゐに成りにけりいくしほしぐれふりてそめけん
| akiyama wa karakurenai ni narinikeri iku shio shigure furite someken | The autumn mountains To Cathay scarlet Have turned; How many dippings with drizzle Have fallen to dye them so? |
13[1]
Right (Win)
秋きぬとめにはさやかにみえねども風の音にぞおどろかれぬる
| aki kinu to me ni wa sayaka ni mienedomo kaze no oto ni zo odorokarenuru | That autumn has come With my eyes, clearly, I cannot see, yet The sound of the wind Has startled me. |
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki 14[2]
[1] Shokugosenshū VII: 429
[2] This poem was particularly highly evaluated and so is included in numerous other anthologies (Kokin rokujō I: 125), exemplary collections (Shinsen waka 2) and senka awase – contests assembled from prior poems (Shunzei sanjū roku nin uta’awase 61; Jidai fudō uta’awase 49).
Left (Tie)
身を捨てゝ思へといはゞ唐国の虎臥す谷に世をもつくさん
| mi o sutete omoe to iwaba karakuni no tora fusu tani ni yo o mo tsukusan |
‘Abandon all restraint, and Love me!’ say that, and In far Cathay, In a valley where tiger’s lie Would I end my life! |
Kenshō
1065
Right
もろこしの虎臥す嶋もへだつらん思はぬ中のうときけしきは
| morokoshi no tora fusu shima mo hedatsuran omowanu naka no utoki keshiki wa |
In Cathay, Isles where tigers lie Stand in between: A heedless love’s Chill is such a sight! |
Jakuren
1066
Left and Right together: both tigers do not seem to emphasise anything in particular.
In judgement: both poems refer to ‘tigers’ (tora), with the Left having ‘a valley where tigers lie’ (tora fusu tani) and the Right ‘isles where tigers lie’ (tora fusu shima). These seem to be an attempt to differ from the standard ‘meadow’ (nobe). Saying ‘valley’ or ‘isles’ makes both poems sound modern. They are of the same quality.
Left (Win)
唐国の虎臥す野邊に入るよりもまどふ戀路の末ぞあやうき
| karakuni no tora fusu nobe ni iru yori mo madou koiji no sue zo ayauki |
In far Cathay are Meadows where tigers lie, But rather than entering there, The confusing paths of love Are, at the end, more dangerous… |
Lord Ari’ie
1063
Right
我宿は人もかれ野の淺茅原通ひし駒の跡もとゞめず
| wa ga yado wa hito mo kareno no asajiwara kayoishi koma no ato mo todomezu |
At my home Is only a withered field Of cogon grass; The mount who once did cross it Has left no lingering tracks… |
Ietaka
1064
The Gentlemen of the Right state: how can love be dangerous? The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: saying that the ‘paths of love are, at the end’ (koiji no sue) dangerous is perfectly commonplace. ‘Is only a withered field of cogon grass’ (hito mo kareno no asajiwara) seems to simply have taken the poem ‘Sedge fields lie / Around the estate of Fushimi, / All long overgrown; / He who passed across them / Has left no tracks at all…’ and swapped in ‘mount who once did cross it’ (kayoishi koma). Changing a man into a mount is discomposing, indeed. Again, the Left should win.
On the conception of the beginning of spring, composed for a hundred poem sequence for the Lay Priest and former Regent and Chancellor, when he was Minister of the Right.
今日といへば大唐までもゆく春を都にのみと思ひけるかな
| kyō to ieba morokoshi made mo yuku haru o miyako ni nomi to omoikeru kana |
On this day, the spring that Even unto Cathay Will travel is In the capital alone I feel! |
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Shunzei
皇太后宮大夫俊成
Composed on the Third Day at a banquet at the estate of Yakamochi, Lord Ōtomo.
漢人も栰を浮べて遊ぶとふ今日そわが背子花蘰せな
| karabito mo pune wo ukabete asobu topu kepu so wa ga seko pana kadurasena |
The folk of Cathay, too, Drift in their boats At play, ‘tis said, Upon this day, my love, Won’t you wear, this garland, in your hair? |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
[One of] two poems composed at the farewell festivities at the house of Ōtomo no Kojihi, Captain of the Outer Palace Bodyguards, for Ōtomo no Komaro, who was going as deputy ambassador on an embassy to China.
韓国に 行き足らはして帰り来むますら健男に御酒奉る
| karakuni ni yukitarapasite kaperikomu masura takewo ni miki tatematuru |
In Cathay when All you have done Return to us O mighty man To whom I proffer this esteemed draught! |
Master of Hawks, Tajihi no Mahito
多治比真人
Left.
唐土の見ず知らぬ世の人ばかり名にのみ聞きて止みねとや思ふ
| morokoshi no mizu shiranu yo no hito bakari na ni nomi kikite yamine to ya omou |
Distant Cathay: Unseen and unknown once was to Folk – every one; With the report of your name, alone, Will our love be over? |
635
Right.
いかにして露をば袖に誘ふらんまだ見ぬ里の萩の上風
| ika ni shite tsuyu o ba sode ni sasouran mada minu sato no hagi no uwakaze |
What am I to do? Dewfall to my sleeves Has come, brought from A dwelling, yet unseen, By breeze upon the bush-clover… |
636
The Right state that the Left’s use of ‘every one’ (bakari) connects poorly with the subsequent section [kakeawazu]. The Left state that the while the style of the Right’s poem seems elegant [sono tei yū ni niru to iedomo], ‘A dwelling, yet unseen bush-clover’ (mada minu sato no hagi) is hard to hear [kikigataku].
Shunzei’s judgement: ‘Distant Cathay unseen and unknown once’ (morokoshi no mizu shiranu yo) must be referring to the Three Histories and Eight Dynasties. This seems to be meaningful, but does not really indicate anything profound. As for ‘a dwelling, yet unseen bush-clover’, whichever way you look at it, it is modified by ‘dewfall has come’ (tsuyu o sasouran). However, the Left also has the recollection of Cathay, so the two poems are comparable.
Left (Win).
唐衣裾野の庵の旅枕袖より鴫の立つ心地する
| karakoromo susono no io no tabimakura sode yori shigi no tatsu kokochisuru |
Clothed in Cathay robes In a hut at Susono My traveller’s pillow – My sleeve – from which the snipe I feel are starting. |
399
Right.
旅衣夜半のあはれも百羽がき鴫立つ野邊の暁の空
| tabi makura yowa no aware mo momohagaki shigi tatsu nobe no akatsuki no sora |
Clad in traveller’s garb All night long in lonely reverie As beating wings time and again Snipe start from the fields Into the dawning sky. |
400
The Right query whether it is possible to draw an association between ‘Cathay robes’ and snipe? The Left wonder about the usage of’lonely reverie as beating wings’.
Shunzei’s judgement: The criticisms from both teams are ones I have encountered before. As the poet has used ‘My sleeve – from which the snipe’ (sode yori shigi), and ‘a hut at Susono’ (susono no io), it requires the use of ‘Cathay robes’ (kara koromo) – there is no more to it than that. As for the Right, saying ‘Snipe start from the fields’ (shigi tatsu nobe) and ‘All night long in lonely reverie as beating wings time and again’ (yowa no aware mo momohagaki) – there is no fault to be found here, either. However, saying ‘My sleeve – from which the snipe’ is better. It must win.