Left
をしめどもとまらぬ秋は常盤山もみぢはてぬとみてもゆるさじ
| oshimedomo tomaranu aki wa tokiwayama momiji hatenu to mite mo yurusaji | I regret it, yet Autumn lingers not Upon the evergreen mountains The scarlet leaves have yet to end, I see and would not let them go. |
43
Right
としごとにとまらぬ秋とおもひなばてもろき人もをしまざらまし
| toshigoto ni tomaranu aki to omoinaba temoroki hito mo oshimazaramashi | If, that every single year Autumn lingers not, I did not think, then Tear-filled folk I would not have regret it. |
44
Left (Tie)
しぐれつつ草ばもなべてもみづともときはの山にあきはとまれり
| shiguretsutsu kusaba mo nabete momizu to mo tokiwa no yama ni aki wa tomareri | Ever falls the drizzling rain, and Both leaves and grasses, all, Take on autumn hues, yet Within the evergreen mountains Autumn has halted. |
9
Right
をしめども秋はとまらぬ竜田山もみぢを幣とそらにたむけん
| oshimedomo aki wa tomaranu tatsutayama momiji o nusa to sora ni tamuken | How I regret it, yet Autumn does not linger upon Tatsuta Mountain: Its autumn leaves as a garland To the skies it seems to offer. |
10
As a poem on willows.
春くれば猶色まさる山しろのときはの杜の青柳のいと
| haru kureba nao iro masaru yamashiro no tokiwa no mori no aoyagi no ito | Spring has come, and Still their hues are beyond fine: In Yamashiro’s Evergreen forests— Pale green threads of willow. |
Evergreens
ちりかはる心なけれどみやまぎのときはは秋もしられざりけり
| chirikawaru kokoro nakeredo miyamagi no tokiwa wa aki mo shirarezarikeri | A flighty Heart, has it not, yet Deep within the mountains, that the trees Are evergreen, even the autumn Seems not to know… |
19
Gentian
した草の花をみつればむらさきに秋さへふかくなりにけるかな
| shitagusa no hana o mitsureba murasaki ni aki sae fukaku narinikeru kana | When in the undergrowth Flowers I do see, their Violet in Autum much deeper Has become! |
20
Left
をみなへしうつろふあきのほどをなみねさへうつしてをしむけふかな
| ominaeshi utsurou aki no hodo o nami ne sae utsushite oshimu kyō kana | The maidenflower With the autumn will fade Soon away; Being shifted here root and all She must regret, today! |
19[1]
Right
うつらずはふゆともわかじをみなへしときはのえだにさきかへらなむ
| utsurazu wa fuyu to mo wakaji ominaeshi tokiwa no eda ni sakikaeranamu | Ever unfading and All unknowing of the winter, O, maidenflower, On evergreen branches I would you returned to bloom! |
20
[1] Shinsen man’yōshū 514
From the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
神無月しぐれふるらしさほ山のまさきのかづら色まさり行く
| kaminazuki shigure fururashi saoyama no masaki no kazura iro masarikeri | In the Godless Month Showers fall, it seems, for On Sao Mountain The evergreen arrowroot’s Hues are fine, indeed. |
Anonymous
Left
戀死なば苔むす塚に栢古りてもとの契に朽ちやはてなん
| koi shinaba kokemusu tsuka ni kae furite moto no chigiri ni kuchi ya hatenan |
Should I have died of love and Upon my moss-hung tomb An aged cypress be Would those vows from long ago Have rotted quite away? |
Lord Sada’ie
1035
Right (Win)
かくばかり思と君も白樫に知らじな色に出でばこそあらめ
| kaku bakari omou to kimi mo shirakashi ni shiraji na iro ni ideba koso arame |
That so much I long for you, Evergreen, You know not; for what hues Might I show? |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress Household Office
1036
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘tomb’ (tsuka) and ‘cypress’ (kae) are frightening. The Gentlemen of the Left state: ‘evergreen’ (kashi) is the same, is it not?
In judgement: What might ‘upon my moss-hung tomb an aged cypress be’ (kokemusu tsuka ni kae furite) mean? Maybe the poet had in mind the part of the Scribe’s Records, where Duke Wen of Jin, on parting from his wife in Di, says, ‘If you wait for me for twenty-five years and I have still not returned, then marry again,’ but his wife laughs and says, ‘After ageing for twenty-five years, a cypress will be growing upon my tomb!’ The Right’s ‘evergreen’ (shirakashi) must simply serve to introduce to ‘you know not; for what hues might I show?’ (shiraji na iro ni ideba koso arame). However, both ‘cypress’ (kae) and ‘evergreen’ (kashi) lack admirable qualities. The round should tie.