Round Nine
Left
川ぎりのふもとをこめて立ちぬれば空にぞ秋の山はみえける
| kawagiri no fumoto o komete tachinureba sora ni zo aki no yama wa miekeru | The river mists Around the foothills Have risen, so ‘Tis in the skies that autumn On the mountains is revealed. |
Fukayabu
17
Right
年毎の紅葉ばながす立田川みなとや秋のとまりなるらん
| toshigoto no momijiba nagasu tatsutagawa minato ya aki no tomari naruran | Every single year Scarlet leaves wash down The Tatsuta River; Is it at the mouth that autumn Might find its port? |
18
On summer trees, when His Majesty, the Former Emperor, ordered him to produce a thirty poem sequence.
虹のたつふもとの杉は雲にきえて峰よりはるるゆふだちのあめ
| niji no tatsu fumoto no sugi wa kumo ni kiete mine yori haruru yūdachi no ame | A rainbow rises above Cedars in the foothills, Vanishing in the clouds Clearing from the peaks, With an evening shower of rain. |
Former Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai Toshikane
From a poetry contest at Sadafun’s house.
みねはもえふもとはこほるふじ川のわれもうき世を住みぞわづらふ
| mine Fa moe Fumoto Fa koForu FuzigaFa no ware mo ukiyo wo sumi zo waduraFu | At the peak it burns and At the foot does freeze: The Fuji River, just as I, too, in this cruel world Live and suffer. |
Fukayabu
This is the sole surviving poem from ‘Sadafumi’s Poetry Contest‘.
Left.
年月ぞ思かひなく過にける君をきませの山のふもとに
| toshitsuki zo omou kainaku suginikeru kimi o kimase no yama no fumoto ni |
For many years and months I yearned to no end, Passing time Calling you on Kimase Mountain’s foot. |
Lord Suetsune.
967
Right (Win).
吉野山戀のあまりに思入ぬなかなかさらば人や訪ふとて
| yoshinoyama koi no amari ni omoi’irinu nakanaka saraba hito ya tou tote |
As Mount Yoshino Is my love’s extent, So deeply do I feel it; But were I to do so, Perhaps he would visit me there? |
Nobusada.
968
Both Right and Left together state the opposing poem has no faults to indicate.
In judgement: in the Left’s poem, would it really be to no end to pass the time calling on Mount Kimase? The Right’s poem, on Mount Yoshino, has ‘but were I to do so’ (naka saraba), which sounds charming. Thus, the Right wins.
Sent to the house of someone who had gone to Shinano.
月影は飽かず見るとも更級の山の麓に長居すな君
| tukikage Fa akazu miru tomo sarasina no yama no Fumoto ni nagawisu na kimi |
The moonlight can Never sate your gaze, but In Sarashina At the mountain’s foot Stay not too long, my lord! |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之