Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains[i]

Left

なつくればのべのくさばもしげりあひていづれかみちとみえぞわかれぬ

natsu kureba nobe no kusaba mo shigeriaite izure ka michi to mie zo wakarenu

When the summer comes, The blades of grass upon the plains Grow lushly together, so Which is the path to take I cannot tell by looking!

9

Right

をちこちのみちみえぬまでなつののはくさばしげくもなりにけるかな

ochikochi no michi mienu made natsuno no wa kusaba shigeku mo narinikeru kana

Until both distant and nearby Paths I cannot see Across the summer plains Have the blades of grass so lushly Grown, indeed!

10

Do they not know the features of the summer plains conveyed by ‘Hidden in the grass on the path o’er the plains’? While both Left and Right use ‘blades of grass’, this puts one in mind of fresh grass sprouting in spring showers; and then of the two of them, the Right uses ‘distant and nearby’, which is nothing more than an archaic expression from the Age of Gods used for leg-wearying mountain paths, while at least the Left does not have a tangled argument.

ato miezu natsuno no kusaba shigeku tomo yamaji o kakete madoubeshi ya wa

No folk’s tracks visible Upon the summer plains—the blades of grass Lush, yet I wonder if upon mountain paths One would lose ones way?

Judge 5

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[i] Yasō no michi shigeshi 野草路滋