Round Four

Left (Win)

春の日をなほながかれとおもふかなはな見ることのあかぬこころは

haru no hi o nao nagakare to omou kana hana miru koto no akanu kokoro wa

O, let the days of spring Still linger lengthily on, I wish! For Gazing on the blossom Has yet to sate my heart…

Cell of the Fragrant Elephant
7

Right

ことしもやあだにちりぬる山ざくらさもあさましきはなのくせかな

kotoshi mo ya ada ni chirinuru yamazakura sa mo asamashiki hana no kuse kana

This year, too, will You swiftly scatter, O, mountain cherry? That is a wretched Habit blossoms have!

Cell of the Everlasting Truth
8

The poem of the Left’s final section is that of a pre-existing older poem.[i] The poem of the Right’s final section is deplorable. Even so, I make the Right the winner.

Both Left and Right are elegant. With that being said, the Left also sounds charming, while the Right’s concluding ‘habit!’, although it is not a major fault, grates on the ear a bit. This is another win for the Left.

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[i] The ending of this poem in the texts of this match with Mototoshi’s judgements is different, with the final line being akanu kagiri wa (‘have yet to sate’). This means it closely resembles: Topic unknown. ゆきとまるところぞはるはなかりける花に心のあかぬかぎりは yukitomaru / tokoro zo haru wa / nakarikeru / hana ni kokoro no / akanu kagiri wa ‘To go and stay / A place in springtime / Have I none / For the blossoms, my heart / Have yet to sate completely.’ Sugawara no Tamenobu (GSIS I: 90). Kubota et al. (2018, 223) suggest that as we know that the version of the match that Toshiyori judged was produced later, this poem may have been revised in the light of Mototoshi’s judgement.