Round Twenty-Three
Left (Tie)
時鳥山よりをちの里人はまたでや夜半の初音きくらん
| hototogisu yama yori ochi no satobito wa matade ya yowa no hatsune kikuran | O, cuckoo, Far from the mountains, Will villagers Without waiting, at midnight Ever hear your first cry? |
Chikanari
45
Right
うちしめる花橘の五月雨に軒もる夜半のほととぎすかな
| uchishimeru hanatachibana no samidare ni noki moru yowa no hototogisu kana | When utterly drenched is The orange blossom by The summer showers. Dripping from the eaves at midnight is A cuckoo’s call! |
Ie’kiyo
46
The Right’s poem has ‘Dripping from the eaves at midnight is a cuckoo’s call!’—this sounds like it conveys the conception, but yet is stylistically unclear. The Left’s poem takes up the conception of ‘On the leg-wearying / Mountains’ far side / Folk dwell—I wonder / Do they not have to wait for the autumn / Moon to fill their gaze?’,[1] doesn’t it? Neither has any real point worth making, so they tie.
[1] This poem is: Topic unknown. あしびきの山のあなたにすむ人はまたでや秋の月をみるらんashihiki no / yama no anata ni / sumu hito wa / matade ya aki no / tsuki o miruran Former Emperor Sanjō (SKKS IV: 382).
Round Twenty-One
Left (Win)
しがらきの外山の末の郭公たが里ちかき初音なるらん
| shigaraki no toyama no sue no hototogisu ta ga sato chikaki hatsune naruran | In Shigaraki At the foothills’ end A cuckoo By whose estate Might let out his first cry? |
Takasuke
41
Right
橘のにほひを空に尋ねきて山時鳥なかぬ日ぞなき
| tachibana no nioi o sora ni tazunekite yamahototogisu nakanu hi zo naki | Orange blossom’s familiar Scent within the skies I seek out, while The mountain cuckoo Fails to sing on not a single day… |
Shimotsuke
42
The Left poem’s ‘near whose estate does it first call’ does not sound bad. The Right’s poem, too, seems to have no faults to mention, yet the Left still wins by a hair.
Round Two
Left
鶯は春をしりてもなきぬなる我が身は春をしらでこそなけ
| uguisu wa haru o shiritemo nakinunaru wa ga mi wa haru o shirade koso nake | The warbler Knowing of the springtime Cries out, but My sorry self, of spring All unknowing, cries. |
Masashige
3
Right (Win)
杣人よをののおとしばしとどめなん谷の鶯はつねなくなり
| somabito yo ono no oto shibashi todomenan tani no uguisu hatsune nakunari | O, woodcutter, Your axe’s sound, briefly Won’t you stop? For the warbler in the valley Has let out his first call… |
Kenshō
4
The Left’s poem, too, is smooth; the Right poem’s diction is halting, but its conception does not sound bad. It should win, I’d say.
