Love on Meeting
Left (Win)
人ごころいまはかぎりになりぬればみるこそみぬにおとらざりけれ
| hitogokoro ima wa kagiri ni narinureba miru koso minu ni otorazarikere | My human heart Now has its bound Reached, so Seeing you compared to not Is no worse! |
31
Right
わかれてはのちぞかなしきにごりえのそこともしらぬありかとおもへは
| wakarete wa nochi zo kanashiki nigorie no soko to mo shiranu arika to omoeba | Parting does Later bring such sadness: A muddy inlet’s Depths leave me unknowing Of where she is, so… |
Mitsune
32
Left
いとはれて胸やすからぬ思をば人の上にぞ書きうつしつる
| itowarete mune yasukaranu omoi o ba hito no ue ni zo kakiutsushitsuru |
Being despised And my unquiet heart Filled with feelings Upon her I paint them out! |
Kenshō
1115
Right (Win)
いかにせん絵にかく妹にあらねどもまこと少き人心かな
| ika ni sen e ni kaku imo ni aranedomo makoto sukunaki hitogokoro kana |
What am I to do? A lady painted in a picture She is not, yet How lacking are Her feelings! |
Nobusada
1116
The Right state: what is the Left’s poem about? In appeal: it reflects Changkang, who, feeling a woman living next door was beautiful, painted her and was then able to meet her. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: I, too, was unsure of the meaning of ‘my unquiet heart filled with feelings upon her’ (mune yasukaranu omoi woba hito no ue ni zo), and after reading the Left’s response, I am still unclear. In general, in these cases it is customary to cite the source of such things, and to hear of such wide reading is interesting indeed, but this is simply, ‘it reflects Changkang, who, feeling a woman living next door was beautiful, painted her and was then able to meet her’, so it would be difficult to locate within the usual Three Histories; furthermore, I have no recollection of a person named in this Chinese manner, and so an ignorant old man like myself can only ask, who is this Nagayasu? More importantly, though, I do not feel the conception of this poem is particularly well-matched to the topic. The Right’s ‘a lady painted in a picture’ (e ni kaku imo) is a little over-explicit, but ‘how lacking are’ (makoto sukunaki) would seem to be in the style of the Kazan Archbishop, and as I feel this is easier to understand than Nagayasu, I make the Right the winner.