yo no naka o umiwataritsutsu toshi henuru koto wa tsumori no kami ya tasukemu
In this mundane world, An endless sea of suffering, Have my years gone by; Might Tsumori’s Deity save me, I wonder?
Dharma Master Shun’e 115
Right (Win)
いへのかぜわがみのうへにすずしかれかみのしるしをあふぐとならば
ie no kaze wa ga mi no ue ni suzushikare kami no shirushi o augu to naraba
My house’s breeze of fortune To my sorry self I would bring cool, if For a sign from the God I were to seek…
Lord Sanekuni 116
The Left’s conception is charming, beginning with ‘An endless sea of suffering’ and following this with ‘Might Tsumori’s / Deity save me, I wonder?’, but ‘endless sea of suffering’ does not sound like acceptable diction. The Right’s conception of ‘For a sign from the God / I were to seek’ sounds charming, so I make it the winner.
wa ga yado no kakine ni sakeru unohana no uki koto shigeki yo ni koso arikere
At my house Upon the brushwood fence bloom Deutzia flowers— Sad things, alone, grow well Indeed, in this world of ours! [i]
[i] An allusive variation on: On blossom. うぐひすのかよふかきねのうのはなのうきことあれやきみがきまさぬ uguisu no / kayou kakine no / unohana no / uki koto are ya / kimi ga kimasanu ‘The warbler / Flits around my brushwood fence’s / Deutzia blooms— / Is there some sad event which / Stops my Lord from coming?’ Anonymous (MYS X: 1988).
