Composed on the topic of ‘autumn wind at a hut in the fields’, when he had gone with various people to Lord Morokata’s residence at Unozu.
ゆふさればかどたのいなばおとづれてあしのまろやにあきかぜぞ吹く
| yū sareba kadota no inaba otozurete ashi no maroya ni akikaze zo fuku | When the evening comes The rice-seedling fronds before my door Sound out— Around this reed-roofed hut The autumn wind is blowing. |
Middle Councellor Tsunenobu
Left.
幾夜とも宿は答へず門田吹稲葉の風の秋の音づれ
| ikuyo tomo yado wa kotaezu kadotafuku inaba no kaze no aki no otozure |
How many nights it’s been? My home gives no reply; Blowing ‘cross the field before my gates, The wind among the rice stalks Brings autumn calling… |
393
Right (Win).
わきてなど庵もる袖のしほるらん稲葉にかぎる秋の風かは
| wakite nado io moru sode no shioruran inaba ni kagiru aki no kaze ka wa |
Apart, and yet Sleeves within the watchman’s hut Are drenched; Among none other than the rice-stalks Is the autumn wind? |
394
The Right state that the Left’s ‘Blowing ‘cross the field before my gates’ (kadota fuku) is grating on the ear. In addition, ‘should one really expect an answer from a house?’ The Left simply say that they find the Right’s poem ‘good’.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have correctly identified two faults with the Left’s poem. The Right’s poem, on the other hand, in both diction and sentiment, is extremely charming, and the final section, in particular is most profound in form. I must make it the winner.
Left (Win).
遠近の庵に引板打つ音聞けばかたみに守るや秋の小山田
| ochikochi no io ni hita utsu oto kikeba katami ni moru ya aki no oyamada |
Both near and far From huts the bird clappers sound; Hearing it, I wonder do they ward together The little mountain paddies at autumn time… |
389
Right.
風吹けば山田の庵に音信て稲葉ぞ人を守り明しける
| kaze fukeba yamada no io ni otozurete inaba zo hito wo moriakashikeru |
When the wind does blow To the mountain paddy huts Comes the sound Of rustling rice fronds; the folk within Warding, wakeful, ‘til daybreak. |
390
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem this round. The Left wonder about the suitability of the phrase ‘folk within warding’ (hito wo moru), to which the Right respond that the expression carries the sense of wakefulness.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left has the sound of bird clappers jointly guarding the fields, the Right, the sound of rice stirred by the autumn wind rousing folk in their huts – both poems display a particular skill in terms of form, but perhaps at the expense of feeling. Furthermore, I am unable to apprehend the Right’s ‘rice fronds; the folk within warding’. The Left wins, by a small margin.
Left (Tie).
忘れなむ松となつげそなかなかに因幡の山の峰の秋風
| wasurenamu matsu to na tsuge so nakanaka ni inaba no yama no mine no akikaze |
I would forget! And of my pining, tell no-one – That would be preferable, by far! Around Inaba Mountain’s Peak, gusting autumn wind. |
171
Right (Tie).
いづくにかこよひは宿をかり衣日もゆふぐれの峰の嵐に
| izuku ni ka koyoi wa yado o karikoromo hi mo yūgure no mine no arashi ni |
O, where This night shelter might I Find, my hunting-garb’s Belt tied day and night, Against the stormwind from the peaks… |
172
When Tadasada, the Governor of Inaba, left for his province:
別れても立ち歸るべき仲なれどいなば戀しと思ふべきかな
| wakaretemo tatikaFerubeki naka naredo inaba koFisi to omoFubeki kana |
Though we do part, and Back must go All that was between us, yet When you are gone to Inaba, fondly Indeed, will you rest in my thoughts. |