Maidens spinning thread
Left
てにかけてくるなつごとにわぎもこがおほくのいとをひきてけるかな
| te ni kakete kuru natsu goto ni wagimoko ga ōku no ito o hikitekeru kana | Through her hands a’running Again, with every summer’s coming, My darling girl So much thread Has spun! |
7
Right
てもたゆくひきおくいとのたえまなくきみがみちよのさかゆべきかな
| te mo tayuku hiki’oku ito no taemanaku kimi ga michiyo no sakayubeki kana | Her weary hands A’spinning thread, Never ending My Lord’s reign through three thousand years Of prosperity! |
8
‘Maidens spinning’ is about their expertise at it, and is not something that you need to need to ponder over and over like a peasant’s hempen thread or struggle to pull apart like a hardened silk cocoon, but both Left and Right really seem to have spun things out, and I feel that, although there’s an air of elegance to start with, the diction at the end of both poems is confused, so I would make these a tie.
| hidari migi hiku te mo tayuku tatsu ito wa izukata e ka wa yorubekaruran | Left and Right, The hands spinning wearily, Produce thread that Heads off but, I wonder where to? |
Judge 4
Left – Dwarf bamboo[i]
たまとのみつゆのみゆるはささがにのいとををにしてぬけばなりけり
| tama to nomi tsuyu no miyuru wa sasagani no ito o o ni shite nukeba narikeri | Simply as jewels Do the dewdrops seem, when Making the tiny crab—the spider’s Web their thread, They are strung upon it… |
4
Right
(Missing)
[i] The topic of this poem is given as ‘Dew’ (Tsuyu 露) in the other text of the match, although the poem is identical. ‘Spider’ (sasgani) contains sasa (‘dwarf bamboo’)/
Composed when I had instructed various people to compose on ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels’.[i]
ささがにの玉ぬくいとのををよわみ風にみだれて露ぞこぼるる
| sasagani no tama nuku ito no o o yowami kaze ni midarete tsuyu zo koboruru | A tiny crab, the spider Strings gems on her web, Threads so fragile, that Confused by the wind The dewdrops scatter. |
[i] A reference to: Composed at a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house. 秋ののにおくしらつゆは玉なれやつらぬきかくるくものいとすぢ aki no no ni / oku shiratsuyu wa / tama nare ya / tsuranukikakuru / kumo no itosuji ‘In the autumn fields / Drop whitened dewdrops: / Can they be jewels, / Pierced through and strung / On spider webs?’ Fun’ya no Asayasu (KKS IV: 225). Sanetomo has used the initial part of the Kokinshū poem as the topic for composition.
When a large number of people had gone to Daikakuji and were composing on the old waterfall.
たきの糸はたえてひさしく成りぬれど名こそ流れて猶きこえけれ
| taki no ito Fa taete Fisasiku narinuredo na koso nagarete naFo kikoekere | The cataract’s threads Snapped so long Ago, yet Its name flows on and Is yet heard. |
Kintō, Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Right Division
Winter.
たつた山みねのしぐれの糸よわみぬけどみだるるよもの紅葉葉
| tatsutayama mine no shigure no ito yowami nukedo midaruru yomo no momijiba | Upon Mount Tatsuta The showers on the peak Are fragile threads, indeed— They tug, yet leave confused The scarlet leaves everywhere… |
On willows in the rain.
あさみどりそめてかけたる青柳のいとに玉ぬく春雨ぞふる
| asamidori somete kaketaru aoyagi no ito ni tama nuku harusame zo furu | Pale green Dyed and hung Upon the green willow Threads—gemstones threaded By the fall of a spring shower. |
42
On willows in the rain.
青柳のいとよりつたふ白露を玉とみるまで春雨ぞふる
| aoyagi no ito yori tsutau shiratsuyu o tama to miru made harusame zo furu | The pale green willow Threads reveal Silver dewdrops— Made to resemble gemstones By the fall of a spring shower. |
41
As a poem on willows.
青柳のいともてぬける白露の玉こきちらす春の山かぜ
| aoyagi no ito mo tenukeru shiratsuyu no tama kokichirasu haru no yamakaze | Pale green willow Threads are strung With silver dewdrops— Gems scattered by The breeze from off the mountains in springtime. |
