Composed on the conception of it being chilly bathing in a spring at night.
さよふかきいづみの水のおときけばむすばぬそでもすずしかりけり
| sayo Fukaki idumi no midu no oto kikeba musubanu sode mo suzusikarikeri | Deep within a night so brief When the water of a spring I hear, Though they cannot draw it up, my sleeves Are cool, indeed. |
Lord Minamoto no Morokata
Left (Win).
時分かぬ浪さへ色に泉川柞の杜に嵐吹らし
| toki wakanu nami sae iro ni izumigawa hahaso no mori ni arashi fukurashi |
Ever unchanging, Even the waves have coloured On Izumi River; In the oak groves Have the wild winds blown. |
443
Right.
秋深き岩田の小野の柞原下葉は草の露や染らん
| aki fukaki iwata no ono no hahasowara shitaba wa kusa no tsuyu ya somuran |
Autumn’s deep at Iwata-no-Ono In the oak groves Have the lower leaves by grass Touched dewfall been dyed? |
444
Neither team has any criticisms to make of the other’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement: The total effect of the Left’s ‘even the waves have coloured on Izumi River’ (nami sae iro in izumigawa) is most superior [sugata wa yū narubeshi]. However, there does not appear to be any element linked to the final section’s ‘wild winds’ (arashi) in the initial part of the poem. The Right has ‘have the lower leaves by grass touched dewfall been dyed?’ (shitaba wa kusa no tsuyu ya somuran), without, in the initial section having an expression like ‘treetops stained by showers’ (kozue wa shigure somu), and I wonder about having the lower leaves on the trees touched by ‘dewfall on the grass’ (kusa no tsuyu). The Left’s ‘have the wild winds blown’ should win.
Left (Win).
舟止めぬ人はあらじな泉川柞の杜に紅葉しつれば
| funa tomenu hito wa araji na izumigawa hahaso no mori ni momiji shitsureba |
Not pausing the boat – No one would when Izumi River By the oak grove’s Scarlet leaves is stained… |
433
Right.
柞原染むる時雨もある物をしばしな吹きそ木枯らしの風
| hahasowara somuru shigure mo aru mono o shibashi na fuki so kogarashi no kaze |
The oak trees are being Stained by showers And so For just a while blow not, O, withering wind! |
434
As the previous round.
Shunzei’s judgement: The style [fūtei] of both poems is such that neither has an particular points worth criticising, or praising either. However, the Right’s ‘blow not’ (na fuki so) seems insufficient. The Left wins.
Left.
長月の月の有明の時雨ゆへ明日の紅葉の色もうらめし
| nagatsuki no tsuki no ariake no shigure yue asu no momiji no iro mo urameshi |
Late in autumn, when The moon lingers in the sky at dawn, From the drizzle, In the morning scarlet leaves’ Hue is deepened—how I envy them! |
75
Right (Win)
時わかぬ浪さへ色に泉河はゝそのもりにあらし吹らし
| toki wakanu nami sae iro ni izumigawa hahaso no mori ni arashi fukurashi |
The constant Current: even it has broken out in hues anew; By Izumi River Through the oak forest has The storm wind blown, no doubt! |
76
When the Regent and Grand Minister [Fujiwara no Yoshitsune] was Colonel of the Left, he held a poetry competition in one hundred rounds at his house. A poem composed on the oak tree.
時わかぬなみさへ色にいづみがははゝそのもりに嵐ふくらし
| toki wakanu nami sae iro ni izumigawa hahaso no mori ni arashi fukurashi |
Untouched by changing seasons are The waves, yet have they taken colour, On Izumi river; In the oak groves Storms rage through, it seems. |
Fujiwara no Sada’ie
藤原定家
At a time when everyone was composing poems from topics picked at random, he composed this on ‘the autumn wind in the forest at Shinoda’.
日をへつゝをとこそまされいづみなるしのだのもりのちえの秋風
| hi wo hetsutsu oto koso masare izumi naru shinoda no mori no chie no aki kaze |
As the days go by The sound grows ever greater At Izumi In the forest of Shinoda A thousand branches rustle in the autumn wind. |
Fujiwara no Tsunehira