Mugwort in the Grounds[i]
Left
よろづよもときはならなんけふのためいはひておほすそののよもぎは
| yorozuyo mo tokiwa naranan kyō no tame iwaite ōsu sono no yomogi wa | For ten thousand ages more Evergreen, I would you be! For today’s Celebration, lushly growing Mugwort in the grounds… |
3
Right
そののうちにおふるよもぎのえだしげみすゑさかゆべくみゆるきみかな
| sono no uchi ni ouru yomogi no eda shigemi sue sakayubeku miyuru kimi kana | Within the grounds A’growing, the mugwort’s Branches are lush To the very end they flourish, As do you appear to, my Lord! |
4
In ancient times, folk arose on this day with the dawn together with the birds and, taking those branches of mugwort from within their grounds that resembled people, dried them in the shade and made medicinal draughts—I wonder, were both Left and Right unaware of this? There is not even a dewdrop’s worth of diction in accordance with the topic, so I must make this round a tie.
かたかたにとるかたもなきよもぎぐさひとかずならぬここちこそすれ
| katakata ni toru kata mo naki yomogigusa hito kazu naranu kokochi koso sure | Both sides say Nothing noteworthy about Mugwort plants,so Neither is worth much, I feel! |
Judge 2
[i] Sono no naka no yomogi 園中蓬
Left
なみだがはせけどとまらずあかつきのわかれはをしのうきねをぞする
| namidagawa sekedo tomarazu akatsuki no wakare wa oshi no ukine o zo suru | The river of my tears I dam, yet they cease not: Dawn’s Parting I regret, as a mandarin Drifting in fitful sleep. |
36
Right
おきてゆくかたもしられずまどふかななみだもそでもめにさはりつつ
| okiteyuku kata mo shirarezu madou kana namida mo sode mo me ni sawaritsutsu | Rising and departing, Knowing not where to go, I am lost! My tears and my sleeves, too, Ever sting my eyes… |
37
Love
Left
恋といへばまづいでたちて春も皆ゆくらむ方も知らずもあるかな
| koi to ieba mazu idetachite haru mo mina yukuramu kata mo shirazu mo aru kana | This thing called love Has gone before, and The spring, too, no one It’s destination Knows at all! |
11
Right
年毎に花におくるるみにしあれば恋ひせぬ春のなきぞわびしき
| toshi goto ni hana ni okururu mi ni shi areba koisenu haru no naki zo wabishiki | Every single year Missing the blossom Is my sorry self, A springtime with no one to love Is there not, but still sad and lonely am I! |
12
Round Twenty
Left (Tie)
みのうさをわすれぐさこそきしにおふれむべすみよしとあまもいひけれ
| mi no usa o wasuregusa koso kishi ni oure mube sumiyoshi to ama mo iikere | The misery of my life I forget among the day lilies Growing on the shore— No wonder, Sumiyoshi is a pleasant place Say the fisherfolk, too! |
Kunisuke
139
Right
よをわたるみちをたがへてまどふかないづれのかたにゆきかくれまし
| yo o wataru michi o tagaete madou kana izure no kata ni yukikakuremashi | Passing through this world My path I have mistaken and Lost become! Which way should I go to hide myself away? |
Horikawa
140
The Left has the poem ‘For folk forget among the day lilies / Growing there, or so they say.’[1] in mind and its conception, drawing upon ‘The misery of my life’ is pleasant, I have to say. The Right has a charming configuration for such a poem, but its similarity to the poem by Lord Toshiyori, ‘Deep in depression on Mount Wabuka / On my path through the world / Have I mis-stepped’[2] means that I feel it sounds hackneyed, yet the final section ‘Which way should I’ and what follows, does sound moving. I should say that these tie.
[1] Composed and sent to someone he knew who had gone to Sumiyoshi. 住吉とあまはつぐともながゐすな人忘草おふといふなり sumiyoshi to / ama wa tsugu tomo / nagai su na / hito wasuregusa / ou to iu nari ‘Sumiyoshi is a pleasant place to stay, / So say the fisher-folk, yet / Do not stay there long, in Nagai; / For folk forget among the day lilies / Growing there, or so they say.’ Mibu no Tadamine (KKS XVII: 917)
[2] [One of] a hundred poem sequence on feeling regret and shame over one’s fate. わぶか山よにふるみちをふみたがへまどひつたよふ身をいかにせん wabukayama / yo ni furu michi o / fumitagae / madoitsu tayou / mi o ika ni sen ‘Deep in depression on Mount Wabuka / On my path through the world / Have I mis-stepped, and / Wandering lost, / O, what am I to do?’Minamoto no Toshiyori (Sanboku kikashū 1427)
In the same reign, when His Majesty’s Gentlemen were drawing topic by lot and presenting poems, he drew ‘fishing boats’ and composed this.
いはおろすかたこそなけれいせの海のしほせにかかるあまのつり舟
| iFa orosu kata koso nakere ise no umi no siFose ni kakaru ama no turibune | To drop their stones Is there no place at all, At the sea off Ise Caught by the rushing tides are The seafolk’s fishing boats… |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Toshitada
Left
さよふけてなどかなくらむほととぎすたびねのやどをかすひとやなき
| sayo fukete nado ka nakuramu hototogisu tabine no yado o kasu hito ya naki | Brief night breaks, so Why does he cry so? The cuckoo A lodging on his journey Has no one to lend him! |
49
Right (Win)
なつのいけによるべさだめぬうきくさのみづよりほかにゆくかたもなし
| natsu no ike ni yorube sadamenu ukikusa no mizu yori hoka ni yuku kata mo nashi | Upon the pond in summer No destination has The waterweed, so Other than the water It has no place to go… |
Okikaze
50
Left (Tie)
あふことのいまはかたほになるふねのかざままつ身はよるかたもなし
| au koto no ima wa katao ni naru fune no kazama matsu mi wa yoru kata mo nashi | Meeting you has made me Now a reef-sailed Boat Awaiting the wind, with No course to set. |
33
Right
ねでまちしはつかのつきのはつかにもあひみしことをいつかわすれむ
| nede machishi hatsuka no tsuki no hatsuka ni mo aimishi koto o itsuka wasuremu | Sleepless I awaited The twentieth night’s moon, when In the dimness We did meet— When might I forget it? |
34
