Left
はるのよのあかぬわかれのあかつきはちへのにしきをたつにざりける
| haru no yo no akanu wakare no akatsuki wa chie no nishiki o tatsu ni zarikeru | After a spring night, Unsatisfied, parting at The dawn, Sewn a thousandfold, the brocade Through which I go! |
26
Right
あけぬてふこゑもなみだももろともにうちいづるからにそでぞぬれける
| akenu chō koe mo namida mo morotomo ni uchi’izuru kara ni sode zo nurekeru | ‘Tis dawn, say Birdsongs and tears Both, Bursting out, so My sleeves are soaked! |
27
Round Eight
Left
風さむみゆふかげ草にかくろへてはたおる虫の声聞ゆなり
| kaze samumi yūkage kusa ni kakuroete hataorumushi no koe kikoyu nari | Chill the wind Upon the evening grasses, from Whence, concealed, The crickets’ Cries I hear. |
Chikafusa
15
Right
誰がためとあやめも見えぬ夕ざれにはたおる虫の声聞ゆらん
| ta ga tame to ayame mo mienu yūzare ni hataorumushi no koe kikoyuran | For whose sake Amidst the gloam Of eventide, might The crickets’ Cries I hear? |
Lady Hȳoe
16
At present, ‘Amidst the gloam / Of eventide’ appears to have a bit more conception than ‘the evening grasses, from / Whence, concealed, / The crickets’.
Partings at Dawn
Left
ひとしれぬわがみとおもへばあかつきのとりとともにやなきてかへらん
| hito shirenu wa ga mi to omoeba akatsuki no tori to tomo ni ya nakite kaeran | No one knew Of my sorry state, I thought, so With the dawn Birds’ chorus should I, Sobbing, make my way home? |
20
Right
ひとしれずあかでわかるるあかつきにうちなきそふるをしのこゑかな
| hito shirezu akade wakaruru akatsuki ni uchinaki souru oshi no koe kana | No one knows How unsatisfied I am to part With the dawn Sobs overlaying The cries of the mandarin ducks! |
21
Left
ひとしれずねざめのこひはよぶこどりよぶかきこゑはきくひともなし
| hito shirezu nezame no koi wa yobukodori yobukaki koe wa kiku hito mo nashi | Unknown to all I awake and yearn: A songbird Late at night sings With no one listening at all. |
3
Right
おもひやるこころしゆかばさよふけておきゐてこふとつぐべきものを
| omoiyaru kokoro shi yukaba sayo fukete oki’ite kou to tsugubeki mono o | If, steadfast, My heart but was, then As brief night wore on I’d arise and my love Be able to announce, but… |
4
The End of Autumn.
Left
琴の音に声よりあはせなく虫の秋のはつるはえこそしのばね
| koto no ne ni koe yori awase naku mushi no aki no hatsuru wa e koso shinobane | A zither’s strains Blended with the songs The insects cry, That autumn is ending They truly cannot recall! |
19
Right
長月の菊にぞ人をたのみつる花ひらくとも心うつるな
| nagatsuki no kiku zo hito o tanomitsuru hana hiraku tomo kokoro utsuru na | In the Longest Month A chrysanthemum, in a man Has placed its trust— The bloom may open, yet O, change not your heart! |
20
Love
Left
秋萩におく白露の消えかへり人をこひしとおもふころかな
| akihagi ni oku shiratsuyu no kiekaeri hito o koishi to omou koro kana | In autumn upon the bush clover Fall silver dewdrops, Vanishing away, with Her I loved— My feelings in those days! |
17[i]
Right
寒き夜はさごろも雁の声きけばかへすがへすぞ人はこひしき
| samuki yo wa sagoromo kari no koe kikeba kaesugaesu zo hito wa koishiki | On a night so chill, In a scanty robe, when the goose Cries I hear, Again and yet again Do I long for her… |
18
[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XII: 1011), with the headnote, ‘From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house’. A variant of it also appears in some Mandaishū (XV: 2458) texts; in others the version provided is as in the contest: From the poetry match held when Tsuryuki was in Suo province. 秋萩におく白露の澄みかへり人をこひしとおもふころかな aki hagi ni / oku shiratsuyu no / sumikaeri / hito o koishi to / omou koro kana ‘In autumn upon the bush-clover / Fall silver dewdrops / Ever clear / Her I loved— / My feelings in those days’.
From a poetry match held by Tsurayuki when he was Suō province in Tengyō 2 – The beginning of Summer.
いつしかとなつになるらしうつせみのこゑもあはれになきはじむらし
| itsu shika to natsu ni narurashi utsusemi no koe mo aware ni nakihajimurashi | All of a sudden Summer has come, it seems: Cicada shell Songs, sadly Seem to sound in the air. |
Anonymous
Composed and sent when he heard that Inspector Kinmichi had had a number of people compose poems on the bush warbler at his residence.
春霞たちへだつれど鶯の声はかくれぬものとしらずや
| harugasumi tachihedatsuredo uguisu no koe wa kakurenu mono to shirazu ya | The haze of spring Arising, interferes, yet The warbler Is unable to conceal his cry— I wonder if he know it? |
Former Consultant Tsunemori
Written on the edge of a folding screen by a painting of geese flying in the clouds, when His Majesty ordered a celebration for the Junior Principal Handmaid.
白雲の中にまがひてゆく雁もこゑはかくれぬ物にざりける
| shirakumo no naka ni magaite yuku kari mo koe wa kakurenu mono ni zarikeru | Within the clouds, so white, Entangled Goes a goose, Unable to conceal his cry With anything at all! |
Round Three
Left (Win)
さみだれにぬるともゆかむほととぎすふたこゑきなくさとはありやと
| samidare ni nuru to mo yukamu hototogisu futakoe kinaku sato wa ari ya to | By the summer showers We will be drenched, yet let’s away! For the cuckoo Has come to sing and sing again At that estate, perchance… |
Retired from the world
19
Right
さ月やみくらくはくらくほととぎすこゑはかくれぬ物にぞありける
| satsuki yami kuraku wa kuraku hototogisu koe wa kakurenu mono ni zo arikeru | In the Fifth Month’s gloomy Darkness deep, The cuckoo Is unable to conceal his cry With anything at all! |
Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
20
Both Left and Right are workmanlike poems with little evidence of thought. With that being said, however, the conclusion of the Right’s poem is identical to that of a famous work by the Horikawa Minister. That poem is ‘The River Sao: / Mist rises, and from beyond / Come plover cries, / Their calls uninterrupted / By anything.’[1] And the Right here is, at the very least, extraordinarily redolent of it! Still, I feel the Left does linger in the heart.
The Left’s poem is not particularly remarkable, yet it has no faults worth mentioning. It doesn’t contain any distasteful expressions and resembles familiar compositions. The poem of the Right’s ‘darkness deep’ sounds like something said by a black-hearted scoundrel—I don’t feel it’s poetic diction at all! In addition, on the matter of the concluding ‘unable to conceal his cry’,[i] well, this appears in a range of earlier poems, as does ‘his cry uninterrupted’, so one should be hesitant about using it. I make the faultless Left the winner.
[1] Composed on plovers for a poetry competition in Eishō 4 [1050]. 佐保川の霧のあなたに鳴く千鳥聲は隔てぬ物にぞ有ける saogawa no / kiri no anata ni / naku chidori / koe wa hedatenu / mono ni zo arikeru ‘The River Sao: / Mist rises, and from beyond / Come plover cries, / Their calls uninterrupted / By anything.’ The Horikawa Minister of the Right [Fujiwara no Yorimune] (GSIS VI: 388)
[i] The only surviving example of this usage pre-dating this match is: Written on the edge of a folding screen by a painting of geese flying in the clouds, when His Majesty ordered a celebration for the Junior Principal Handmaid. 白雲の中にまがひてゆく雁もこゑはかくれぬ物にざりける shirakumo no / naka ni magaite / yuku kari mo / koe wa kakurenu / mono ni zarikeru ‘Within the clouds, so white, / Entangled / Goes a goose, / Unable to conceal his cry / With anything at all!’ Fujiwara no Kanesuke (Kanesuke-shū 48). There is also one further example in later poetry: Composed and sent when he heard that Inspector Kinmichi had had a number of people compose poems on the bush warbler at his residence. 春霞たちへだつれど鶯の声はかくれぬものとしらずや harugasumi / tachihedatsuredo / uguisu no / koe wa kakurenu / mono to shirazu ya ‘The haze of spring / Arising, interferes, yet / The warbler / Is unable to conceal his cry— / I wonder if he know it?’ Former Consultant Tsunemori (GYS I: 50)