Composed on the evening of the year.
へだて行くよよの面かげかきくらし雪にふりぬるとしの暮かな
| hedateyuku yo yo no omokage kakikurashi yuki ni furinuru toshi no kure kana | Disappearing into the distance Are the shapes of times gone by, Darkness descending with The falling snow—my age At the evening of the year. |
The Daughter of Master of the Dowager Empress Household Office Toshinari
Left (Win).
玉ほこの道行き人も心ありて來んと頼めよこの夕卜には
| tamahoko no michi yukibito mo kokoro arite kon to tanomeyo kono yūke ni wa |
Jewelled spear straight The road for this traveller: If he longs for me, Let it say, ‘Come with me!’, This evening’s fortune! |
Lord Kanemune.
819
Right.
逢ことを頼むる暮と思せば入相の鐘も嬉しからまし
| au koto o tanomuru kure to omoiseba iriai no kane mo ureshikaramashi |
‘We will meet, On that you can rely, at dusk,’ He made me think, so The sunset bell, too, Does seem full of joy! |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
820
The Right state: evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are different things. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults.
In judgement: both evening fortune-telling and crossroad divination are conducted in the evening, and with either one could wish ‘Let it say, “Come with me!”’ (kon to tanomeyo), so this does not seem to be a mistake does it? The Right has the fault of having both ‘We will meet’ (au koto o) and ‘sunset bell, too’ (iriai no kane mo). The Left should win.
Left.
ひとり寢の袖の名殘の朝じめり日影に消えぬ露もありけり
| hitorine no sode no nagori no asajimeri hikage ni kienu tsuyu mo arikeri |
Sleeping solo My sleeves remain Damp in the morning; The sunlight leaves untouched The dewfall there. |
A Servant Girl.
803
Right (Win).
道芝を分けて露けき袖ならば濡れても暮を待たまし物を
| michishiba o wakete tsuyukeki sode naraba nuretemo kure mo matamashi mono o |
If the roadside grasses, Have brushed dewfall On these sleeves, May to dampen them again, ‘til evening I would wish to wait… |
Ietaka.
804
The Right state: we find no faults in the Left’s poem. The Left state: there is a very recent poem, ‘If he would be wet with waves should surely wait for evening?’.
In judgement: simply saying, ‘Sleeping solo my sleeves remain damp in the morning’ (hitorine no sode no nagori no asajimeri) seems to lack the conception of love. I wonder who might have written the ‘recent poem’, ‘If he would be wet with waves should surely wait for evening?’ mentioned by the Right? How, indeed, can we avoid poems which are not in the anthologies? In any case, the poem here is ‘May to dampen them again, ‘til evening I would wish to wait’ and the initial line is different. This level of resemblance between poems is not uncommon. The Right’s poem is pleasant. It should win.
戸無瀬河岩間に立たむ筏師や浪に濡れても暮を待つらん
| tonasegawa iwama ni tatamu ikadashi ya nami ni nuretemo kure o matsuran |
At the river Tonase Bursting from between the rocks The raftsman If he would be wet with waves Should surely wait for evening? |
Fujiwara no Toshinari
From ‘The Hundred Poem Sequence Composed at the House of the Minister of the Right’ (1172)