Round Ten

Left (T – Tie; M – Win)

憂き人をわすれはてなで忘川なにとて絶えず恋わたるらん

ukibito o wasurehatenade wasuregawa nani tote taezu koi wataruran

That cruel girl I am unable to ever forget, Even by Wasure—Forgetting—River Why is it that endlessly My love continues on?

Lord Tadafusa
67

Right

恋すてふこひはこれにて限りてん後にもかかる物をこそおもへ

koisu chō koi wa kore nite kagiriten nochi ni mo kakaru mono o koso omoe

Love, they say, Of love right here Let’s make an end! But later, still such Painful feelings will I have…

Lord Munekuni
68

Toshiyori states: the first poem has nothing special about it—poems of this quality are unremarkable. The later poem says, ‘Of love right here / Let’s make an end!’—is it saying that the poet will fall in love with someone else? It’s difficult to say that he’d do that from the following day. It’s vague and doesn’t sound clear. These poems are of the same quality, aren’t they.

Mototoshi states: while neither of these has any faults, the Right’s ‘right here let’s make an end’ seems particularly undesirable. ‘Why is it that endlessly’ is slightly more poetic in the current context, I feel.