Tag Archives: Love After Parting

Love III: 18

Left.

心さへまた外人になり果てば何か名殘の夢の通路

kokoro sae
mata yosobito ni
narihateba
nanika nagori no
yume no kayoiji
Should even our hearts
Once more strangers
To each other become,
No trace at all would remain
On my path of dreams…

Lord Sada’ie
755

Right.
思侘びあはれ幾夜か槇の戸をしばしといひて月を見つらん

omoiwabi
aware iku yo ka
maki no to o
shibashi to iite
tsuki o mitsuran
Grieving and
Sighing, how many nights
Has my cedar door been
Ajar
For me to gaze upon the moon?

Jakuren
756

Both Left and Right state the opposing team’s poem is not bad.

In judgement: the conceptions of the Left’s ‘path of dreams’ (yume no kayoiji) and the Right’s ‘cedarwood door’ (maki no to) in gazing at the moon, are both elegant. The round should tie.

Love III: 17

Left.

海原の根柔ら小菅今更に誰に引かれて見えず成らん

unabara no
neyawara
kosuge
imasara ni
tare ni hikarete
miezunaruran
Throughout the seabed
Have you found spots to lay your head,
And now,
Who is it that draws you
That I see you no more?

Kenshō

753

Right (Win).

さしも我が絶ず忍びし中にしも渡してけりな久米の岩橋

sashimo wa ga
taezu shinobishi
naka ni shimo
watashitekeri na
kume no iwabashi
And thus,
For so long have I hidden
Our love, and yet
You have not passed
The stone bridge of Kume…

Nobusada

754

Both Right and Left find no fault.

In judgement: It is certainly not the case that the Left’s ‘Have you found spots to lay your head’ (neyawara kosuge) is not an unpleasant expression. The Right’s ‘stone bridge of Kume’ (kume no iwabashi) is much better, and should win.

Love III: 16

Left.

さりともと待し月日も過ぬればこや絶え果つる始め成らん

saritomo to
machishi tsukihi mo
suginureba
ko ya taehatsuru
hajimenaruran
If it should be so,
That the days and months I’ve waited
Should come to pass,
Then, today, does our final parting
Start, it seems.

Lord Kanemune

751

Right.

いかにこはうとく成行く君ならん絶ゆべき程の契をやせし

ika ni ko wa
utokunariyuku
kimi naran
tayubeki hodo no
chigiri o ya seshi
How is it that
So far away
Are you?
That we should part –
Have we made such a vow?

The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office

752

Both Right and Left state, we find nothing worth indicating in the other’s poem.

In judgement: the conception and diction of both poems is equivalent. They should tie.

Love III: 15

Left (Win.)

侘びつゝは音する風のつてもかが荻の上葉の枯果てぬとも

wabitsutsu wa
otosuru kaze no
tsute mo gana
ogi no uwaba no
karehatenu tomo
Sunk in constant grief
A whispered wind-borne
Word would do; though
The fronds of silver-grass
Have withered all away…

Lord Ari’ie

749

Right.

あさましや淵とせく瀬の末だにもかく絶果つる程は見えぬを

asamashi ya
fuchi to seku se no
sue dani mo
kaku taehatsuru
hodo wa mienu o
How unexpected!
The flow dammed into a pool
Has reached an end;
That it would cease so
It never did seem…

Ietaka

750

The Right state: it sounds as if the silver-grass after withering make no sound. The Left state: the expression ‘flow dammed into a pool’ (fuchi to seku se) is odd.

In judgement: the Left is not saying that silver-grass makes no sound after withering, but that there is no wind. The Right’s ‘flow dammed into a pool’ is certainly not poor, but the final section sounds clumsy. The Left’s poem is better. It should win.

Love III: 14

Left (Win).

恨み來しそのいにしへに變らぬは絶ぬる後の心なりけり

uramikoshi
sono inishie ni
kawaranu wa
taenuru nochi no
kokoro narikeri
I came to hate her
Long ago, and
All that remains unchanged
After such a time apart
Is my heart.

Lord Suetsune.

747

Right.

何故に忘れにける我身ぞと人づてにてもいかゞ聞くべき

nani yue ni
wasurenikeru
wa ga mi zo to
hitozute nite mo
ikaga kikubeki
For what was
I forgotten?
Was it me?
Perhaps via messenger –
How should I ask him best?

Lord Tsune’ie

748

Both teams together state they find no faults.

In judgement: the Right’s poem implies that the speaker thinks she is faultless, which seems unlikely. The Left’s poem is elegant. It should win.

Love III: 13

Left (Win).

やすらひに出にし人の通ひ路を古き野原と今日は見る哉

yasurai ni
idenishi hito no
kayoiji o
furuki nohara to
kyō wa miru kana
He hesitated
To set off along
That path, to and fro, but
As it once was – an untrodden plain –
Does it seem today…

A Servant Girl.

745

Right.

知らざりき今はいひし曉をやがてまことの言の葉ぞとは

shirazariki
ima wa iishi
akatsuki o
yagate makoto no
koto no ha zo to wa
I did not know it then, that
When he said, ‘Now’s the time,’
At that dawning,
Finally, the truth of
Those words would come to me…

Lord Takanobu.

746

The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left, by commencing with ‘he hesitated’ (yasurai ni), seems rather abrupt. The Left state they find no faults to mention.

In judgement: What might be abrupt about the beginning of the Left’s poem? By beginning so, it gives the impression that something must have come before. There is no doubt that it is an abrupt beginning. The Right appears to be a standard form of poem utilising related meanings, but simply has ‘words’ (koto no ha) with no connections to anything. The Left’s ‘as it once was – an untrodden plain’ (furuki nohara) seems fine. It should win.