Round Five
Left (Win)
くらゐやまみねのさくらをかざしても人はものをやなほおもふらむ
| kuraiyama mine no sakura o kazashitemo hito wa mono o ya nao omouramu | Even should I Mount Kurai’s Cherry blossom from the peak Wear in my hair, As a man would such gloomy Thoughts still fill me? |
Lord Sane’ie
109
Right
ありてこそあらぬすがたになりもせめうしとていかがみをばなぐべき
| arite koso aranu sugata ni nari mo seme ushi tote ikaga mi oba nagubeki | I live on, so My former state I have abandoned; How can I all the cruelties Cast from my flesh? |
Atsuyori
110
The Left’s configuration and conception are truly charming. The writer is troubled, isn’t he! In particular, the configuration of ‘As a man would such gloomy / Thoughts still fill me?’ sounds especially pleasant. For the Right, the tone of ‘How can I all the cruelties’ also seems pleasant, but still, I make the Left the winner.
On a Day of the Rat, when Major Captain of the Right Sanesuke was lower in rank.
おいの世にかかるみゆきは有りきやとこだかき峯の松にとはばや
| oi no yo ni kakaru miyuki Fa ariki ya to kodakaki mine no matu ni toFaba ya | In ancient ages Did ever such a progress Occur? On the high, tree-covered peak I would ask the pines… |
’Kiyowara no Motosuke
Round Six
Left (Win)
山姫はもみぢのにしきおりてけりたちなやつしそ嶺の朝霧
| yamahime wa momiji no nishiki oritekeri tachi na yatsushi so mine no asagiri | The mountain’s princess, Of scarlet leaves brocade Has woven; In your rising don’t despoil it, O, morning mists upon the peak! |
Lord Kinshige
83
Right
しぐれには紅葉の色ぞまさりける又かきくもる空はいとはじ
| shigure ni wa momiji no iro zo masarikeri mata kakikumoru sora wa itowaji | A shower makes The scarlet leaves’ hues Most fine; So, the swiftly clouding Sky I could not dislike. |
Lord Masahira
84
The Right sounds as if the poet has just come to the revelation that, even though a showery sky is charming, can one possibly dislike it, given that it improves the hues of the scarlet leaves. The Left isn’t bad, but it does have two identical sounds ending lines, and this has been called the same-sounding rhyme fault, I believe. With that being said, in the Tentoku Poetry Match, there were some poems with this feature which were criticized, and some which were not, so I wonder if this is not something to particularly worry about. In this poem it doesn’t sound like a defect and, taking this together with the fact that the Right’s poem is poor, the Left should win.
Round Ten
Left (Tie)
夜もすがら妻こふるまにさをしかのめさへあはでや鳴きあかすらん
| yomosugara tsuma kouru ma ni saoshika no me sae awade ya naki’akasuran | All night long, Yearning for his mate, Does the stag Fail to close his eyes, Belling until the dawn? |
Mikawa
43
Right
独のみみねのをしかのなくこゑにあはれ吹きそふ風の音かな
| hitori nomi mine no oshika no naku koe ni aware fukisou kaze no oto kana | A single, solitary, Stag from the peak Belling out Laces sadness into the gusting Sound of the wind! |
Kojijū
44
The Left’s ‘fail to close his eyes’ is a commonly utilised viewpoint, while the Right’s ‘lacing sadness into the gusts’ is unsatisfactory—simply ‘laced’ would be preferable. Nevertheless, neither of these are particularly significant faults, so these should tie.
Round One
Deer
Left (Tie)
さをしかも秋をかなしとおもへばやときしも声をたてて鳴くらん
| saoshika mo aki o kanashi to omoeba ya toki shimo koe o tatete nakuran | Does the stag, too, Autumn’s sadness Feel? That at this time, of all, his cry Should ring out so… |
Lord Shige’ie
25
Right
嶺になく鹿の音ちかくきこゆなり紅葉吹きおろす夜はのあらしに
| mine ni naku shika no ne chikaku kikoyu nari momiji fuki’orosu yowa no arashi ni | Crying upon the peak The stag’s bell close by Sounds, carried With blown down scarlet leaves On the midnight storm… |
Lord Tsunemori
26
The Left truly sounds as if it grasps the conception with its use of ‘of all, his cry’. The Right, too, is poetic with ‘blown down scarlet leaves’. There may be some who say that one should not compose using a subsidiary topic, yet in the poetry match held in Tentoku[i] and the poetry match held by Emperor Kazan[ii], this was judged not to be a fault.
[i] This was the Dairi uta’awase Tentoku yo-nen 内裏歌合 天徳四年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Tentoku 4’) held by Emperor Murakami on the 30th day of the Third Month, Tentoku 4 [28.4.960].
[ii] This was the Dairi uta’awase Kanna gan-nen 内裏歌合 寛和元年 (‘Palace Poetry Match Kanna 1’) held by Emperor Kazan the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1 [28.8.985].
