Sand Pear Blossom
よの中をうしといひてもいづくにかみをばかくさむ山なしの花
| yo no naka o ushi to iitemo izuku ni ka mi oba kakusamu yamanashi no hana | This mundane world I hate, I say, yet Somewhere I would hide myself away among The sand-pear blossoms. |
15[i]
[i] This poem is included in Kokin rokujō (4268), with the headnote ‘Sand Pear’, and also in Mandaishū (2812) with the headnote, ‘From the Poetry Match at the Residence of the Ōmi Lady of the Bedchamber’.
行く年の行へをとへば世中の人こそひとつまうくべらなれ[i]
| yuku toshi no yukue o toeba yo no naka no hito koso hitotsu mōkuberanari | When, of the departing year’s Destination I enquire, To this mundane world’s Folk, indeed, one more Does it bestow. |
407
Round Fourteen
Left (Win)
みやゐしていくよへぬらむすみよしのまつふくかぜもかみさびにけり
| miya’ishite iku yo henuramu sumiyoshi no matsu fuku kaze mo kamisabinikeri | Since He manifested here How many ages might have passed? At Sumiyoshi The wind gusting through the pines, too, Is touched with divinity… |
Tsunemasa
127
Right
よのなかをいとふこころはさきだちていつまでとまるうきみなるらむ
| yo no naka o itou kokoro wa sakidachite itsu made tomaru ukimi naruramu | This mundane world My heart does despise and Would depart, but How long will I remain, Suffering as I am? |
Nakatsuna
128
Both Left and Right are expressions of grievance, but the Left is merely concerned with ‘Since He manifested here / How many ages might have passed?’, while the Right simply wonders ‘How long will I remain’ while despising the mundane world. I cannot really say that either is superior in the emotions they express, yet due to its reference to the deity, I should say that the Left wins.
Round Nine
Left
いとふともなきものゆゑによのなかのあはれをさすがうちなげきつつ
| itou tomo naki mono yue ni yo no naka no aware o sasu ga uchinagekitsutsu | With despite I regard it not, yet This mundane world Has such sadness, that Ever am I grief-stricken… |
Lord Sanefusa
117
Right (Win)
いたづらにとしもつもりのうらにおふるまつぞわがみのたぐひなりける
| itazura ni toshi mo tsumori no ura ni ouru matsu zo wa ga mi no tagui narikeru | How quickly The years have piled up; on Tsumori Shore grow Pines – my sorry self, indeed, Do they resemble! |
Lord Yorimasa
118
The poem of the Left has a configuration which directly expresses a single emotion. Its conception sounds in keeping with this. The poem of the Right begins with ‘The years have piled up; on Tsumori / Shore grow’ and continues with ‘Pines – my sorry self, indeed’ which appears very pleasant. Thus, the Right wins.
Round Eight
Left
よのなかをうみわたりつつとしへぬることはつもりのかみやたすけむ
| yo no naka o umiwataritsutsu toshi henuru koto wa tsumori no kami ya tasukemu | In this mundane world, An endless sea of suffering, Have my years gone by; Might Tsumori’s Deity save me, I wonder? |
Dharma Master Shun’e
115
Right (Win)
いへのかぜわがみのうへにすずしかれかみのしるしをあふぐとならば
| ie no kaze wa ga mi no ue ni suzushikare kami no shirushi o augu to naraba | My house’s breeze of fortune To my sorry self I would bring cool, if For a sign from the God I were to seek… |
Lord Sanekuni
116
The Left’s conception is charming, beginning with ‘An endless sea of suffering’ and following this with ‘Might Tsumori’s / Deity save me, I wonder?’, but ‘endless sea of suffering’ does not sound like acceptable diction. The Right’s conception of ‘For a sign from the God / I were to seek’ sounds charming, so I make it the winner.
Round Thirty-Two
Left
いつとても身のうき事はかはらねど昔は老をなげきやはせじ
| itsu tote mo mi no uki koto wa kawaranedo mukashi wa oi o nageki ya wa seji | Ever does My suffering remain Unchanged, yet Long ago, my age Surely, was not a source of grief. |
Atsuyori
63
Right (Win)
かくばかりうき世の中もすてはてんと思ふになればかなしかりけり
| kaku bakari ukiyo no naka mo sutehaten to omou ni nareba kanashikarikeri | Such a singular Mundane world of suffering To abandon completely I have come to think, but Still I am sad. |
Kūnin
64
I feel that both are true, but the Right seems a little superior at present.
目に近く移ればかはる世の中を行くすゑとほくたのみけるかな
| me ni chikaku utsureba kawaru yo no naka o yukusue tōku tanomikeru kana | Within my sight Revealed, but changing Is this mundane world that Into the distant future I had placed my trust! |
Murasaki no ue
なほたのめしめぢがはらのさせもぐさ我がよの中にあらむかぎりは
| nao tanome shimeji ga hara no sasemogusa wa ga yo no naka ni aran kagiri wa | Yet trust in me! For while On Shimeji plain The mugwort smoulders I, within this mundane world Will ever be… |
This poem is said to have been recited by the Kiyomizu Kannon.
Topic unknown.
いづこにか世をばいとはむ心こそのにも山にもまどふべらなれ
| iduko ni ka yo woba itoFamu kokoro koso no ni mo yama ni mo madoFuberanare | Where might I Find respite from this mundane world? While my heart, indeed, Among the fields and mountains, too, Does wander in confusion! |
Sosei
Topic unknown.
世中はとてもかくてもおなじことみやもわら屋もはてしなければ
| yo no naka wa tote mo kakute mo onaji koto miya mo waraya mo hateshinakereba | When of this mundane world, I think, all Is ever the same: for Palaces and straw-roofed huts, both, Will someday fall to ruin. |
Semimaru
