Composed on the conception of the autumn wind at a mountain retreat.
山ざとのしづの松がきひまをあらみいたくなふきそこがらしのかぜ
yamazato no sidu no matugaki Fima wo arami itaku na Fuki so kogarasi no kaze Around this mountain dwelling The peasant’s pinewood fence Has gap aplenty; Blow not so hard, O, biting wind!
Ōmiya Echizen 大宮越前
On seeing attractive-looking ivy on a crude house.
思はずによしある賤の栖かな蔦の紅葉を軒に這はせて
omowazu ni
yoshi aru shizu no
sumika kana
tsuta no momiji o
noki ni hawasete
Unexpectedly
Pleasant is this peasant’s
Dwelling place!
With scarlet ivy
Trailing across its eaves…
Saigyō
西行
Left.
これやこの人めも知らぬ山賤にさしのみ向かふ夕顔の花
kore ya kono
hitome mo shiranu
yamagatsu ni
sashi nomi mukau
yūgao no hana
Here
Hidden from all eyes,
To the mountain man
Alone, she turns
This moonflower bloom
Lord Kanemune .
267
Right (Win).
賤の男が片岡しめて住む宿をもてなす物は夕顔の花
shizu no o ga
kataoka shimete
sumu yado o
motenasu mono wa
yūgao no hana
The peasant
Hemmed in by hills around
His house,
Garlands it with
Moonflower blooms.
Nobusada .
268
The Right grumble that ‘alone, she turns’ (sashi nomi mukau ) is ‘grating on the ear’, while the Left wonder if ‘gardlands’ (motenasu ) is appropriate (it’s not standard in the lexicon of poetry).
Shunzei simply says, ‘Both poems are equally lacking in faults or merits, but yet I feel the Right should win.’
'Simply moving and elegant'