Topic unknown.
まくらよりまたしる人もなき恋をなみだせきあへずもらしつるかな
| makura yori mata siru Fito mo naki koFi wo namida seki aFezu morasituru kana | Other than my pillow Still not a soul should know Of my love, but My tears, ever undammed, Have leaked out! |
Taira no Sadafun
After I had had various people compose on the scent of plum carried on the breeze.
梅がかをゆめの枕にさそひきてさむるまちける春の山風
| ume ga ka o yume no makura ni sasoikite samuru machikeru haru no yamakaze | The scent of plum To my pillow, where I lay dreaming Was beckoned— Waiting ‘til I awakened did The mountain breeze in springtime. |
Composed on the conception of a pillow scented with orange blossom.
をりしもあれ花たちばなのかをるかなむかしをみつる夢の枕に
| orishi mo are hanatachibana no kaoru kana mukashi o mitsuru yume no makura ni | In days gone by and yet now still Orange blossoms Do I scent! A love long gone I glimpse when Dreaming on my pillow. |
Fujiwara no Kinhira
Left (Tie)
よそにやは釣する志賀の海人を見ん枕の下を知らせだにせば
| yoso ni ya wa tsuri suru shiga no ama o min makura no shita o shirase dani seba | Unconnected with Fishing diver-girls At Shiga would I seem? When what lies beneath my pillow Is revealed… |
Lord Ari’ie
1173
Right
潮たるる袖にあはれの深きより心に浮ぶ海人の釣舟
| shio taruru sode ni aware no fukaki yori kokoro ni ukabu ama no tsuribune | Tide-spattered Sleeves: my sorrow is So deep that Floating upon my heart is A diver-girl’s fishing boat! |
Nobusada
1174
Left and Right together state: no faults.
In judgement: the poem of the Left has ‘unconnected with fishing diver-girls at Shiga would I seem?’ (yoso ni ya wa tsuri suru shiga no ama o min) and the poem of the Right has ‘floating upon my heart is a diver-girl’s fishing boat!’ (kokoro ni ukabu ama no tsuribune): both have profound conception and their diction sounds pleasant, so it is difficult to divide them into superior and inferior works. Thus, I make this a tie.
Left (Win)
一夜かす野上の里の草枕結びすてける人の契りを
| hitoyo kasu nogami no sato no kusamakura musubitekeru hito no chigiri o | For a single night you lent, At the estate of Nogami, Your pillow of grass to me; Entwined in A brief bond of love! |
Lord Sada’ie
1159
Right
恨むべき方こそなけれ東路の野上の庵の暮れ方の空
| uramubeki kata koso nakere azumaji no nogami no io no kurekata no sora | My despite Has no place to go; Upon the eastern roads Above a hut in Nogami The sky is filled with darkness… |
Jakuren
1160
The Right state: ‘for a single night you lent’ is grating on the ear. In addition, we wonder about the appropriateness of the final section. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no particular faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘estate of Nogami’ (nogami no sato), and the Right’s ‘a hut in Nogami’ (nogami no io), then saying ‘entwined’ (musubitekeru) and ‘the sky is filled with darkness’ (kurekata no sora) – both poems have significant conception, but how should the initial section of the Right’s poem – ‘my despite has no place to go’ (uramubeki kata koso nakere) be understood? If it was a sky filled with light, then one would feel despite, but in the evening she would be lending her hut, surely. There is nothing unusual about the conclusion of the Left’s poem. It should win.
Left
独寝を今は何にかになぐさめん隣の笛も吹やみぬなり
| hitorine o ima wa nani ni ka nagusamen tonari no fue mo fukiyaminu nari |
Sleeping solo, Now, how can I Console myself? For the flute next door Has ceased to play… |
Kenshō
1081
Right (Win)
よなよなは枕になれし笛竹のいかなる床にふしかはるらん
| yonayona wa makura ni nareshi fuetake no ikanaru toko ni fushi kawaruran |
Night after night By my pillow used to be A flute, but What bed is it that He has gone to lie in now? |
Ietaka
1082
The Right state: the Left’s poem is mundane. The Left state: what does it mean that a flute is used to lying by a pillow?
In judgement: the Left’s poem has ‘for the flute next door has ceased to play’ (tonari no fue mo fukiyaminu nari), but I wonder if this should not be ‘for the flute next door will cease to play’ (tonari no fue mo fukiyamu). In the rhapsody which Xiang Xu wrote on thinking of times long gone, he says this about a neighbour playing an old flute, ‘Next door, there is a man who plays the flute. The sound emerges, echoing clear,’ without any suggestion that he has stopped playing, so I wonder how appropriate it is in this poem to say that the playing has stopped. The diction of the Right’s poem, ‘by my pillow use to be’ (makura ni nareshi) seems fine. Thus, the Right wins.
Left (Win)
あはれにぞ鳴あかすなる蛬われのみしぼる袖かと思ふに
| aware ni zo nakiakasunaru kirigirisu ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni |
How sad it is – Crying with the dawn is The cricket, though I alone am wringing Out my sleeves, I feel. |
Lord Suetsune
1075
Right
露深きあはれを思へきりぎりす枕の下の秋の夕暮
| tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe kirigirisu makura no shita no aki no yūgure |
Deep in dew and Sad, I wish you were, O, cricket, Beneath my pillow On this autumn evening… |
Nobusada
1076
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults we can mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: our feelings are the same as those of the Right
In judgement: both Left and Right are on ‘crickets’ (kirigirisu) and their configuration and diction sound equally elegantly beautiful. I feel that the Right, with ‘deep in dew and sad, I wish you were’ (tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe), is somewhat lacking in the conception of the poet’s own love, but the Left, with ‘I alone am wringing out my sleeves, I feel’ (ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni), has an excellent conception of love, so I must state that the Left is the winner.
Left
明けぬ間に箱根の山の時鳥二声とだに鳴き渡るらむ
| akenu ma ni Fakone no yama no Fototogisu Futakowe to dani nakiwataruramu |
Before the dawn no Hakone Mountain Cuckoos’ Twin calls simply Seem to sing back and forth |
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Right (Win)
深山出でていづこも旅ぞ時鳥ここにを結べ草の枕は
| miyama idete iduko mo tabi zo Fototogisu koko ni wo musube kusa no makura wa |
Emerging from the mountains’ depths Where does your journey take you, O, cuckoo? Here will I twine strands Of grass for my pillow… |
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