Round Twenty-Two
Left
おひやらぬいはねのまつはわれなれやひさしくよよにみどりなるかな
| oiyaranu iwane no matsu wa ware nare ya hisashiku yoyo ni midori naru kana | A spindly Pine growing in the crag-cracks Am I? Forever through the years I am stuck at green! |
Minamoto no Munenaga
143
Right (Win)
いけみづのいひいでずともおもひかねふかきうれへをかみはしるらむ
| ikemizu no ii’idezu tomo omoikane fukaki uree o kami wa shiruramu | As pond waters behind A sluice gate, I say nothing, yet I cannot help but wonder: The depths of my despair— Does the deity know it? |
Fujiwara no Noritsune
144
The conception of the Left’s poem, saying, ‘Forever through the years’ sounds pleasant, but I feel it’s a bit hackneyed, given the poem, ‘Solitary pinecone / Is green!’[1] The poem of the Right’s ‘As pond waters behind / A sluice gate, I say’ is also pedestrian, yet ‘The depths of my despair— / Does the deity know it?’ contains some conception. It’s a little better, I’d say.
[1] Composed when he had gone to the residence of Narisuke, the Chief Priest of Kamo, when drunk, was sorrowing that he had yet to be promoted. もみぢするかつらのなかにすみよしのまつのみひとりみどりなるかな momijisuru / katsura no naka ni / sumiyoshi no / matsu no mi hitori / midori naru kana ‘Among the scarlet-leaved / Katsura, / Sumiyoshi’s / Solitary pinecone / Is green!’ Kunimoto, the Governor of Tsu (GSIS XVII: 987)
Round Fifteen
Left
わかのうらとおもふばかりをたのみにてやどもさだめぬあまのこぞうき
| waka no ura to omou bakari o tanomi nite yado mo sadamenu ama no ko zo uki | At Waka Bay, for my youth Simply do I long; Relying on A homeless Son of fisherfolk is sad, indeed. |
Kyō
129
Right (Win)
すみよしのまつことなくていたづらにとしはつもりのうらみをぞする
| sumiyoshi no matsu koto nakute itazura ni toshi wa tsumori no urami o zo suru | At Sumiyoshi Pine I do not, but How quickly The years have laid Their despite upon me! |
Suehiro
130
The Left, while it does sound truly pitiful, truly could have had something in mind as an outcome of youth at Waka Bay. As for the Right, simply that ‘The years have laid / Their despite’ without pining, I know only too well, so I can say that the Right wins.
Round Thirteen
Left (Tie)
われもいかでよにながらへてすみよしのまつのちとせのゆくすゑもみむ
| ware mo ikade yo ni nagaraete sumiyoshi no matsu no chitose no yukusue mo mimu | Somehow, I, too, Would endure in this world, that Sumiyoshi’s Pine’s thousand years End I would see! |
Masahira
125
Right
たとへけむなみはわがみにあらはれぬこぎゆくふねのあとはほかかは
| tatoekemu nami wa wagami ni arawarenu kogiyuku fune no ato wa hoka ka wa | Might I compare The waves, which on my sorry self Have made their mark, with A boat rowing out, leaving A wake, or if not that then what? [1] |
Chikashige
126
The Left seems to be imagining something very unrealistic. The Right has the poem ‘To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking’ in mind, and appears to have the charming conception of sorrowing over the face of Grand Duke Jiang appearing in the waves on the Wei River, but ‘if not that then what?’ sounds a bit overblown. With that being said, the Left feels like a plea for good fortune, and the Right evokes impermanence. The matters are only distantly connected, and thus in terms of faults and merits they are equal.
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 世の中をなににたとへむあさぼらけこぎゆく舟のあとのしら浪 yo no naka o / nani ni tatoemu / asaborake / kogiyuku fune no / ato no shiranami ‘This mundane world: / To what should I compare it? / Just as dawn is breaking, / A boat rows out / Whitecaps in its wake.’ Novice Mansei (SIS XX: 1327)
Round Sixteen
Left
くさまくらたびねさびしきやまかげにこのはさそひてしぐれふるなり
| kusamakura tabine sabishiki yamakage ni ko no ha sasoite shigure furunari | On a grassy pillow, Dozing on my travels, lonely In a mountain’s shade, The rustling of the leaves invites A shower to fall. |
Hyōenosuke
81
Right (Win)
すみのえのまつがはひねをまくらにてなみうちそふるしぐれをぞきく
| suminoe no matsu ga haine o makura nite nami uchisouru shigure o zo kiku | At Suminoe Upon the crawling pine roots Have I made my pillow, while Laced with the breaking waves I listen to the showers. |
Lord Naganori
82
The Left’s configuration of ‘the rustling of the leaves invites’, while dozing on one’s journey in the shadow of a mountain, sounds pleasant. While I do wonder about the Right’s diction—concluding with ‘listen to the showers’—in addition to ‘laced with the breaking waves’ sounding pleasant, it also adds the conception of waves beneath ‘the pines of Suminoe’, doesn’t it. I make the Right the winner.
Round Five
Left (Win)
はれくもりしぐれするよはまつがねのまくらをえこそさだめざりけれ
| harekumori shiguresuru yo wa matsu ga ne no makura o e koso sadamezarikere | Clear then clouded With showers is the night, When pine roots do My pillow make I cannot decide at all…[1] |
Asamune
59
Right
かみなづきしぐるるよはのたびやかたもるとはなしにぬるるそでかな
| kaminazuki shigururu yowa no tabiyakata moru to wa nashi ni nururu sode kana | In the Godless Month Showers at midnight At traveller’s lodge Should drench me not, yet Soaked are my sleeves! [2] |
Kanetsuna
60
The style of both Left and Right sounds elegant. However, with regard to the Right’s poems, while I am well accustomed to hearing that one would not be drenched at a lodge, the combination of the diction of ‘showers’ and ‘soaked’ would have been better avoided. The conclusion of the Left, with ‘pine roots’ and sequencing sounds pleasant. Thus, the Left wins.
[1] Alluding to: Topic unknown. よひよひに枕さだめむ方もなしいかにねし夜か夢に見えけむ yoi yoi ni / makura sadamemu / kata mo nashi / ika ni neshi yo ka / yume ni miekemu ‘Night after night / To decide upon my pillow / I cannot do, at all / How can I sleep the night away / And see you in my dreams?’ Anonymous (KKS XI: 516)
[2] Alluding to: Composed in place of an islander from Ulleungdo. 故郷有母秋風涙 旅館無人暮雨魂 kokyō ni haha ari aki no kaze no namida / ryokan ni hito nashi bō no Tamashii ‘My mother lies in my ancient home; my tears overflow with the autumn wind, as / Alone in my traveller’s lodgings, the rain at dusk draws out my soul.’ Tamenori (Shinsen rōeishū 606)
