When the Gokyōgoku Regent ordered her to produce a hundred poem sequence.
雲となり雨となりても身にそはばむなしき空をかたみとやみん
| kumo to nari ame to narite mo mi ni sowaba munashiki sora o katami to ya min | Even should you become a cloud, and Then become raindrops Falling on my flesh, then Would the vacant skies I see as a keepsake, perhaps? |
Kojijū
One day, he was summoned to the Thunder Pavilion to take wine with His Majesty; rain was falling fiercely as evening drew on and when he rose to take his leave, he took his wine-cup and…
秋はぎの花をば雨にぬらせども君をばましてをしとこそおもへ
| aki Fagi no Fana woba ame ni nurasedomo kimi woba masite osi to koso omoFe | The autumn bush clover’s Blooms by the raindrops Have been soaked, yet, My lord, far more Do I regret leaving you. |
Left
夏の夜のまつばもそよと吹く風はいづれか雨の声にかはれる
| natsu no yo no matsuba mo soyo to fuku kaze wa izure ka ame no koe ni kawareru | On a summer night The pine needles rustling With the gusting wind At some point to raindrops’ Sound has changed. |
64
Right
夜やくらき道やまどへる郭公我が宿をしもすぎがてにする
| yo ya kuraki michi ya madoeru hototogisu wa ga yado o shimo sugigateni naku | Is it night’s darkness? Or, have you lost your way, Oh, cuckoo? By my house You cannot pass, it seems, and so you sing. |
65[1]
[1] Kokinshū III: 154, attributed to Ki no Tomonori.
Left.
独のみ寢屋の板間もあはずして雨も涙も所せきまで
| hitori nomi neya no itama mo awazushite ame mo namida mo tokoroseki made |
All alone, and The boards above my bedchamber Fail to come together; Until with raindrops and tears both I am excessively… |
Lord Ari’ie.
943
Right (Win).
深き夜の寢覺に何を思けむ窓打ちてすさむ暁の雨
| fukaki yo no nezame ni nani o omoikemu mado uchisusamu akatsuki no ame |
Late within the night, I start awake; what Was in my thoughts? Beating against my window is The dawntime rain. |
Jakuren.
944
The Right state: we cannot grasp the sense of the Left’s use of ‘until’ (made). The Left state: the Right’s poem is certainly not easy to understand on hearing.
In judgement: is not the use of ‘until’ (made) simply because it is appropriate to conclude a poem with that syllable? I can see nothing problematic with the use of ‘beating against my window’ (mado uchisusamu) in the Right’s poem. Thus, I make the Right the winner.