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Naidaijin-ke uta’awase 07

Round Seven

Left (Both Judges – Win)

音にさへ袂をぬらす時雨かな槙の板屋のよはの寝覚に

oto ni sae
tamoto o nurasu
shigure kana
maki no itaya ni
yowa no nezame ni
Even the sound
Does soak my sleeves with
A shower
Striking my roof of cedar boards,
Awaking at midnight…

Lord Sadanobu
13

Right

しぐれとて柞の杜にたちよれば木のはとともに降りかかるかな

shigure tote
hahaso no mori ni
tachiyoreba
ko no ha to tomo ni
furikakaru kana
When with a shower’s fall
Within the oak forest
I head to stand
Together with the leaves,
It strikes me as it falls!

Lord Munekuni
14

Toshiyori states: the first poem’s composition on one’s sleeves getting soaked on hearing a sound is extremely charming. It sounds like that’s really how it is. The latter poem, too, is smooth, and the final line appears to have had some thought put into it, so I dread having to say that the first poem wins.

Mototoshi states: ‘a shower at midnight upon a roof of cedar boards’ is a particularly superlative image, and that this would drench one’s sleeves is also extremely charming. While ‘the oak forest’ does not appear bad, it’s not that remarkable, and ‘waking at midnight’ is something that certainly occurs, I feel.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 43

Round Eighteen

Left (Tie)

なにはがたあしのまろやのたびねにはしぐれはのきのしづくにぞしる

naniwagata
ashi no maroya no
tabine ni wa
shigure wa noki no
shizuku ni zo shiru
In Naniwa’s tidelands,
In a reed-roofed hut,
Dozing on my travels—
A shower by the eaves
Dripping droplets is revealed!

Lord Tsunemori
85

Right

つのくにのこやのたびねにしぐれしてなにかはもらむあしのやへぶき

tsu no kuni no
koya no tabine ni
shigureshite
nani ka wa moramu
ashi no yaebuki
In the land of Tsu
In Koya, in a hut dozing on my travels
During a shower—
Will anything drip through
My roof’s eightfold thatch?

Lord Yorisuke
86

Both Left and Right are set in a traveller’s lodge in Sesshū province, but the Left appears to lack configuration and conception, it has long been said that using four of the character in a poem in a poetry match is a fault, but it does not sound to me as if the four uses of no here are a particular problem. With that being said, starting with ‘dozing on my travels’ [tabine ni wa]and then having ‘a shower by the eaves’ [shigure ni wa] uses wa twice and this seems to sound a bit discordant. The Right, while it refers to the same sort of shower from a cloudless sky, starts with ‘during a shower’ and follows this with ‘will anything drip through?’, which seems to sound a bit contradictory. I can’t help but feel it would have been better had it been ‘even though it showers’ and then had ‘will anything’. However, both poems are about reed roofed huts during a shower and it really is difficult to distinguish between them. Thus, I make this a tie.

Sumiyoshi-sha uta’awase kaō ni-nen 37

Round Twelve

Left

しぐれにはいほりもささじくさまくらおときくとてもぬれぬそでかは

shigure ni wa
iori mo sasaji
kusamakura
oto kiku tote mo
nurenu sode ka wa
Caught in a shower,
I’d not erect my hut, for
Upon a grassy pillow
Listening to the sound, still
Would my sleeves be soaked!

Tsunemasa
73

Right (Win)

たまもふくいそやがしたにもるしぐれたびねのそでもしほたれよとや

tamamo fuku
isoya ga shita ni
moru shigure
tabine no sode mo
shiotareyo to ya
Thatched with gemweed is
My roof upon the rocky shore, beneath it
Drips a shower, so
My sleeves, as I doze upon my travels,
Wet with the salty tides – should I say that?

Nakatsuna
74

The Left wonders whether his sleeves would be soaked, listening to the sound of a shower after abandoning all thought of a hut and grassy pillow—this seems extremely charming, but the configuration and sequencing of the Right, beginning with ‘thatched with gemweed’ and continuing with ‘my sleeves, as I doze upon my travels, / Wet with salty tides’, is extremely moving, isn’t it! Thus I have to award a win, once more, to the poem of the Right.