Topic unknown.
あし引の山郭公けふとてやあやめの草のねにたててなく
| asiFiki no yamaFototogisu keFu tote ya ayame no kusa no ne ni tatete naku | Leg wearying, The mountain cuckoo, Knowing today, perhaps, On the sweet-flag Roots does perch and sing. |
A composition by the Engi Emperor [Daigo]
Composed on the conception of snow at one’s lodgings when travelling.
松がねにをばなかりしきよもすがらかたしく袖に雪はふりつつ
| matsu ga ne ni obana karishiki yo mo sugara katashiku sode ni yuki wa furitsutsu | Upon the pine tree’s roots Reaped silver grass I’ve spread, and All through the night Atop my single spread sleeves The snow is ever falling… |
Master of the Palace Repairs Office Akisue
Left
さくはなのちりつつうかぶみづのおもにいかでうき草ねざしそめけむ
| saku hana no chiritsutsu ukabu mizu no omo ni ikade ukikusa nezashi somekemu | Blossom blooming and Ever scattering, and floating Upon the surface of the water, So why might the waterweed Begin to put down roots? |
76
Right
まつひとはつねならなくにほととぎすおもひのほかになかばうからむ
| matsu hito wa tsune naranaku ni hototogisu omoi no hoka ni nakaba ukaramu | The one awaiting you is Ever changing, O, cuckoo, but If, my longing you should not meet With your song, how I will hate you! |
77
むらさきのねさへいろこき草なれやあきのことごとのべをそむらむ
| murasaki no ne sae irokoki kusa nare ya aki no kotogoto nobe o somuramu | Do even the gromwell’s Roots take on deeper hues Among the grasses, For in autumn every Meadow does seem dyed? |
39
秋のよにひとを見まくのほしければあまのかはらをたちもならすか[1]
| aki no yo ni hito o mimaku no hoshikereba ama no kawara o tachi mo narasu ka | On an autumn night To see him is All my longing, so On the banks of Heaven’s river Should I be wont to stand? |
40
[1] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Mandaishū (1801) and Shokugoshūishū (688): 秋の夜に人をみまくのほしければ天の川原を立ちならすかな aki no yo ni / hito o mimaku no / hoshikereba / ama no kawara o / tachinarasu kana ‘On an autumn night / To see him is / All my longing, so / On the banks of Heaven’s river / Is where I ever stand!’ (Anonymous).
Poems composed on the ninth day of the Third Month, at the end of spring, when on the way to the village of Furue to oversee the distribution of seed rice to the poor, and observing blossom by the roadside. Poems composed at places of interest and put together.
A poem composed on seeing a tree upon the crags when passing the point at Shibutani. The tree was a tsumama.
礒の上のつままを見れば根を延へて年深からし神さびにけり
| iso no upe no tumama wo mireba ne wo papete tosi pukakarasi kamu sabinikeri | When upon the stony shore A hardy evergreen I see, Roots extending The length of its years, How venerable it is! |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
大伴家持
Left (Win)
今はさはあはれと思へ菅の根の長き心の程は見つらん
| ima wa sa wa aware to omoe suga no ne no nagaki kokoro no hodo wa mitsuran |
Now, indeed, let you Think fondly of me! The grasses’ roots run Long, my heart’s Love will you see… |
Lord Suetsune
1023
Right
世とゝもにかはくまもなき我袖や潮干もわかぬ浪の下草
| yo to tomo ni kawaku ma mo naki wa ga sode ya shioi mo wakanu nami no shitagusa |
With the passing time, Not a moment dry Are my sleeves; Low tide does not reveal The seaweed beneath the waves… |
Lord Takanobu
1024
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to indicate. The Left state: the Right’s poem is clichéd.
In judgement: the Right, in addition to being clichéd, can say no more than that love means wet sleeves. The Left’s ‘grasses’ roots’ (suga no ne) is certainly better.
Left (Win).
與謝の海の沖つ潮風浦に吹けまつなりけりと人に聞かせん
| yosa no umi no oki tsu shio kaze ura ni fuke matsunarikeri to hito ni kikasen |
By the sea at Yosa, Tidewinds on the offing, Blow across the bay! That I am waiting without end, Tell him! |
A Servant Girl
983
Right.
浪かくるさしでの磯の岩根松ねにあらはれてかはくまもなし
| nami kakuru sashide no iso no iwane matsu ne ni arawarete kawaku ma mo nashi |
Waves beat Upon the shore at Sashide, where The pine trees on the crags Roots are bared and Never dry for but a moment. |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
984
The Right state: the Left’s poem lacks any faults. The Left state: the Right’s poem is pedestrian.
In judgement: the configuration of the Left’s ‘Blow across the bay!’ (ura ni fuke) and its links with the preceding and subsequent lines, sounds charming. The Right’s poem is stylistically elegant, but the poem more closely resembles a poem on the topic of ‘Love and Pine Trees’. Thus, the Left wins.
A poem sent by the Elder Maiden of Nakatomi to Ōtomo, sukune Yakamochi.
いなと言はば強ひめや我が背菅の根の思ひ乱れて恋ひつつもあらむ
| ina ipaba sipime ya wa ga se suga no ne no omopimidarete koitutu mo aramu |
Should you tell me no, Should I pointlessly implore you? As the sedge-roots In a tangle of passion Will I ever love you! |
The Elder Maiden of Nakatomi
中臣郎女
eft (Tie).
雪消ゆる枯野の下の淺緑去年の草葉や根にかへるらん
| yuki kiyuru kareno no shita no asamidori kozo no kusaba ya ne ni kaeruran |
The snows are gone from off The sere fields, and beneath, Pale green: Last year’s growth seems To have returned to its roots… |
47
Right (Tie).
春雨は去年見し野邊のしるべかは緑にかへる荻の燒原
| harusame wa kozo mishi nobe no shirube ka wa midori ni kaeru ogi no yakehara |
The gentle rains of spring: To the fields I gazed upon last year Do they show the way? For greeness has returned, To the burnt miscanthus grass… |
48
Both teams state that the other’s poem was ‘in the same vein’.
Shunzei judges that the Left’s ‘Last year’s growth seems/To have returned to its roots’ and the Right’s ‘For greeness has returned,/To the burnt miscanthus grass’ are ‘pleasantly charming’, so neither poem can be adjudged the winner.