Round Seventeen

Left (Win)

すみよしのなごのはまべにあさりしてけふぞしりぬるいけるかひをば

sumiyoshi no nago no hamabe ni asarishite kyō zo shirinuru ikeru kai oba

At Sumiyoshi On Nago’s seashore Have I gathered shellfish, for Today, I know too well, that There is a point to life…

Taifu
133

Right

なげかじなよはさだめなきことのみかうきをもゆめとおもひなせかし

nagekajina yo wa sadamenaki koto nomi ka uki o mo yume to omoinase kashi

Do not fall to grief! Is this world uncertain and Nothing more? It’s cruelties, too, as but a dream Imagine!

Sadanaga
134

The poem of the Left has a suitable conception for this match and its configuration, again, has a singular, simple style. The poem of the Right, too, has a singular, almost prosaic conception, yet beginning ‘nothing more?’ and then having ‘imagine!’ is a further instance of diction which completely abandons poetic norms. Indeed, I have to say the Left wins.