The Garden Match held by the Chancellor at the Eastern Mansion
When His Lordship, the Chancellor, was having the Eastern Mansion refurbished, he divided his sons into teams and having a large number of charming plants grown in pots on the eastern and western sides of the main hall, he matched poems composed on the names of these plants. These poems are as follows.
Left – Pine
あだしきのちるにもさらににぬまつはちとせこえふるしるべなりけり
adashiki no chiru ni mo sara ni ninu matsu wa chitose koefuru shirube narikeri
The other trees’ Scattering is e’en more Unlike the pines— Passing through a thousand years Is their singular sign.
1a
あたらしき春にもさらににぬまつはちとせこえこぬしるべなりけり
atarashiki haru ni mo sara ni ninu matsu wa chitose koekonu shirube narikeri
A new Spring is e’en more Unlike the pines— That it last not a thousand years Is a singular sign.
1b
Right
たれもみなちとせこえくるまつにのみひさしきことはならへとぞ思ふ
tare mo mina chitose koekuru matsu ni nomi hisashiki koto wa narae to zo omou
Every single one, without exception, Passes through a thousand years— That the pines, alone, Are eternal: Learn that! Or so I feel…
omoiwabi koiji ni mayou shirube ni wa namida bakari zo saki ni tachikeru
Suffering with passion, and Lost upon the paths of love My guide is Simply my tears that Set out before me.
Consultant and Middle Captain Tadanori 9
The reply, written in a style to blend in with the picture on the paper, of a many-petalled safflower, and attached to a stem of bellflower, made from metal.
恋路をばふみだに見じと思ふみに何かはかかる涙なるらん
koiji oba fumi dani miji to omou mi ni nani ka wa kakaru namida naruran
Upon the path of love I’ve not seen you take even one step I feel, so Why might you show such Tears, I wonder?
In judgement: the Right sounds as if the lovers are exceedingly close. The Left, that even when the distance separating you is not that great, it is still painful, is, indeed, the case. Thus, the Left wins.
The Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of the expression ‘our hearts’ love’ (kokoro no koi)? The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘our hearts’ love’ is something I am completely unaccustomed to hearing. The Right’s poem does have ‘my heart upon the path’ (kokoro no michi), but the use of ‘more and more’ (itodoshiku) means it is difficult to make it a winner. The round should tie.
