Left
ねざめつつみをうぐひすのねをぞなくはなさかりにしきみをこふれば
| nezametsutsu mi o uguisu no ne o zo naku hana sakarinishi kimi o koureba | Every time I wake, My flesh, as a warbler, Lets out sobbing cries, For, fair as a blossom in bloom, It is you I long for, my lady… |
7
Right
ことにいでてなにかいふべきねざめつつこふるしたひもそらにとくらむ
| koto ni idete nani ka iubeku nezametsutsu kouru shitahimo sora ni tokuramu | To put it into words, What is there I can say? Every time I wake, Your underbelt, which I want so, Seems to be loosening in the skies alone. |
8
Round Five
Left (Tie)
うちきらしあまぎるそらと見しほどにやがてつもれる雪の白山
| uchikirashi amagiru sora to mishi hodo ni yagate tsumoreru yuki no shirayama | Suddenly concealed By mist, the skies I glimpsed and In a moment drifted Snow covered Shira Mountain with white. |
Controller’s Graduate
51
Right
としをへてふし見の山にふるゆきはとこめづらにもおもしろきかな
| toshi o hete fushimi no yama ni furu yuki wa tokomezura ni mo omoshiroki kana | Through all the passing years Upon Fushimi Mountain The falling snow Feels ever fresh And full of charm! |
Kerin’in Graduate
52
The poem of the Left’s ‘Suddenly concealed / By mist, the skies’ is a clear case of repeating the same meaning. In addition, ‘snow covered Shira Mountain’ is one which is snow-capped regardless of whether it’s summer or winter. It’s not a mountain where one would be startled at seeing it ‘suddenly concealed’. The poem of the Right says that ‘through all the passing years the estate at Fushimi…feels ever fresh’, which seems as if this poem is specifying a period when this applies. It’s certainly a bit of a reach to say that this would be charming, but it’s not incongruous. Thus, I make this a tie.
I am unable to grasp the sense of the Left poem’s ‘suddenly concealed’. If it had been ‘concealed with falling’ then that would be better. In addition, I don’t understand the final ‘snow covered Shira Mountain’ either. I would have preferred it if the order had been ‘Shira Mountain’s snow’, but putting the ‘snow’ first seems to lack fluency and so, regretfully I would change this.
The Right’s ‘Fushimi Mountain’ is difficult to understand. It seems that ‘estate’ is a more standard composition, and ‘mountain’ is a novel usage. Having ‘Fushimi’ ‘feel fresh’ is evidence of thought, but even so, ‘mountain’ is vague.
When there was something on his mind, he went to Inari Shrine and composed this.
人しれぬこころただすの神ならばおもふ心をそらにしらなむ
| hito shirenu kokoro tadasu no kami naraba omou kokoro o sora ni shiranamu | Able my secret unknown Heart to reveal— Were you such a god, then Its yearning Would echo through the skies… |
Consultant Takamura
From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house in the Second Month, Tengyō 2 – The end of summer.
むかしより思ふ心はみな月のみそぎの神ぞ空にしるらん
| mukashi yori omou kokoro wa minazuki no misogi no kami zo sora ni shiruran | For a long time now, Yearning has filled my heart: In the Sixth Month The purifying deity Seems to know it well, within the skies. |
Anonymous
From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house in the Second Month, Tengyō 2 – Love in the midst of summer.
ふりくらす五月の空のながめにはねのみなかれて人ぞ恋しき
| furikurasu satsuki no sora no nagame ni wa ne nomi nakarete hito zo koishiki | Dark with showers The Fifth Month’s skies Endlessly do fill my gaze, Doing nothing but weep For I love her so! |
Anonymous
Cuckoos
Round One
Left
ほととぎすまきのとばかりまちつれどなかであけぬる夏のしののめ
| hototogisu maki no to bakari machitsuredo nakade akenuru natsu no shinonome | O, cuckoo, Briefly by my door of cedar wood Did I await you, yet No song, at all, brightened This summer edge of dawn. |
Lord Dainagon
15
Right (Win)
ほととぎすなくうれしさをつつめどもそらにはこゑもとまらざりけり
| hototogisu naku ureshisa o tsutsumedomo sora ni wa koe mo tomarazarikeri | At the cuckoo’s Song, my joy To hold fast did I try, yet In the skies, his cry Lingered not. |
Lord Chūnagon
16
The Left’s poem, after careful consideration, has a graceful style. The diction of the Right’s poem is superb, and there is an excess of conception. Reading and reciting these leaves my aged heart at a loss. Thus, they tie.
In the Left’s poem, ‘briefly’ is an expression which means ‘just for a short time’, I think, and thus the sentiments are lacking. Saying ‘brightened…edge of dawn’ sounds as if the poet has only begun waiting at daybreak. One does see, apparently, a number of poems in prior matches where the poet has not heard the cuckoo. Nevertheless, I do wonder about whether this is appropriate, given that poems where the cuckoo has been heard are faultless. The Right’s poem is not that good, but it is poetic. Thus, it has to win.
Composed on the daughter of the dragon king becoming a buddha.
わたつ海の底のもくづと見し物をいかでか空の月と成るらん
| wata tu umi no soko no mokudu to misi mono wo ikade ka sora no tuki to naruran | In the broad sea sweep’s Depths among the seaweed Did she appear to be, so How is it that within the skies A moon she might become? |
Dharma Master Shōchō
Round Twenty-One
Left (Win)
しがらきの外山の末の郭公たが里ちかき初音なるらん
| shigaraki no toyama no sue no hototogisu ta ga sato chikaki hatsune naruran | In Shigaraki At the foothills’ end A cuckoo By whose estate Might let out his first cry? |
Takasuke
41
Right
橘のにほひを空に尋ねきて山時鳥なかぬ日ぞなき
| tachibana no nioi o sora ni tazunekite yamahototogisu nakanu hi zo naki | Orange blossom’s familiar Scent within the skies I seek out, while The mountain cuckoo Fails to sing on not a single day… |
Shimotsuke
42
The Left poem’s ‘near whose estate does it first call’ does not sound bad. The Right’s poem, too, seems to have no faults to mention, yet the Left still wins by a hair.
