When a woman told him to throw himself into a pool.
身をすててふかきふちにも入りぬべしそこの心のしらまほしさに
| mi o sutete Fukaki Futi ni mo irinubesi soko no kokoro no siramaFosisa ni | I shall cast off all restraint, and Into a deep pool, indeed, Plunge— For at the bottom your heart’s depths I would come to know… |
Minamoto no Michinari
Left
さはみづにかはづなくなりやまぶきのうつろふいろやそこにみゆらむ
| sawamizu ni kawazu nakunari yamabuki no utsurou iro ya soko ni miyuramu | Among the marsh waters The frogs are crying; The kerria’s Fading hues—might They see them below the surface there? |
27
Right (Win)
ちりてゆくかたをだにみむはるがすみはなのあたりはたちもさらなむ
| chiriteyuku kata o dani mimu harugasumi hana no atari wa tachi mo sara namu | Scattering off If only I might see them, but The spring haze Around the blossoms is Already rising! |
28
Love on Meeting
Left (Win)
人ごころいまはかぎりになりぬればみるこそみぬにおとらざりけれ
| hitogokoro ima wa kagiri ni narinureba miru koso minu ni otorazarikere | My human heart Now has its bound Reached, so Seeing you compared to not Is no worse! |
31
Right
わかれてはのちぞかなしきにごりえのそこともしらぬありかとおもへは
| wakarete wa nochi zo kanashiki nigorie no soko to mo shiranu arika to omoeba | Parting does Later bring such sadness: A muddy inlet’s Depths leave me unknowing Of where she is, so… |
Mitsune
32
The Middle of Autumn
Left (Tie)
くもゐよりてりやまさるときよたきのそこにてもみむあきのつきかげ
| kumoi yori teri ya masaru to kiyotaki no soko nite mo mimu aki no tsukikage | From the clouds Does it shine most bright? On Kiyotaki’s Riverbed I see Autumn moonlight. |
13
Right
人しれぬねをやなくらんあきはぎのはなさくまでにしかのこゑせぬ
| hito shirenu ne o ya nakuran aki hagi no hana saku made ni shika no koe senu | That no one may know Quietly, does he cry? Until the autumn bush clover Blooms flower The stag’s bell stays silent. |
Mitsune
14
The first time he spoke with Kamo no Narisuke, he took a shallow wine-cup and composed:
ききわたるみたらしがはの水きよみそこのこころをけふぞみるべき
| kikiwataru mitarashigawa no mizu kiyomi soko no kokoro o kyō zo mirubeki | Listening, The River Mitarashi’s Waters are so pure That to the bottom of my heart I can see today. |
Kunimoto, the Governor of Tsu
Left
白露ぞ霜となりける冬のよはあまの河さへ水こほりけり
| shiratsuyu zo shimo to narikeru fuyu no yo wa ama no kawa sae mizu kōrikeri | Silver dewdrops Have turned to frost On this winter’s night Even the River of Heaven’s Waters have frozen. |
153
Right
冬の海に降りいる雪やそこにゐて春たつ浪の花とさくらん
| fuyu no umi ni furi’iru yuki ya soko ni ite haru tatsu nami no hana to sakuran | Upon the sea in winter, Falling down, is the snow: Does it rest upon the bed and With the waves breaking in springtime Bloom into blossom? |
154
Left (Tie)
この比の心の底をよそに見ば鹿鳴く野邊の秋の夕暮
| kono koro no kokoro no soko o yoso ni miba shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure |
Of late Of the depths of my heart Were you to catch a distant glimpse: A stag belling in the meadow On an autumn evening… |
A Servant Girl
1067
Right
暮れかゝる裾野の露に鹿鳴きて人待つ袖も涙そふ也
| kurekakaru susono no tsuyu ni shika nakite hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari |
Twilight Drapes dewfall on the mountains’ skirts, With a stag’s sad cry; Awaiting him, my sleeves, too, Are wet with tears. |
Nobusada
1068
Left and Right together: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: it would be impossible to ever exhaust the overtones of feeling in ‘a stag belling in the meadow on an autumn evening’ (shika naku nobe no aki no yūgure) in the Left’s poem; in the Right’s poem the configuration and conception of ‘awaiting him, my sleeves, too, are wet with tears’ (hito matsu sode mo namida sou nari) is richly evocative. I find it extremely hard to put both poems down, so this round, again, is a tie of quality.
From the pond at Ōsawa in Saga. From this point on, poems refer to flowers on the suhama.
人本と思ひしものを大沢の池の底にも誰か植ゑけむ
| Fitomoto to omoFisi mono wo oFosaFa no ike no soko ni mo tare ka uwekemu | A single bloom Did I think it was, but In Ōsawa Pond’s depths Who might have planted it there? |
Tomonori
2
A variant of this poem occurs in Kokinshū (V:275).
Left.
鯨取るさかしき海の底までも君だに住まば浪路しのがん
| kujira toru sakashiki umi no soko made mo kimi dani sumaba namij shinoga |
The whale-hunting Savage sea’s Depths: even there, Should it be your dwelling, Would I endure the waves… |
Kenshō.
973
Right (Win).
石見潟千尋の底もたとふれば淺き瀬になる身の恨かな
| iwamigata chihiro no soko mo tatoureba asaki se ni naru mi o urami kana |
Iwamigata: Your thousand fathom depths I take as A shallow shoal For my despite. |
Jakuren.
974
The Right state: the Left’s poem leaves a fearsome impression, does it not? The Left state: we find no fault with the Right’s poem.
In judgement: The Left’s ‘whale hunting’ (kujira toran) I remember occurring in the Man’yōshū, but among many of that collection’s oddly-styled poems. However, it does sound extremely fearsome. When Emperor Qin Shihuang sought Mount Penglai, although he said to ‘shoot’ (iyo) great fish, I have not heard that he went so far as to ‘hunt’ (tore) them. Generally speaking, poems should evoke delicacy and charm, and what purpose is served, for the way of poetry, or for the individual, by frightening people deliberately? The Right’s Iwamigata and ‘For my despite’ (mi no urami kana) recalls an official complaining over being passed over for promotion. However, I cannot accept the Left’s poem. Thus, the Right wins.