Left
ひくるればひとめのもりにぬるとりのあかつきがたになきつつぞたつ
| hi kurureba hitome no mori ni nuru tori no akatsukigata ni nakitsutsu zo tatsu | Since the setting of the sun Avoiding others’ eyes within the forest Slept a bird that At the edge of dawn Sobbing, does depart! |
22
Right
ねをあさみそこをはなるるうきくさのけさのおきにぞながれわびぬる
| ne o asami soko o hanaruru ukikusa no kesa no oki ni zo nagare wabinuru | Shallow the roots Separating from the river’s bed, Of the drifting waterweed, This morning rising, Swept away in desolation! |
23
Love at a mountain retreat the morning after[i]
消えなまし今朝尋ねずは山しろの人こぬやどのみちしばの露
| kienamashi kesa tazunezu wa yamashiro no hito konu yado no michishiba no tsuyu | I would fade away! This morning, unvisited In Yamashiro At a place where no one comes With the dew upon the roadside grasses… |
507
Round Four
Left (M – Win)
水鳥の青葉の山やいかならん梢をそむる今朝のしぐれに
| mizutori no aoba no yama ya ika naran kozue o somuru kesa no shigure ni | Waterfowl fly above Aoba Mountain— O, what is to become Of the treetops dyed By this morning’s shower? |
Lord Akinaka
7
Right (T – Win)
かきくもり蜑の小ぶねにふく苫の下とほるまで時雨れしにけり
| kakikumori ama no obune ni fuku toma no shita tōru made shigureshinikeri | Clouds rake in above The fisher’s tiny boat— Through its rush-woven roof And even beneath A shower has fallen. |
Lord Michitsune
8
Toshiyori states: Continuing on from ‘Waterfowl fly above / Aoba Mountain’ with ‘the treetops dyed’ is simple and straightforward. The latter poem’s emphasis on the fisher’s tiny boat is an unexpected expression, yet because it is not a fault, I make this poem the winner.
Mototoshi states: saying ‘Waterfowl fly above / Aoba Mountain’ is extremely hackneyed, yet the poem of the Right has ‘Clouds rake in above / The fisher’s tiny boat— / Through its rush-woven roof’: both spring showers and summer ones, too, are not things which fall constantly, so it is difficult to believe that they could fall ‘even beneath’. So, I have to determine that a shower dyeing the treetops is a little better.
Round Seven
Left (Tie)
けさはまたそれともみえず淡路島霞のしたに浦風ぞ吹く
| kesa wa mata sore tomo miezu awajishima kasumi no shita ni urakaze zo fuku | This morning, once again, I cannot that clearly see Awaji Isle, but Beneath the haze The winds are blowing o’er the beach! |
Chikanari, Ranked without Office
13
Right
春霞なびく朝けの塩風にあらぬけぶりや浦に立つらん
| harugasumi nabiku asake no shiokaze ni aranu keburi ya ura ni tatsuran | Spring haze Trails over with the morn— Salt-fire breezes It is not, yet does smoke Seem to rise across the bay? |
Ie’kiyo, Ranked without Office
14
Both Left and Right don’t seem bad. I make them a tie.
[One of] Ten poems on winter.
やどもなし今朝わびしらにこえきつるあらちの山の雪のゆふ暮
| yado mo nashi kesa wabishira ni koekitsuru arachi no yama no yuki no yūgure | Lacking any home This morning forlorn and lonely Have I come to cross through Arachi Mountain’s Twilight snows. |
Jien
Topic unknown.
けさはしもおきけんかたもしらざりつおもひ出づるぞきえてかなしき
| kesa Fa simo okiken kata mo sirazaritu omoFi’iduru zo kiete kanasiiki | This morning of all mornings To where I headed on arising I paid no mind at all, for Filling my thoughts was passion’s Fading sadness! |
Ōe no Chisato
Spring
Composed on the First day of the First Month
今朝みれば山もかすみて久かたのあまのはらより春は来にけり
| kesa mireba yama mo kasumite hisakata no ama no hara yori haru wa kinikeri | Gazing out this morning The mountains are all hazed From the eternal Plains of Heaven[i] Spring has come, at last! |
1
[i] The reference to the ‘plains of Heaven’ (ama no hara 天の原) being ‘eternal’ (hisakata 久方) implies that the poet has been long awaiting the arrival of spring—a nuance which I have attempted to capture with the final ‘at last’.
