Left (Tie)
いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮
| itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka tsu no kuni no ashiya no sato no aki no yūgure | Are they always such Lonely things? In the land of Tsu, Reed-roofed villages On an autumn evening… |
Ietaka
497
Right
千代までや松をばともにおもふらんなほすゑ遠き君がよはひを
| chiyo made ya matsu oba tomo ni omouran nao suedōki kimi ga yowai o | Until a thousand ages pass Will you be together with the pine I wonder, for Even further into the future Stretches your age… |
Kunaikyō
498
Bamboo and Felicitations.
竹の葉にふりおほふ雪のうれをおもみしたにも千世の色はかくれず
| take no ha ni furi’ōu yuki no ure o omomi shita ni mo chiyo no iro wa kakurezu | The bamboo leaves Are covered with fallen snow, Tips so heavy, but Beneath, a thousand ages Hue cannot be concealed.[i] |
664
[i] See: Topic unknown. ささのはにふりつむ雪のうれをおもみ本くだちゆくわがさかりはも sasa no ha ni / furitsumu yuki no / ure o omomi / moto kudachiyuku / wa ga sakari wa mo ‘The dwarf bamboo leave are / Piled with fallen snow, / Tips so heavy that / They droop down to the roots— / So, too, my prosperity!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 891)
[One of] two poems composed to express his grief and sorrow by Kawabe no Miyahito when he saw the coffin of a young girl in the pine groves of Himeshima in Wadō 4 [711].
妹之名者 千代尓将流 姫嶋之 子松之末尓 蘿生万代尓
いもがなは ちよにながれむ ひめしまの こまつがうれに こけむすまでに
| imo ga na pa tiyo ni nagaremu pimesima no komatu ga ure ni kokemusu made ni | This maiden’s name Will drift down a thousand ages Until Himeshima’s Pine seedling shoots are Choked with hanging moss. |
Kawabe no Miyahito
Round Five
Left
君がよはながゐのうらのはまかぜにたつしらなみのかずもしられず
| kimi ga yo wa nagai no ura no hamakaze ni tatsu shiranami no kazu mo shirarezu | My Lord’s reign: At Nagai Bay The beach breezes Rouse the whitecaps In number entirely unknown. |
Controller’s Graduate
65
Right
きみがよをまつちのやまのこまつばらちよのけしきを見るぞうれしき
| kimi ga yo o matsuchi no yama no komatsubara chiyo no keshiki o miru zo ureshiki | My Lord’s reign Awaiting upon Matsuchi Mountain The pine seedling groves The sight for a thousand ages Joyfully will see! |
Kerin’in Graduate
66
It’s impossible to decide on a winner or loser between the Left and the Right here in terms of conception, diction and overall style. To put it in general terms, I must make this round a further tie.
Neither Left nor Right is remarkable, but nor do they have any faults to mention. I’d make this round a tie.
Felicitations
Round One
Left
みどりなるまつかげひたすいけ水にちよのすみかとみゆるやどかな
| midori naru matsukage hitasu ikemizu ni chiyo no sumika to miyuru yado kana | Evergreen The pine tree’s shapes sink Into the pond waters— A residence for a thousand ages Does that dwelling seem! |
Lord Dainagon
57
Right (Win)
ちとせともいろにはいでていはし水ながれむほどは君がよなれば
| chitose to mo iro ni wa idete iwashimizu nagaremu hodo wa kimi ga yo nareba | For a thousand years or more Does its hue emerge— Spring waters from the rocks Might flow as long as My Lord’s reign will be, so… |
Lord Chūnagon
58
What on earth might be the colour of the Left poem’s ‘pine tree’s shapes sink’ and the Right poem’s ‘thousand years’ hue’? When one talks about ‘hue’ that means ‘scarlet’ and, in addition, it’s used of blossoms or autumn leaves. I have yet to see wisteria colouring the water in numerous private collections. The two poems are about the same, but the Right is marred by a series of faults.
The Left’s ‘shapes sink’ is extremely vague. ‘Sink’ means to submerge an object in water. One could certainly compose about a pine tree’s branches sinking, but how can we accept ‘shapes sink’ to mean an object’s reflection from beneath the water in the absence of a poem as precedent? The end is extremely, charming, though.
The poem of the Right doesn’t have anything special about it. It’s a pedestrian affair which doesn’t seem to show much evidence of thought. How are we to distinguish between a poem which is hackneyed but lacking any faults and one which is vague?
Round Nine
Left (M – Tie)
秋くれて千草の花は残らねど独うつろふ白菊のはな
| aki kurete chigusa no hana wa nokoranedo hitori utsurou shiragiku no hana | Autumn sinks to twilight, and Of a thousand blossoms Not one lingers, save Alone and fading A white chrysanthemum bloom. |
Lord Shigemoto
41
Right (T – Win)
かぎりなく君が千代経むしるしにや散残るらん宿のしらぎく
| kagirinaku kimi ga chiyo hemu shirushi ni ya chirinokoruran yado no shiragiku | That endless through A thousand ages will my Lord pass A sign there is: Not scattering and lingering White chrysanthemums at his house! |
Lord Tadataka
42
Toshiyori states: I don’t have much to point out about the poem on ‘autumn sinking to twilight’, except that it could have had ‘indeed, linger’ in place of ‘not one lingers, yet’ to lead to ‘alone and fading’. As for the second poem, there are no other examples of saying ‘chrysanthemums scatter’, yet I do wonder about how this sounds? Nevertheless, it has a conception of Felicitation and this makes it somehow superior.
Mototoshi states: the poems of Left and Right are of the same standard in both conception and diction, so it’s not possible to tell them apart. These, too, are of the same quality.
ももしきにしもはおくともきくの花ちよの冬までうつろふなゆめ
| momoshiki ni shimo wa okutomo kiku no hana chiyo no fuyu made utsurounayume | Upon the hundred-fold palace The frost may fall, yet These chrysanthemum blooms, Though winter last a thousand ages, Will not fade, at all… |
[Minamoto no] Koremochi
5
きくのはなちとせみまくのほしければをしみしよるのあくるもしらず
| kiku no hana chitose mimaku no hoshikereba oshimi yoru no akuru mo shirazu | O, chrysanthemums! For a thousand years to gaze on them Is my desire, then The regrets of night’s Dawn I would never know! |
[Fujiwara no] Kunimoto
6
