Love on Parting 別恋
あけがたの袖のけしきの露けさに道のしづくはおもひやりなん
| akegata no sode no keshiki no tsuyu kesa ni michi no shizuku wa omoiyarinan | With the dawning My sleeves’ appearance is Dew-drenched this morning; The droplets on the path Fill my thoughts with gloomy longing. |
Akinaka
Left
うちとけて誰に衣を重ぬらんまろがまろ寝も夜深き物を
| uchitokete tare ni koromo o kasanuran maro ga marone mo yobukaki mono o |
Loosening them, With whom does he clothes Pile together? Sleeping all alone How deep this night is… |
A Servant Girl
1121
Right (Win)
思わび寝る夜の床の露しげみ身のしろ衣かす人もがな
| omoiwabi neru yo no toko no tsuyu shigemi mi no shirogoromo kasu hito mo gana |
In the grief of love, Sleeping at night, my bed Is soaked through with dew; To lend me an over-mantle Is there no one at all… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1122
The Right state: the final section of the Left’s poem is difficult to grasp. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘sleeping all alone how deep this night is…’ (maro ga marone mo yobukaki mono o) does not sound as if it links with the initial section of the poem. ‘Alone’ (maro) is also unacceptable. The Right’s ‘to lend me an over-mantle’ (mi no shirogoromo) sounds elegant. I make it the winner.
Left (Win)
思あまり絵にかきとめてなぐさむる妹が上にも涙落ちけり
| omoi amari e ni kakitomete nagusamuru imo ta ue ni mo namida ochikeri |
Too much in love I paint a picture for Consolation, but Upon my darling Tears fall… |
Lord Kanemune
1109
Right
かきとめて変らぬ色もをみなへしあはれと見れば露ぞこぼるる
| kakitomete kawaranu iro mo ominaeshi aware to mireba tsuyu zo koboruru |
Painted in Changeless hues is my love – A maidenflower I glimpse in sorrow, Drenched with dew… |
Ietaka
1110
The Right state: the Left’s poem certainly has no faults. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no conception of Love.
In judgement: both Gentlemen’s pictures are ‘painted’ (kakitomete), with the Left then using ‘upon my darling’ (imo ga ue ni mo), which certainly has a conception of love. The Right simply draws a picture of a maidenflower and drenches it with dew, so it does not seem as if he is being moved by the sight of a person. Thus, again, the Left seems the superior poem.
Left (Win)
あはれにぞ鳴あかすなる蛬われのみしぼる袖かと思ふに
| aware ni zo nakiakasunaru kirigirisu ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni |
How sad it is – Crying with the dawn is The cricket, though I alone am wringing Out my sleeves, I feel. |
Lord Suetsune
1075
Right
露深きあはれを思へきりぎりす枕の下の秋の夕暮
| tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe kirigirisu makura no shita no aki no yūgure |
Deep in dew and Sad, I wish you were, O, cricket, Beneath my pillow On this autumn evening… |
Nobusada
1076
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults we can mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: our feelings are the same as those of the Right
In judgement: both Left and Right are on ‘crickets’ (kirigirisu) and their configuration and diction sound equally elegantly beautiful. I feel that the Right, with ‘deep in dew and sad, I wish you were’ (tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe), is somewhat lacking in the conception of the poet’s own love, but the Left, with ‘I alone am wringing out my sleeves, I feel’ (ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni), has an excellent conception of love, so I must state that the Left is the winner.
Left (Win)
蟲の音も秋を限りと恨むなりたえぬ思やたぐひなるらん
| mushi no ne mo aki o kagiri to uramu nari taenu omoi ya tagui naruran |
The insects’ cries do Mark the bounds of autumn With despair; Are endless thoughts of love To be my only fellow? |
Lord Kanemune
1073
Right
夏蟲もうら山しきは秋の夜の露にはもえぬ思ひなりけり
| natsumushi mo urayamashiki wa aki no yo no tsuyu ni wa moenu omoi narikeri |
The fireflies are A source of envy, On an autumn night When dewfall damps down The fires of my passion… |
Ietaka
1074
The Gentlemen of the Right: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘dewfall damps down’ (tsuyu ni wa moenu).
In judgement: the Left’s poem has been stated to be without fault by the gentlemen present. In the Right’s poem, I wonder if saying, ‘dewfall damps down’ is meaning nothing burns in autumn? On the matter of using the term ‘summer insects’ (natsumushi) to refer to fireflies, I do wonder whether it is appropriate to imply with one’s composition that there are no such insects in autumn. Although in the Collection of Poems to Sing Aloud, fireflies occur in the Summer section, among the same collection’s Chinese poems there is ‘in the dark before dawn innumerable fireflies start from the autumn grasses’. Furthermore, in Pan Anren’s ‘Rhapsody on Autumn Inspirations’ he says, ‘Glittering fireflies shine by the palace gate, and crickets sing from the eaves of the fence’. Even though there are countless cases of Autumn fireflies, how can one have composed suggesting that there are not? Thus, the Left wins.
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.
Composed when there was much disturbance in the world.
朝な朝な鹿の柵む萩がえの末葉の露のありがたのよや
| asana asana sika no sikaramu Fagi ga e no suweba no tuyu no arigata no yo ya |
Every morning The stag is tangled in Bush clover branches, Dew upon the leaf-tips – Such is the length of life… |
Zōki
増基
A poem by Ōtomo sukune Yakamochi.
高円の野辺の秋萩このころの暁露に咲きにけむかも
| takamato no nobe no akipagi kono koro no akatoki tuyu ni sakinikemu kamo |
At Takamato The bush clover At about this time With dawn-time dew Does it bloom, I wonder… |
Left
人待ちし庭の淺茅生茂りあひて心にならす道芝の露
| hito machishi niwa no asajū shigeriaite kokoro ni narasu michishiba no tsuyu |
Awaiting him, The cogon-grass in my garden Has grown lush, indeed; And I have taken to my heart The dew that falls upon my lawn! |
A Servant Girl
1029
Right (Win)
秋風になびく淺茅の色よりもかはるは人の心なりけり
| akikaze ni nabiku asaji no iro yori mo kawaru wa hito no kokoro narikeri |
With the autumn wind Waves the cogon grass, Colours Changing less than her Heart’s passions… |
Ietaka
1030
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the intial part of the Right’s poem is derived from an old poem, and so does the end!
In judgement: I wonder whether the cogon-grass (asajū), mentioned initially, is as clearly conceived as the ‘lawn’ (michishiba) mentioned at the end? The Right’s poem refers to ‘So full are my thoughts, what am I to do? With the autumn wind’, but reverses the beginning and end of that poem; it is extremely old-fashioned in style, but pleasant as it is plainly intended to be understood as a variant of its model. Thus, the Right wins over the combination of ‘cogon-grass’ and ‘lawn’.
Left (Tie)
うち頼む人のけしきの秋風に心の底の萱が下折れ
| uchitanomu hito no keshiki no akikaze ni kokoro no soko no kaya ga shitaore |
I did rely on Him, but now in his look, is The autumn wind; in The depths of my heart are Broken, drooping fronds of silver grass… |
Lord Ari’ie
1025
Right
あさましやなどか思のさしも草露も置きあへずはては燃ゆらん
| asamashi ya nado ka omoi no sashimogusa tsuyu mo okiaezu hate wa moyuran |
How strange it is! Why is it that my love’s fires, like Moxa, Not completely covered by the dew Will at the end burst into flame once more? |
Jakuren
1026
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to indicate. The Left state: in the Later Collection of Gleanings there is a poem about Ibuki, which uses ‘burst into flame’ (moyu). We wonder about the suitability of using ‘burst into flame’ without also using Ibuki. The Right, in response: older poems used ‘burst entirely into flame’ (sashimoyu), and this composition is the same.
In judgement: I am not accustomed to hearing ‘the depths of my heart are silver grass’ (kokoro no soko no kaya) as in the Left’s poem. The image in the Right’s poem of moxa not completely covered with dew bursting into flame seems rather overblown. The strengths and weaknesses of the two poems are unclear, so the round should tie.